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Oct 1, 2024 · Sicilian Mafia, hierarchically structured organization of criminals in Sicily, Italy. The Sicilian Mafia is made up of a coalition of criminal organizations—called “families” or “clans” in English and cosche (singular, cosca) in Italian—which engage in extortion, smuggling, gambling, and the mediation of disagreements between other ...
- Mafia
Salvatore Maranzano. Mafia, hierarchically structured...
- Mafia
- The Mafia’s Sicilian Roots
- The Mafia on The Rise in Italy
- The Mafia in The 20th Century and Beyond
For centuries, Sicily, an island in the Mediterranean Sea between North Africa and the Italian mainland, was ruled by a long line of foreign invaders, including the Phoenicians, Romans, Arabs, French and Spanish. The residents of this small island formed groups to protect themselves from the often-hostile occupying forces, as well as from other reg...
In 1861, Sicily became a province of recently unified Italy. However, chaos and crime reigned across the island as the fledgling Italian government tried to establish itself. In the 1870s, Roman officials even asked Sicilian Mafia clans to help them by going after dangerous, independent criminal bands; in exchange, officials would look the other wa...
The Mafia’s influence in Sicily grew until the 1920s, when Prime Minister Benito Mussolini came to power and launched a brutal crackdown on mobsters, who he viewed as a threat to his Fascist regime. However, in the 1950s, the Mafia rose again when mob-backed construction companies dominated the post-World War IIbuilding boom in Sicily. Over the nex...
- 4 min
The Sicilian Mafia or Cosa Nostra (Italian: [ˈkɔːza ˈnɔstra, ˈkɔːsa-], Sicilian: [ˈkɔːsa ˈnɔʂː(ɽ)a]; "our thing" [3]), also referred to as simply Mafia, is a criminal society and criminal organization originating on the island of Sicily and dates back to the mid-19th century. It is an association of gangs which sell their protection and arbitration services under a common brand.
Salvatore Maranzano. Mafia, hierarchically structured society of criminals of primarily Italian or Sicilian birth or extraction. The term applies to the traditional criminal organization in Sicily and also to a criminal organization in the United States. Most scholars agree that the Mafia emerged in Sicily in the 19th century during Italy’s ...
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Oct 14, 2009 · Based in Italy and the U.S., the Mafia is a network of organized-crime groups active in a range of underworld ventures, from drug trafficking to murder. The Mafia evolved over centuries in Sicily ...
- 4 min
Aug 28, 2023 · The Sicilian Mafia, known as Cosa Nostra, is an organized criminal network that has shaped the history and development of Sicily. Giovanni Falcone’s fight against mafia crime sparked a strong anti-mafia movement in Italy. Current efforts to dismantle the global reach of Cosa Nostra are ongoing but difficult due to its deep roots in politics ...
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Say "mafia" now and many people will think of Marlon Brando in The Godfather. The Sicilian word actually implies "manly", and the label is often applied loosely - and inaccurately - to organised ...
