Mafia

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For other uses, see Mafia (disambiguation).

The Mafia, also referred to in Italian as La Cosa Nostra (which translates as '"this thing of ours"), is an organized criminal secret society which evolved in mid-19th century Sicily. An offshoot emerged on the East Coast of the United States during the late 19th century following waves of Italian immigration to that country.

A member of the mafia is called in Italian a mafioso, and the plural is mafiosi. In Sicilian the word is mafiusu and mafiusi, respectively. Mafiosi like to think of themselves as a special society of "men of honor".

The term "Mafia" entered general usage only in the 19th century, when the Prefect of Palermo Filippo Antonio Gualterio cited it for the first time in an official document. In his report dated 1865, the marquis Gualterio, sent from Rome as a representative of the Italian governement, wrote that 'the so-called Mafia or criminal associations had become more daring'. "Mafia" is today often used by extension to refer to any large group of people engaged in criminal racketeering activities, such as the Russian Mafia, Mexican Mafia, Japanese Yakuza, Irish Mob, Chinese Triads, Indian mafia, and the allegedly extinct Indian Thuggee.

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Background

The term "mafia" describes a specific secret society in Sicily and their descendants in the United States of America where Sicilian organized criminals had spread by the early 20th century through immigration.

Mafia power peaked in the United States in the mid-20th century, until a series of FBI investigations in the 1970s and 1980s somewhat curtailed the Mafia's influence. Despite the decline, the Mafia and its reputation have become entrenched in American popular culture, portrayed in movies, TV shows, and even product commercials.

Today the Italian-American Mafia remains the most powerful criminal organization operating in the USA and uses this status to maintain control over the majority of both Chicago's and New York City's criminal enterprises. It also has links to the more established organization from which it sprung, the original Sicilian Mafia.

Mafia power in Sicily is much more well established and complete. Corruption is widespread, and local government is almost an offshoot of the organization itself. Mafia influence in the national legislature has long been suspected, but never proven outright.

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The Mafia in Sicily

Originating during the mid 19th century, the Mafia served as protection for the large orange and lemon estates surrounding the city of Palermo.<ref name="citrus">"The main source of wealth of the island were the large estates of lemon and orange estates. In the bare begining, the Mafia served as a special kind of protection for the large orange and lemon estates arround Palermo." The Sicilian Mafia, from the website Mafia Stars; Library of Mafia & Organised Crime, retrieved 16 April 2006</ref> From this, the Mafia began to spread its roots among the landowners and politicians of Sicily. Forming strong links with the government (it is more than likely that many politicians were members or collaborators) the Mafia gained significant power.

During the Fascist period in Italy, Cesare Mori, prefect of Palermo, used special powers granted to him to prosecute the Mafia, forcing many Mafiosi to flee abroad or risk being jailed. Many of the Mafiosi who escaped fled to the United States, among them Joseph Bonanno, nicknamed Joe Bananas, who came to dominate the US branch of the Mafia.

The United States used the Italian connection of the American Mafiosi during the invasion of Italy and Sicily in 1943. Lucky Luciano and other members of Mafia, who had been imprisoned during this time in USA, provided information for US military intelligence, who used Luciano's influence to ease the way for advancing American troops.<ref name="luciano">"The wartime collaboration of Sicilian-born Salvatore "Lucky" Luciano with the United States Navy may have made the Allied invasion of Sicily smoother than it otherwise would have been, but the Iron Prefect's enforcement of the Duce's laws had already made most mafiosi sympathetic to the American cause, or at least hostile to the Fascist one." The Mafia from bestofsicily.com</ref>

An alleged additional benefit (from the American perspective) was that many of the Sicilian-Italian Mafiosi were hardline anti-communists. They were therefore seen as valuable allies by the anti-communist Americans, who allegedly used them to root out socialist and communist elements in the American shipping industry, the wartime resistance movements, and in many postwar local and regional governments in areas where the Mafia held sway.Template:Fact

According to drug trade expert Dr Alfred W. McCoy, Luciano was permitted to run his crime network from his jail cell in exchange for his assistance. After the war Luciano was rewarded by being deported to Italy, where he was able to continue his criminal career unhindered. He went to Sicily in 1946 to continue his activities and according to McCoy's landmark 1972 book The Politics of Heroin in South-East Asia, Luciano went on to forge a crucial alliance with the Corsican Mafia, leading to the development of a vast international heroin trafficking network, initially supplied from Turkey and based in Marseille — the so-called "French Connection".

