The Combined or Big Seven Group, was a criminal organization headed by organized crime figures on the east coast during Prohibition serving as the predecessor to the alleged National Crime Syndicate

National Crime Syndicate

The National Crime Syndicate was the name given by the press to a loosely-organized multi-ethnic organized crime syndicate. Its origins are uncertain....

 of the 1930s. The organization consisted of seven Jewish and Italian American gangs on the east coast.

Following the reform movements and police crackdown on street gangs and other criminals, the criminal underworld entered a "slow period" in the years during and after the First World War. While the older political bosses were able to get their former criminal associates work as bouncers and work in vice districts such as gambling dens and brothels, they began to disassociate themselves from their former criminal alliances.

Following the announcement of the Volstead Act

Volstead Act

The National Prohibition Act, known informally as the Volstead Act, was the enabling legislation for the Eighteenth Amendment which established prohibition in the United States...

 in 1919, many in the underworld readily entered into bootlegging as gang wars broke out in major cities across the country. As the struggle to gain dominance over the industry continued into the early 1920s, with shootouts and bombings commonplace, a group emerged to resolve the constant warfare which was costing everyone money. Originally intended to serve as a centralized office for the purposes of ordering bootleg liquor to be equally distributed, the group would also reduce costs among bootleggers for supplies and, without worrying about rival bootleggers, enable independent bootleggers to focus on protecting their shipments from freelance hijackers.

Although the concept of the organization differed between Arnold Rothstein

Arnold Rothstein

Arnold Rothstein , nicknamed "The Brain", was a New York businessman and gambler who became a famous kingpin of the Jewish mafia. Rothstein was also widely reputed to have been behind baseball's Black Sox Scandal, in which the 1919 World Series was fixed...

 and Johnny Torrio

Johnny Torrio

John "Papa Johnny" Torrio , also known as "The Fox", was an Italian-American mobster who helped build the criminal empire known as the Chicago Outfit in the 1920s that was later inherited by his protege, Al Capone...

, both Charles "Lucky" Luciano

Lucky Luciano

Charlie "Lucky" Luciano was an Italian mobster born in Sicily. Luciano is considered the father of modern organized crime in the United States for splitting New York City into five different Mafia crime families and the establishment of the first commission...

 and Meyer Lansky

Meyer Lansky

Meyer Lansky , known as the "Mob's Accountant", was a Polish-born American organized crime figure who, along with his associate Charles "Lucky" Luciano, was instrumental in the development of the "National Crime Syndicate" in the United States...

 were major supporters by 1927. Its original members included Abner "Longy" Zwillman

Abner Zwillman

Abner "Longie" Zwillman , known as the "Al Capone of New Jersey," was an early Prohibition gangster, founding member of the "Big Seven" Ruling Commission and a member of the National Crime Syndicate, who was also associated with Murder Incorporated.-Biography:According to the Social Security Death...

 of New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

, Moe Dalitz

Moe Dalitz

Morris Barney "Moe" Dalitz was a Jewish American bootlegger, racketeer, casino owner and philanthropist who was one of the major figures who helped shape Las Vegas, Nevada in the 20th century. He was often referred to as Mr...

 of Cleveland, Waxey Gordon

Waxey Gordon

Waxey Gordon was an American gangster who specialized in bootlegging and illegal gambling. An associate of Arnold Rothstein during prohibition he was caught up in a power struggle following his death...

 and Harry "Nig" Rosen

Harry Rosen (mobster)

Harry "Nig" Rosen was a Philadelphia mobster who was a major organized crime figure on the east coast with influence as far as Atlantic City, Baltimore and Washington, D.C.-Biography:...

 of Philadelphia. Other members included the Bug and Meyer Mob as "enforcers" and the semi-retired Johnny Torrio who remained in an advisory capacity regarding organizational advice.

As the violence of the bootleg wars died down in the mid-Atlantic area, others requested membership including Dutch Schultz

Dutch Schultz

Dutch Schultz was a New York City-area Jewish American gangster of the 1920s and 1930s who made his fortune in organized crime-related activities such as bootlegging alcohol and the numbers racket...

 of Manhattan

Manhattan

Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

, Charles "King" Solomon of Boston. Al Capone

Al Capone

Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone was an American gangster who led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate. The Chicago Outfit, which subsequently became known as the "Capones", was dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, and other illegal activities such as prostitution, in Chicago from the early...

 also expressed interest in joining the organization; however his gang war with the North Side Gang

North Side Gang

The North Side family Gang, also known as the North Side Mob, was the dominant Irish-American criminal organization within Chicago during the Prohibition era from the early to late 1920s and principal rival of the Johnny Torrio-Al Capone organization, later known as the Chicago Outfit.- Early...

 prevented him from doing so.

Despite the death of Rothstein that same year, the Seven Group was successful in establishing its authority and served as the basis for the Atlantic City Conference

Atlantic City Conference

The Atlantic City Conference held in 1929 was a historic summit of leaders of organized crime in the United States. It is considered by most crime historians to be the earliest organized crime summit held in the US...

in 1929.