Mafia

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This article is about criminal organizations commonly referred to as "mafias". F
or the criminal society in Sicily to which the name "Mafia" was first ascribed,
see Sicilian Mafia. For the Italian American criminal organization often referre
d to as simply "the Mafia", see American Mafia. For other uses, see Mafia (disam
biguation).
A mafia is a type of organized crime syndicate whose primary activities are prot
ection racketeering, the arbitration of disputes between criminals, and the orga
nizing and oversight of illegal agreements and transactions.[1] Secondary activi
ties may be practiced such as drug-trafficking, loan sharking and fraud.
The term was originally applied to the Sicilian Mafia, but has since expanded to
encompass other organizations of similar methods and purpose, e.g. "the Russian
Mafia", "the Japanese Mafia", "the Albanian Mafia" or "Maltese Mafia". The term
is applied informally by the press and public; the criminal organizations thems
elves have their own terms (e.g. the Sicilian and American Mafia call themselves
"Cosa Nostra", the Mexican Mafia calls itself La Eme and the "Japanese Mafia" c
alls itself yakuza).
When used alone and without any qualifier, "Mafia" typically refers to either th
e Sicilian Mafia or the Italian-American Mafia.

Contents [hide]
1 Etymology
2 Definitions 2.1 Mafias as private protection firms
2.2 Mafia-type organizations under Italian law
3 International 3.1 Italy
3.2 Other countries
4 References 4.1 Sources

Etymology[edit]
The word "mafia" originated in Sicily, though its origins are uncertain. The Sic
ilian adjective mafiusu (in Italian: mafioso), roughly translated, means "swagge
r," but can also be translated as "boldness, bravado". In reference to a man, ma
fiusu in 19th century Sicily was ambiguous, signifying a bully, arrogant but als
o fearless, enterprising, and proud, according to scholar Diego Gambetta.[2] In
reference to a woman, however, the feminine-form adjective "mafiusa" means beaut
iful and attractive.
Sicily was once an Islamic emirate, therefore "mafia" might have Arabic roots. P
ossible Arabic roots of the word include:
maha = quarry, cave;[3] especially the mafie caves in the region of Marsala, whi
ch acted as hiding places for persecuted Muslims and later served other types of
refugees.[4]

mahyas (?????) = aggressive boasting, bragging

marfud (?????) = rejected
mu'afa = safety, protection[3]
Ma fir = the name of an Arab tribe[5] that ruled Palermo.[6] The local peasants i
mitated these Arabs and as a result the tribes name entered the popular lexicon.
The word mafia was used to refer to the defenders of Palermo during the Sicilia
n Vespers.[7]
The public's association of the word with the criminal secret society was perhap
s inspired by the 1863 play "I mafiusi di la Vicaria" ("The Mafiosi of the Vicar
ia") by Giuseppe Rizzotto and Gaetano Mosca. The words Mafia and mafiusi are nev
er mentioned in the play; they were probably put in the title to add a local fla
ir. The play is about a Palermo prison gang with traits similar to the Mafia: a
boss, an initiation ritual, and talk of "umirt" (omert or code of silence) and "pi
zzu" (a codeword for extortion money).[8] The play had great success throughout
Italy. Soon after, the use of the term "mafia" began appearing in the Italian st
ate's early reports on the phenomenon. The word made its first official appearan
ce in 1865 in a report by the prefect of Palermo, Filippo Antonio Gualterio.[9]
Definitions[edit]
A formal definition of "mafia" can be hard to come by. The term was never offici
ally used by Sicilian mafiosi, who prefer to refer to their organization as "Cos
a Nostra". Nevertheless, it is typically by comparison to the Sicilian Mafia tha
t other criminal groups earn the label. The expansion of the term has not been w
elcomed by all scholars. Giovanni Falcone, an anti-Mafia judge murdered by the S
icilian Mafia in 1992, objected to the conflation of the term "Mafia" with organ
ized crime in general:
While there was a time when people were reluctant to pronounce the word "Mafia"
... nowadays people have gone so far in the opposite direction that it has becom
e an overused term ... I am no longer willing to accept the habit of speaking of
the Mafia in descriptive and all-inclusive terms that make it possible to stack
up phenomena that are indeed related to the field of organized crime but that h
ave little or nothing in common with the Mafia.[10]
Giovanni Falcone, 1990
Mafias as private protection firms[edit]
Scholars such as Diego Gambetta[11] and Leopoldo Franchetti have characterized t
he Sicilian Mafia as a "cartel of private protection firms", whose primary busin
ess is protection racketeering: they use their fearsome reputation for violence
to deter people from swindling, robbing, or competing with those who pay them fo
r protection. For many businessmen in Sicily, they provide an essential service
when they cannot rely on the police and judiciary to enforce their contracts and
protect their properties from thieves (this is often because they are engaged i
n black market deals). Scholars have observed that many other societies around t
he world have criminal organizations of their own that provide essentially the s
ame protection service through similar methods.
For instance, in Russia after the collapse of Communism, the state security syst
em had all but collapsed, forcing businessmen to hire criminal gangs to enforce
their contracts and protect their properties from thieves. These gangs are popul
arly called "the Russian Mafia" by foreigners, but they prefer to go by the term
"krysha".
With the [Russian] state in collapse and the security forces overwhelmed and una