Later, when Turkey began to eliminate its opium production, he used his connections with the Corsicans to open a dialogue with expatriate Corsican mafiosi in South Vietnam. In collaboration with leading American mob bosses including Santo Trafficante Jr., Luciano and his successors, took advantage of the chaotic conditions of the Vietnam War to establish an unassailable supply and distribution base in the "Golden Triangle", which was soon funnelling huge amounts of Asian heroin into the United States, Australia and other countries via the U.S. military.

Benito Mussolini ruthlessly suppressed the Mafia, imprisoning many men on mere suspicion of being a mafioso. The Mafia did not become powerful in Italy again until after the country's surrender in the Second World War. In the 1980s and 1990s, however, a series of internecine "gang wars" led to many prominent Mafia members being murdered, and a new generation of mafiosi has placed more emphasis on "white-collar" criminal activity as opposed to more traditional racketeering enterprises. In reaction to these developments, the Italian press has come up with the phrase Cosa Nuova ("the new thing", a play on Cosa Nostra) to refer to the revamped organization.

Image:Salvatore Riina.jpg

The main split in the Sicilian Mafia at present is between those bosses who have been convicted and are now in jail, chiefly Salvatore 'Totò' Riina and Leoluca Bagarella, and those such as the recently caught capo di tutti capi Bernardo Provenzano, who are on the run, or who have not been indicted. The incarcerated bosses are currently subjected to harsh controls on their contact with the outside world, limiting their ability to run their operations from behind bars under the Italian law 41 bis. Antonio Giuffrè, a close confidant of Provenzano, turned Pentito shortly after his capture in 2002. He now alleges that in 1993, Cosa Nostra had direct contact with representatives of Silvio Berlusconi while he was planning the birth of Forza Italia. The deal that he says was alleged to have been made was a repeal of 41 bis, among other anti-Mafia laws in return for electoral deliverances in Sicily. However, Giuffré's declarations have not been confirmed by any proof and have been belied by facts. The current government of Forza Italia extended the enforcement of 41 bis, which had to expire on 2002 and has been prolonged for another four years and extended to other crimes such as terrorism.

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Prominent Sicilian mafiosi

  • Salvatore "Ciaschiteddu" Greco powerful mafioso and boss of the Mafia Family in Ciaculli, he was the first "secretary" of the first Sicilian Mafia Commission that was formed somewhere in 1958.
  • Salvatore 'Totò' Riina, former head of the Corleonesi who rose to lead the entire Sicilian Mafia after eliminating his rivals. Arrested in 1993, now in jail. Succeeded by Bernardo Provenzano (see below).
  • Tommaso Buscetta, the first Sicilian Mafioso to become an informant during the 1980s. (A predecessor, Leonardo Vitale, who gave himself up to the police in 1973, was judged as suffering from 'mental semi-infirmity', and his evidence led to the conviction of himself and his uncle only.) Generally known as the 'Supergrass', Buscetta's evidence was used to great effect during the Maxi-Trials.
  • Bernardo Provenzano, Current 'capo di tutti i capi' or Boss of Bosses of the Sicilian Mafia, a fugitive from justice for over 40 years. He was captured on 11 April 2006 in Sicily.<ref name="topboss">'Top Mafia boss' caught in Italy</ref> Before capture, authorities have reportedly been 'close' to capturing him for the 10 years since he took over from Salvatore Riina.
  • Giovanni 'lo scannacristiani' Brusca, who personally murdered Giovanni Falcone, the investigating prosecuter who started the first and only real fightback against the Sicilian Mafia.
  • Matteo Messina Denaro, suspected to become Capo di Tutti Capi with Provenzano in custody.
  • Salvatore Lo Piccolo, rivals Denaro for Boss of Bosses position. His methods are the complete opposite of Denaro's.
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Other criminal organizations in Italy

The Sicilian Mafia is organized into cosche (clans) in Sicily; in other regions there exist other similar organisations: 'Ndrangheta in Calabria, Sacra corona unita in Apulia, Camorra in Naples and the Mala del Brenta in the Veneto (an organisation whose members come from Northern Italy, once led by infamous Venetian, Felice "Angel Face" Maniero). Although the different crime empires do business with each other, these are separate and distinct organisations from the Sicilian Mafia. A 2003 Eurispes report on Italian organised crime indicates the possibility that the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta may have superseded the Sicilian Mafia in power and profit.

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Mafia in the United States

Mafia groups in the United States first became influential in the New York area, gradually progressing from small neighborhood operations to citywide and eventually international organizations. The Mafia had eventually expanded to twenty-six crime families nationwide in the major cities of the United States, with the center of organized crime based in New York. After many turf wars, five families ended up dominating New York, named after prominent early members: the Bonanno family, the Colombo family, the Gambino family, the Genovese family, and the Lucchese family.

