Organized Crime The 1920s were a period of drastic and massive changes in American culture, politics, and economics. It is commonly characterized by jazz, fashion revolution, new inventions, dancing, prohibition, gambling and gangs. However, organized crime was a significant part of the “Roaring Twenties.” The most serious crimes of the era were due to corruption in government, lack of law enforcement, and constant social and economic instability. Famous cases include Sacco and Vanzetti in Massachusetts and the Wall Street bombings in New York. Say no to plagiarism. Get a Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get Original Essay Nicola Sacco was a shoemaker born in Italy and emigrated to the United States in 1908 at the age of seventeen. Bartolomeo Vanzetti was a fishmonger (someone who sells raw fish and seafood) also born in Italy and emigrated to the United States in 1908, at the age of twenty. Both men were known anarchists and radicals. They were thought to be supporters of Luigi Galleani, an Italian anarchist who advocated revolutionary violence, including bombings and assassinations. On April 15, 1920, Pormenter (a paymaster) and Berardelli (his guard) were shot dead by two men with pistols in the Slater and Morrill shoe factory. After the murder, the criminals stole 2 boxes containing payroll worth $15,776, quickly left the scene of the crime and fled in an automobile containing a few other men, which was found abandoned two days later late. On May 5, Sacco and Vanzetti were charged with the murder and theft at the factory and sentenced to a trial that proved to be one of the most controversial and divisive trials in history to date. The 1920s were a time of the Red Scare. , a period when Americans were paranoid and afraid of communism, while the Russian government had just gone through a second revolution, transforming democracy into communism. People suspected each other, from shoemakers to movie stars to politicians. Any sort of unusual political views were viewed very critically. Sacco and Vanzetti being anarchists, they were automatically suspected by the police, the jury, the judge and the citizens. The police believed that the Italians had stolen the money to finance violent anarchist activities, and the judge readily agreed with this, since just weeks before the trial he had given a speech about Bolshevism and the threat posed by anarchism for American institutions. He supported the suppression of functionally violent radical speech and incitement to violent acts. Therefore, when they appeared in court, Sacco and Vanzetti were already at a significant disadvantage, strictly due to their political views. During the trial, fifty-nine witnesses testified for the Commonwealth and ninety-nine for the defendants. All the testimonies differ from each other, since some claim to have seen the two men at the scene of the crime, others saw them in Boston that morning, while the third saw them elsewhere at the time of the crime. Most of the evidence was refuted in court, as the only concrete indication of guilt was Sacco's possession of a Colt pistol found at the time of his arrest and both men's recovery of the car associated with the crime. However, despite the lack of precise data, Sacco and Vanzetti were recognized.