The Syndicate was created to do away with gang wars, establish better communication, and maximize profit among several families. The Syndicate was established as a nationally organized directorship in 1934. With all the blood shed in the 1920s gangsters such as Johnny Torrio and Charles Luciano wanted a better way of negotiations to settle trivial differences.
Many times in the late twenties Torrio, Luciano, Meyer Lansky and other top gangsters tried to form a circle of the nation's top crime bosses to a single organization, which would decipher clearly marked boundaries and responsibilities for each section.
Finally in 1934 Luciano, Torrio, and Lansky finally brought all the top bosses together featuring, Frank Costello, Vito Genovese, Louis Buchalter, Abner Zwillman, and Jacob Shapiro, to workout the strict guidelines in mind for the new organization. They all came to an agreement on territories, rules and regulations, and the command hiearchy.
With the Syndicate problems with other ethnic gangs of the twenties taking part commensurately with their strength. AS time went by the Syndicate became almost entirely controlled by the Mafia.
The Syndicate was always very dogmatic in its devotion to discipline. Any infractioni of rules or disregard of orders from a superior is severely punished, regardless of rank, circumstances, or previous service. Dutch Shultz found this to be true after he consistantly ignored a board directive in 1935.
Since then the standards of discipline have been loosened. Neither the methods nor the interests of the Syndicate have changed much in past 60 years. The main business ventures of the thirties included gambling, vice, union racketeering, and narcotics. The biggest money makers today are still narcotics and gambling.
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