The Legacy of East Harlem's Purple Gang Is One of Fear and Violence
During the 1970s and 80s East Harlem's Purple Gang Was A Large Scale Drug Gang With A Deadly Reputation
Since the founding of the Commission by Luck Luciano in the early 1930s, a large percentage of organized crime and corruption in New York has been dominated by the Italian mafia or Cosa Nostra. Although the number of “Made Men” or individuals formally inducted into the mafia remained relatively small, their power and influence was due in large part to their relationships with other criminal networks throughout the city and beyond.
Every one of the five families in New York has hundreds of associates, men who are not official members of a family but are associated with a particular family. These associates participate in criminal activities up to and including murder. They also make money for the family through various crimes and scams.
The mafia will occasionally do business with “freelance” criminal organizations as lo…