The Italian-American Civil Rights League (IACRL) was originally formed as a political advocacy group created in New York City in April 1970.
William Santoro, a defense attorney that represented many Colombo crime family figures, was responsible for the legal work that incorporated the league.
Its stated goal was to combat pejorative stereotypes about Italian-Americans, but in actuality, it operated as a public relations firm to deny the existence of the American Mafia and improve the image of mobsters.
[7] The group then turned its attention to what it perceived as cultural slights and discrimination against Italian-Americans, using boycott threats to force Alka-Seltzer and the Ford Motor Company to withdraw television commercials the league objected to.
Another group success was that U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell ordered the U.S. Justice Department to stop using the word "Mafia" in official documents and press releases.