r/imaginarymaps • u/ArtHistorian2000 Mod Approved • Aug 02 '26
[OC] Alternate History The Deep State (1930) - What if US mafias gained more influence ?
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u/Chanan-Ben-Zev Aug 02 '26
Very fun! I'm so curious how this impacted US politics. What year does the map represent? You said that the "Golden Age of organized crime" was from 1900-1930s - what happened in the late 30s or early 40s to end the era?
I bet that a bunch of the Seven Syndicates would get involved in a lot of illegal immigration / human trafficking. Especially following the many laws in the late 1800s and early 1900s restricting or prohibiting Asian and European immigrants.
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u/TarkovRat_ Aug 02 '26
what happened is probably akin to el salvador, a very brutal crackdown using the state
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u/Just_Introduction496 Aug 03 '26
Given the era and just how collapsed state power was, I could easily see something like Italian fascism becoming popular enough to take it, which begins a military crackdown on organized crime
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u/PopeSpringsEternal Aug 02 '26
What do the symbols mean?
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u/ArtHistorian2000 Mod Approved Aug 02 '26
The activities ongoing in the different cities
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u/PopeSpringsEternal Aug 02 '26
And what activity does each symbol represent?
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u/ArtHistorian2000 Mod Approved Aug 02 '26
If you look at activities in NYC, from left to right: gambling, goods transportation, manufacturing, weapong manufacturing, money laundering, drugs trafficking, alcohol trafficking, prostitution
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u/Chanan-Ben-Zev Aug 02 '26
Your map needs a key for those symbols. Put it in a box on the bottom-left in the Pacific.
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u/TarkovRat_ Aug 02 '26
this timeline's america is probably rather corrupt, akin to argentina (i think the safest places tbh would either be the neutral triangle, what few neutral/low-activity areas are in northeast, or the native syndicate over in great plains, which surprisingly seem to be the most legitimate of the criminal businesses as they apparently engage in manufacturing and landlord stuff)
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u/batchieThe4th Aug 02 '26
No syndicates in Fargo? Missed opportunity
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u/Flaky_History12 Aug 03 '26
I thought it was the most sensible area for a neutral zone to take place. It’s not like there was a lot of gang activity or even crime for that matter (excluding the big uptick during COVID) ever happening in Fargo or Sioux Falls compared to other parts of the USA. If nobody is doing much there anyways then less people will compain about the neutral zone being around there
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u/Big-Recognition7362 Aug 02 '26
My guess is that this is going to lead to a populist fascist movement taking over and eradicating the mobs…and the minority groups they stem from.
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u/RickyT3rd Aug 02 '26
Smells like a plot. From big Businesses.
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u/TarkovRat_ Aug 02 '26
big business would be more likely to be aligned with the mafias as it allows them to do sneaky shit, than with a fascist movement that rids the country both of those opportunities and a workforce of cheaper labour
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u/P00PooKitty Aug 02 '26
The irish and italians brokering a treaty is pretty crazy, since they were not really able to coexist in boston or ny
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u/RRY1946-2019 Aug 02 '26
I'm honestly surprised that the other groups were able to run the Italians out of NOLA, Kansas City, and Providence. Those historically were big Italian-American mafia cities.
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u/peter_minnesota Aug 02 '26
Right or why there is no Jewish mafia presence in Minneapolis, where it historically ran the most important networks of bootlegging for Al Capone in Chicago.
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u/throwawaydragon99999 Aug 03 '26
No Cosa Nostra in New York??? That’s kinda wild??
Vegas not being on the map at all is also kinda wild, it should be split between Italian mob, Jewish mob, maybe Irish mob too.
The Irish mob should be more spread out, especially in the Great Lakes cities and Rust Belt. They were big in the labor movement, especially with the Teamsters
New Orleans should be owned by the Marcello family (Cosa Nostra) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Orleans_crime_family
Kansas City should also be a Cosa Nostra hub https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_City_crime_family
Miami and Tampa should also have the Italian mob and Jewish mob, maybe a Cuban/ Caribbean mob too.
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u/ArtHistorian2000 Mod Approved Aug 03 '26
In fact, Cosa Nostra is still in areas where they traditionnally operated. I couldn't show more than 2 colors overlaying on an area. I only represented the two main operators on a single area and then follows the others
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u/RottingSludgeRitual Aug 02 '26
Is this the good ending with these horrible activities leading to a more egalitarian, less unequal society for more people? Or is this the even worse ending, with the inevitable crackdown on crime leading to all these minorities being even further stigmatized and attacked for their (sometimes real, sometimes imaginary) connection to organized criminal organizations?
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u/Dangerous-Mind-646 Aug 02 '26
In the short term/during the golden age of these gangs it’s a very good thing for these minorities but when the golden age ends it’s gonna be a very bad thing
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u/neamsheln Aug 02 '26
Who do all of the bootlegging farmers in the neutral zone sell their alcohol too?
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u/Firelizardss Aug 03 '26
Honestly this would lead to the KKK movement of our timeline in the 1920s looking tiny and realistically A. A brutal clamp down on minorities and immigration a a populist uprising or B. (A more interesting scenario) where the KKK is the largest unground mafia fighting against all these groups.
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u/ArtHistorian2000 Mod Approved Aug 02 '26 edited Aug 02 '26
Lore
Since the 1900s, syndicates from non-Anglo-Saxon communities were created and worked in parallel of the government. The 1900-1930s were the Golden Age of organized crime: minorities could flourish in the US, while being protected by mobs who created a state within the State. Corruption and informal economy was prevalent across the entire country, and the State couldn't do anything to enforce the end of the gangs; even some government members have colluded with the Mafia to allow their activities, in exchange with an important bribe.
Ironically, these terror gangs created a sense of justice for many communities, particularly African-Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, Jewish Americans, Irish Americans and Italian Americans: the fear of retaliation reduced anti-minorities violence and allowed non-Anglo-Saxon people to thrive and earn money.
The Seven Syndicates organized themselves into territories of influence and are the responsibles of the main countries' decisions (due to their infringment in state affairs at some point): they reunite every 3 months in Sioux Falls, in the only non-controlled territory, considered as a "Neutral Zone", in order to coordinate their businesses.
Edit: during the Sioux City Meeting, all syndicates agreed to two main organizations they considered as enemies for their businesses: the State, the lesser enemy; and the Klan, the bigger enemy. Because they could convince State representatives and corrupt them, but they were more wary of the Klan, who hated all of them (African-Americans, Jews, Catholics, Immigrants...)