gangster is an English word for the member of a criminal gang, a smuggler or one thief.
In Portuguese, it is written "gângster". It is a term derived from the English word "gang" (gang, in Portuguese spelling). In English, a gang it may be a group of people working together with the aim of achieving some criminal purpose. One gangster is a member of a criminal organization who is involved in some illegal activity such as smuggling, game, prostitution, drug trafficking, etc.
The origin of gangsters it happened in the United States, when the 18th Amendment (1919) prohibited the production and sale of alcoholic beverages. Thus, several gangs emerged that smuggled alcohol.
Later, when the 18th Amendment ran out, there were several attempts to dismantle the organizations. criminals led by gangsters, but this was not possible, because they had already reached a great force and autonomy. Some of the most famous smugglers at that time were Al Capone (in Chicago) and Lucky Luciano (in New York).
One of the most famous gangsters in history was the Italian-born American Alphonsus Gabriel Capone, the Al Capone, who was involved in various crimes related to smuggling, in the United States, in the 1920s and 1930s. He was arrested for tax evasion.
In French, the corresponding term is "apache" and in Japanese "yakuza".
