One of the most important industries to New York’s economy, the whole nation for that matter, was the garment industry. It was an industry deeply infiltrated by the underworld for 80-plus years. Starting with the Jewish Mob in the 1920s, this underworld “invasion” was total!
All the Italian LCN Families were involved, getting a “piece” of the pie. But it was the Lucchese Family — the original “point men” for the mob — along with the Genovese Family who would always dominate the rag trade.
Manufacturers, designers, cutters, contractors, sewing-machine factories, supply houses that made the buttons, zippers, trimmings, etc, garment truckers, salesmen, jobbers, and the like owed their very existence to the industry!
The industry was governed by several labor unions that had been born out of the strife, sweat, and tears of the early Jewish and Italian seamstresses toiling away at their sewing machines day after day, producing the beautiful men’s, women’s, and children’s clothing worn by Americans of every size, shape, and ethnicity.
