10 Surprising Acts Of Kindness From Big-Time Mafia Leaders (2024)

When a massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit Japan in 2011, the least likely of people swooped in to help - the Yakuza.

Two of the largest factions of the Yakuza - a brutal organized crimesyndicate known for extortion and prostitution rings - aided people in the Kobe region by transporting supplies to emergency centers. At least 27,000 were killed and thousands more affected by the quake. They brought everything from food and water to medical supplies. Some suspected that this was a ploy to get police to cut them some slack, while others - including Yakuza members- said they wanted to bypass their bureaucratic government and help those in need.

Pablo Escobar Paved Roads, Built Schools, And Gave Citizens Clean Water

While most associate Pablo Escobar with cocaine, brutal murders, and one of the largest drug operations in the world, few are aware that Escobar wasa philanthropist who spent millions of his own money helping the citizens of Colombia.

He built schools, paved roads, facilitated access to clean water, provided healthcare, supported churches, and invested in affordable housing. While his life of crime and prolific murders cannot be ignored or condoned, his investments in his community did significantly improvethe lives of many impoverished and under-served Colombians.

Michael "Yuppie Don" Franzesewas once one of the richest mobsters in New York City. In the 1980s, Franzese - a member of the Colombo crime family - ran a racketeering operation bootlegging gasoline. It all came crashing down in 1985 when he was arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

However, when he got out, he decided to turn his life around and establishedthe Breaking OutFoundation, an organization aimed atempowering young people to not make similar mistakes. He wrote Quitting the Mob in 1992 and began traveling the country to speakon college campuses about the consequence of choice.

Gregory Scarpa Helped Battle The KKK

In 1964, the FBI faced a challenge in solving the disappearance of three civil rights workers in Mississippi. They hired Gregory Scarpa, a ruthless enforcer for the Colombo family, to travel to Mississippi and coerce KKK members until they revealed what happened to the civil rights workers.

According to a court testimony from his girlfriend at the time, Scarpautilized an extra-legal interrogation approach to uncover where the workers were buried.With this lead, the authorities were able to determine the ultimatefate of the workers and hold theresponsible KKK members accountable.

Emmanuel "Manny" Garofalo, 64, used charitable giving as a way to give back to his community and to himself. In 2013, he was serving time in prison for a previous mob-related crime when a federal judge shortened his sentence if he promised to help rebuild Sea Gate,a community in Brooklyn that was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy.

“There is a sense conveyed by these individuals that Mr. Garofalo would like to do what he can to make amends,” the judge said. Garofalo was also known to look after the frail and elderly members of his community, making him feared by his enemies but beloved by his neighbors.

During WWII, Charlie "Lucky" Luciano wasvery influential in protecting the docks of New York City and its harborsfrom strikes,German saboteurs, and other issues.

In return, New York Governor (and the former public prosecutor on Luciano's case) Thomas Dewey commuted his sentence under the condition he leave the United States. Luciano returned to Italy.