Editing Zips

{{Short description|Slang term used by Italian American mobsters to refer to newer immigrant Italian mobsters}}
{{about|immigrant mafiosi in the United States||Zip (disambiguation)}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=June 2022}}

'''Zips''' (also '''''Siggies''''' or '''''Geeps''''') is a slang term in the United States that was especially in use in the mid-20th century. It was often used as a derogatory slur by [[Italian-American Mafia|Italian-American mobsters]] in reference to newer immigrant Sicilian mafiosi. The mobsters in the US were said to have difficulty understanding the [[Sicilian language|Sicilian dialects]] of the new immigrants, in which words appeared to "zip" by. Other theories include pejorative uses, such as Sicilians' preference for homemade [[Improvised firearm|zip guns]].  According to another theory, the term is a contraction of a Sicilian slang term for "hicks" or "primitives".

==Arrival in the United States==
With increasing violence and government presence in Italy, [[Sicily#Demographics|Sicilians]] found positions in the growing drug trafficking market of [[New York City]]'s [[Five Families]] in the mid-20th century. The [[Pizza Connection Trial|Pizza Connection]], a heroin-trafficking operation involving Salvatore Catalano, a capo of the [[Bonanno crime family]], and [[Gaetano Badalamenti]], a Sicilian mafioso, was largely organized by Zips.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gentile |first=Antonio |date=2018-09-18 |title=Quelli che definirono i “bravi ragazzi”: la storia della mafia. |url=https://www.ilpopolo.news/quelli-che-definirono-i-bravi-ragazzi-la-storia-della-mafia/ |access-date=2025-04-24 |website=IL POPOLO |language=it-IT}}</ref> The Zips were effective because they were unknown in the United States and had no [[police record]]s. They generally congregated in the [[Knickerbocker Avenue]] area.

The younger Sicilian mafiosi became known for their reckless and undisciplined behavior, which gained unwanted attention for New York's homegrown crime families. The Zips had no qualms about murdering people who had been considered off-limits by the American Mafia, such as police officers, judges, and women and children. They were also known for using bombs to kill their targets. Although bombings were commonly used by the Sicilian Mafia, American mafiosi have usually shied away from bombs out of concern that they could put innocent people at risk.<ref>Capeci, Mustain (1996), pp. 139–140</ref> Zips were also known to have killed enemies who were already on their deathbeds. In the Sicilian Mafia, when someone is marked for death, that person cannot be allowed to die of natural causes.

The group was tolerated because they earned millions of dollars for the families, specifically the [[Bonanno crime family|Bonanno]] and [[Gambino crime family|Gambino families]]. Both [[Carmine Galante]] and [[Carlo Gambino]] used zips for [[drug-running]] and [[contract killing]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Magazine |first=Harlem World |date=2023-06-20 |title=East Harlem's Camillo Carmine Galante, 1910 - 1979 |url=https://harlemworldmagazine.com/east-harlems-camillo-carmine-galante-1910-1979/ |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241102025142/https://www.harlemworldmagazine.com/east-harlems-camillo-carmine-galante-1910-1979/ |archive-date=2024-11-02 |access-date=2025-04-24 |work=Harlem World Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref> Galante's two personal bodyguards, [[Cesare Bonventre]] and [[Baldassare Amato|Baldo Amato]], were Zips.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Williams |first=Joseph |date=2022-01-02 |title=The Heroin Don Who Sat Down For Lunch In Brooklyn And Came Out In A Bodybag |url=https://allthatsinteresting.com/carmine-galante |access-date=2025-04-24 |website=All That's Interesting |language=en-US}}</ref>

Many Italian-American mobsters distrusted the Zips. Bonanno soldier [[Benjamin Ruggiero|Benjamin "Lefty" Ruggiero]] explained in a conversation to undercover FBI agent [[Joseph "Donnie Brasco" Pistone]]: 
<blockquote>"Lots of people hate him [Galante]... There's only a few people he's close to. And that's mainly the Zips... Those guys are always with him. He brought them over from Sicily, and he uses them for different pieces of work and for dealing all that junk [drugs]. They're as mean as he is. You can't trust those bastard Zips. Nobody can. Except the Old Man."{{citation needed|date=March 2010}}</blockquote>

On another occasion, Ruggiero told Pistone, "They hate the American people. They hate the American wiseguys". Bonanno soldier [[Anthony Mirra]] told Pistone, "The Zips are [[clannish]] and [[secretive]]. They are the meanest killers in the business".

==See also==
*[[Fresh off the boat]]
*[[A Full Ounce of Drugs]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*Kelly, Robert J. ''Encyclopedia of Organized Crime in the United States''. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-313-30653-2}}
*Sifakis, Carl. ''The Mafia Encyclopedia''. New York: Facts On File Inc., 2005. {{ISBN|0-8160-5694-3}}
*Pistone, Joseph D.; & Brandt, Charles (2007). ''Donnie Brasco: Unfinished Business'', Running Press. {{ISBN|0-7624-2707-8}}.
*Pistone, Joseph D.; & Woodley, Richard (1999) ''[[Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia]]'', Hodder & Stoughton. {{ISBN|0-340-66637-4}}.
*Raab, Selwyn. ''The Five Families: The Rise, Decline & Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empire''. New York: St. Martins Press, 2005.
*Crittle, Simon, ''The Last Godfather: The Rise and Fall of Joey Massino'' Berkley (March 7, 2006) {{ISBN|0-425-20939-3}}
*DeStefano, Anthony. ''The Last Godfather: Joey Massino & the Fall of the Bonanno Crime Family''. California: Citadel, 2006.

==Further reading==
*Sterling, Claire. ''Octopus: The Long Reach of the International Sicilian Mafia''. 1990.

{{American Mafia}}

[[Category:American gangsters of Italian descent]]
[[Category:People of Sicilian descent]]
[[Category:Organized crime terminology]]
[[Category:American Mafia]]
[[Category:Italian language in the United States]]