Page "Fiorello La Guardia" Paragraph 31

LaGuardia loathed the gangsters who brought a negative stereotype and shame to the Italian community.

His first action as mayor was to order the chief of police to arrest mob boss Lucky Luciano on whatever charges could be found.

LaGuardia then went after the gangsters with a vengeance, stating in a radio address to the people of New York in his high-pitched, squeaky voice, " Let's drive the bums out of town.

" In 1934, LaGuardia went on a search-and-destroy mission looking for mob boss Frank Costello's slot machines, which La Guardia executed with gusto, rounding up thousands of the " one armed bandits ", swinging a sledgehammer and dumping them off a barge into the water for the newspapers and media.

In 1935, La Guardia appeared at The Bronx Terminal Market to institute a city-wide ban on the sale, display, and possession of artichokes, whose prices were inflated by mobs.

When prices went down, the ban was lifted.

In 1936, LaGuardia had special prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey, a future Republican presidential candidate, single out Lucky Luciano for prosecution.

Dewey led a successful investigation into Luciano's lucrative prostitution operation, eventually sending Luciano to jail with a 30 – 50 year sentence.

The case was made into the 1937 movie Marked Woman, starring Bette Davis.