the mafia in new york began when thousands of italians moved there in the late 1800s and early 1900s to find a better life. at this time many irish and germans also moved to the us for the same reasons. many of these people set up businesses or worked for businesses that were already there. most earned very little money and some, who were tired of being poor, decided to earn money from crime, which was easier than earning money by working. there were many irish and italian criminal groups in the city who would steal, extort and murder for money. these groups were known all-together as "the black hand" but they did not actually work as one group called "the black hand"; there were many groups and they each worked on their own and the term "black hand" actually was the name of what these gangs did (extortion), not their names.