Image:CarmineGalante.jpg

Each family was ultimately controlled by a Don, who was insulated from actual operations by several layers of authority. According to popular belief, the Don's closest and most trusted advisor was referred to as the consigliere ("counselor" in Italian). In reality, the consigliere was meant to be something of a "hearing officer" who was charged with mediating intra-family disputes. He also takes care of the economic side of the "business". An underboss was possible as well. There were then a number of regimes with a varying number of soldati (lit. "soldiers"), or "made" men, who conducted actual operations. Most recently there have been two new positions in the family leadership, the family messenger and Street Boss. These positions were created by former Genovese leader Vincent Gigante.

Each regime was headed by a caporegime, who reported to the boss. When the boss made a decision, he never issued orders directly to the soldiers who would carry it out, but instead passed instructions down through the chain of command. In this way, the higher levels of the organization were effectively insulated from incrimination if a lower level member should be captured by law enforcement. This structure is immortalized in Mario Puzo's famous novel The Godfather.

The initiation ritual emerged from various sources in Sicily in the mid-nineteenth century<ref name="initiation">"Mafia's arcane rituals, and much of the organization's structure, were based largely on those of the Catholic confraternities and even Freemasonry, colored by Sicilian familial traditions and even certain customs associated with military-religious orders of chivalry like the Order of Malta." The Mafia from bestofsicily.com</ref> and has hardly changed to this day. The Chief of Police of Palermo in 1875 reported that the man of honor to be initiated would be led into the presence of a group of bosses and underbosses. One of these men would prick the initiate's arm or hand and tell him to smear the blood onto a sacred image, usually a saint. The oath of loyalty would be taken as the image was burned and scattered, thus symbolising the annihilation of traitors. This was confirmed by the first pentito, Tommaso Buscetta.

A hit, or assassination, of a "made" man had to be preapproved by the leadership of his family, or retaliatory hits would be made, possibly inciting a war. In a state of war, families would go to the mattresses — rent vacant apartments and have a number of soldiers sleeping on mattresses on the floor in shifts, with the others ready at the windows to fire at members of rival families.

The American Mafia eventually became more accommodating of non-Sicilian Italians among the sworn-in membership of "made" men and forged closer associations with gangsters of other nationalities, thus becoming distinct from the original organisation in Sicily.

The New Orleans mafia was linked to the Kennedy assassination in Oliver Stone's film "JFK".<ref name="JFK">"The New Orleans family is famous for its possible involvement in the murder of President John F. Kennedy along with the Dallas, TX faction of LCN. If you have ever seen the Oliver Stone movie JFK, it focuses on the possibility of a conspiracy and also the Mafia's involvement in the assassination." Template:Cite web</ref>

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Law enforcement and the Mafia

Image:Giovanni Falcone.jpg

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United States

In the United States, murders of state officials have been rare. In several Mafia families, killing a state authority is strictly forbidden, and even conspiring to commit such a murder is punishable by death. The mobster Dutch Schultz was reportedly killed by his peers out of fear that he would carry out a plan to kill New York City prosecutor Thomas Dewey.

The Mafia began a steep decline in the late-1970s and early 1980s due in part to laws such as the RICO Act, which made it a crime to belong to an organization that performed illegal acts, and to programs such as the witness protection program. These factors combined with the gradual dissolution of the distinct Italian-American community through death, intermarriage, the lack of continued Italian migration, and cultural assimilation.

In the mid-20th century, the Mafia was reputed to have infiltrated many labor unions in the United States, notably the Teamsters, whose president Jimmy Hoffa disappeared and is widely rumored to have been killed by the Mafia. In the 1980s, the United States federal government made a determined effort to remove Mafia influence from labor unions.

Today the Mafia is still the dominant organized crime group in the United States but its power and influence continues to decline due to aggressive FBI investigations, mob informants, violation of mob rules, family infighting, dwindling membership, and death or imprisonment of its top leaders. Recent setbacks include arrests of the Chicago Outfit's hierarchy and news reports of Alex Rudaj, the leader of the Albanian mafia Rudaj Organization, reportedly outmuscling two of New York's Mafia families for control of the gambling rackets in a Queens' neighborhood.

According to Selwyn Raab, author of "Five Families : The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires", after 9/11 the FBI has redirected most of its attention to finding terrorists, which led to a resurgence of Mafia in the U.S.

