Manhattan Italian emigration. Lucky Luciano established Cosa Nostra in Manhattan, forming alliances with other criminal enterprises, including the Jewish mob, led by Meyer Lansky, the leading Jewish gangster of that period. From 1920–1933, Prohibition helped create a thriving black market in liquor, upon which the Mafia was quick to capitalize. As in the whole of New York City, Manhattan experienced a sharp increase in crime during the 1960s and 1970s. Since 1990, crime in Manhattan has plummeted in all categories tracked by the CompStat profile. A borough that saw 503 murders in 1990 has seen a drop of nearly 88% to
Meyer Lansky learn that his estate was worth around $57,000. Lansky was born Meier Suchowlański in Grodno, in the Russian Empire (now Belarus) to a Polish-Jewish family who experienced anti-semitic pogroms. He was born in the former lands of Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, which were under Russian rule, and when asked about his native country, Lansky always responded "Poland". In 1911, he emigrated to the United States through the port of Odessa with his mother and brother, and joined his father, who had immigrated in 1909, and settled on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York. Lansky's brother, Jacob