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Italy

In Italy there has been a long history of police, prosecutors and judges being murdered by the Mafia in an attempt to discourage vigorous policing. The Italian government officials who were assassinated because of their attempts in bringing the Mafia to justice are called Excellent Cadavers. The king-pin of the Italian mafia in Sicily was Alex Duerre. He was the leader of the Sicilian mafia before his death in World War II.

There is some evidence that in Italy law enforcement seems to be finally gaining the upper hand over the Mafia organisations, through stronger laws and the breaking down of the "code of silence" or "Omertà". A huge help in fighting the military side of Mafia has been provided by many so-called pentiti (Mafia members who dissociated for a milder judicial treatment), like Tommaso Buscetta.

In recent decades, one of the most famous figures in Italy in the context of Mafia has been Totò Riina, who ordered the murder of the judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo BorsellinoAfter they laughed in his face.

Recently, former Italian Prime Minister, Giulio Andreotti (Democrazia Cristiana) stood judicially accused of relationships with Mafia, but the case collapsed because of the expiry of the statute of limitations. Nevertheless the trial court, and the appeal one, stated that his connection with Mafia had been constant and well documented until the early 80s.

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Mafia structure

Known as the Honored Society among Mafiosi, the chain of command is organized in a pyramid similar to a modern corporate structure.

  1. Capo di Tutti i Capi (the "Boss of Bosses", since Bernardo "il trattore" Provenzano was caught, unknown for the Sicilian Mafia; not applicable to the American Mafia)
  2. Capo di Capi Re (a title of respect given to a senior or retired member, equivalent to being a member emeritus)
  3. Capo Crimini (a "Super Boss" known as a Don or "Godfather" of a crime family)
  4. Capo Bastone (known as the "Underboss" is second in command to the Capo Crimini)
  5. Consigliere (an advisor)
  6. Caporegime or Capodecina (a captain who commands a "crew" of around ten Sgarriste or "soldiers")
  7. Sgarrista or Soldati ("made" members of the Mafia who serve primarily as foot soldiers)
  8. Picciotto (a low ranking member who serves as an "enforcer")
  9. Giovane D'Onore (an associate member, usually someone not of Italian or Sicilian ancestry)
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Modern terminology

  • Boss - The head of the family, usually reigning as a dictator. The Boss receives a cut of every operation taken on by every member of his family. The Boss gets to choose who gets made, and who gets whacked. The Boss is chosen by a vote from the Caporegimes of the family If there is a tie, the Underboss must vote.
  • Underboss - The Underboss, usually appointed by the Boss, is the second in command of the family. The Underboss is considered the Captain that is in charge of all of the other Capos, who is controlled by the Boss. The Underboss is usually first in line to become Acting Boss if the Boss is imprisoned.
  • Consigliere - Consigliere is an advisor to the family. They are often low profile gangsters that can be trusted. They often keep the family looking as legitimate as possible, and are, themselves, legitimate apart from some minor gambling or loan sharking.
  • Caporegime (or Capo)- A Capo is in charge of a crew. There are usually four to six crews in each family, possibly even seven to nine crews. Each one consisting of up to ten Soldiers. Capos run their own small family, but must follow the limitations and guidelines created by the Boss, as well as pay him his cut of their profits. Capos are nominated by the Underboss, but typically chosen by the Boss himself.
  • Soldier - Soldiers are members of the family, and can only be of Italian or Sicilian background. Soldiers start as Associates that have proven themselves. When the books are open, meaning that there is an open spot in the family, a Capo (or several Capos) may recommend a up-and-coming Associate to be a new member. In the case that there is only one slot and multiple recommendations, the Boss will decide. The new member usually becomes part of the Capo's crew that recommended him.
  • Associate - An Associate is not a member of the mob, but more of an errand boy. They're usually a go-between or sometimes deal in drugs to keep the heat off of the actual members. Non-Italians will never go any further than this, with a few exceptions, (e.g il wringe).
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Sicilian Mafia structure

  1. Capofamiglia - (Boss)
  2. Consigliori - (Counselor)
  3. Sotto Capo - (Underboss)
  4. Capodecina - (Group Boss)
  5. Uomini D'onore - ("Men of Honor")
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Media portrayal of the Mafia

See also: List of Mafia movies

Image:Brando as don corleone.jpg

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Books

  • Dickie, John (2004). Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia. Hodder and Stoughton. ISBN 0-340-82434-4
  • Lunde, Paul. Organized Crime: An Inside Guide to the World's Most Successful Industry ISBN 0-7894-9648-8
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References

<references/>

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See also

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External links

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