ble to police contract law, [...] cooperating with the criminal culture was the
only option. [...] most businessmen had to find themselves a reliable krysha und
er the leadership of an effective vor.
excerpt from McMafia by Misha Glenny.[12]
Mafia-type organizations under Italian law[edit]
In Italy, the term associazione di tipo Mafioso ("Mafia-type organisation") is u
sed to clearly distinguish the uniquely Sicilian Mafia from other criminal organ
isations that are structured like the Sicilian Mafia, such as the Camorra, the '
Ndrangheta and the Sacra Corona Unita.[13] Article 416-bis of the Italian Penal
Code, under which all criminal organisations are prosecuted, defines an associat
ion as being of Mafia-type nature "when those belonging to the association explo
it the potential for intimidation which their membership gives them, and the com
pliance and omert which membership entails and which lead to the committing of cr
imes, the direct or indirect assumption of management or control of financial ac
tivities, concessions, permissions, enterprises and public services for the purp
ose of deriving profit or wrongful advantages for themselves or others."[14][15]
International[edit]
Mafia-proper can refer to either:
American Mafia
Sicilian Mafia
Italy[edit]
Other Italian criminal organizations include:
Camorra, operating in the region of Campania
'Ndrangheta in Calabria
Sacra Corona Unita in Apulia
Stidda and Cosa Nostra in Sicily
Other countries[edit]
Aboriginal-based organized crime
African-American gangs, including Gangster Disciples
Crips
Bloods
Albanian mafia
Armenian mafia
Aryan Brotherhood
Asian-American gangs, including Born To Kill
Tiny Rascal gang
Menace of Destruction
Sons of Samoa
Azeri mafia
Brazilian criminal organizations, including Primeiro Comando da Capital
Comando Vermelho
British crime firms, including Liverpool mafia
Clerkenwell crime syndicate
Arif crime family
Thompson crime family
Bulgarian mafia
Cape Verdean organized crime
Chaldean mafia

Chechen mafia
Colombian neo-paramilitary organized crime, including The Office of Envigado
Los Rastrojos
Los Urabenos
Corsican mafia
Cuban mafia
Dixie Mafia
Dutch Penose, including Delta crime syndicate
Dutch-Moroccan organized crime
Moluccan Kajahatan
French Milieu, such as Hornec gang
Georgian mafia
Greek mafia
Hispanic-American gangs, including Latin Kings
etas
Trinitarios
Mara Salvatrucha
Indian mafia
Irish Mob
Israeli mafia, including Abergil crime family
Odessa mafia
North Korea's illicit activities
Kkangpae
Lebanese crime families, including Al-Zein Clan
Miri-Clan
Mexican cartels, including Sinaloa Cartel
Los Zetas
Jurez Cartel
Gulf Cartel
Mexican-American prison gangs, including Mexican Mafia
Nuestra Familia
Texas Syndicate
Barrio Azteca
Nigerian mafia
No Limit Soldiers
Outlaw motorcycle gangs, including Hells Angels MC
Outlaws MC
Bandidos MC
Pagans MC
Mongols MC
Satudarah MC
Pakistani mafia
Polish mafia
Russian mafia
Serbian mafia
The Company
Tongs
Triads,[16] including 14K Triad
Sun Yee On
Bamboo Union

Turkish and Kurdish mafia

VVT
Yakuza
Yardies
Zoe Pound
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Gambetta 2009
2.Jump up ^ This etymology is based on the books Mafioso by Gaia Servadio; The S
icilian Mafia by Diego Gambetta; and Cosa Nostra by John Dickie (see Books below
).
3.^ Jump up to: a b Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia. pp. 259-261.
4.Jump up ^ Henner Hess (1998). Mafia & Mafiosi: Origin, Power and Myth. NYU Pre
ss. pp. 1 2. ISBN 9781863331432.
5.Jump up ^ John Follain (8 Jun 2009). The Last Godfathers. Hachette UK. ISBN 97
81848942493. "Even the origin of the word 'mafia' remains obscure. Some believe
its roots lie in the Arab domination of Sicily from 827 to 1061 and the Arabic w
ord mahias (daring) or Ma fir (the name of a Saracen tribe)."
6.Jump up ^ Henner Hess (1998). Mafia & Mafiosi: Origin, Power and Myth. NYU Pre
ss. p. 1. ISBN 9781863331432.
7.Jump up ^ Richard Lindberg (1 Aug 1998). To Serve and Collect: Chicago Politic
s and Police Corruption from the Lager Beer Riot to the Summerdale Scandal, 1855
-1960 (illustrated ed.). SIU Press. p. 161. ISBN 9780809322237. "The word "Mafia
" is a derivative of the Arabic maafir, the name of a tribe of Arabs who settled
in Palermo, Sicily before the Middle Ages. The Sicilian peasants adopted the cu
stoms of the nomadic tribe, integrating the name into everyday language. When th
e French were massacred in Palermo on Easter Sunday, 1282, the townsmen describe
d their brave defenders as the "Mafia." In 1417 this secret band of guerrillas a
bsorbed another society of local origin, the Camorra."
8.Jump up ^ Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia, p. 136.
9.Jump up ^ Lupo, The History of the Mafia, p. 3.
10.Jump up ^ Lupo, History of the Mafia, pp. 1 2
11.Jump up ^ Diego Gambetta (1993). The Sicilian Mafia: The Business of Private
Protection
12.Jump up ^ Glenny 2008
13.Jump up ^ Mafia and Mafia-type organizations in Italy, by Umberto Santino, in
: Albanese, Das & Verma, Organized Crime. World Perspectives, pp. 82-100
14.Jump up ^ Seindal, Mafia: money and politics in Sicily, p. 20
15.Jump up ^ Art. 416-bis, codice penale - Associazione di tipo mafioso
16.Jump up ^ Wang, Peng (2013). "The rise of the Red Mafia in China: a case stud
y of organised crime and corruption in Chongqing". Trends in Organized Crime 16
(1): 49 73. doi:10.1007/s12117-012-9179-8.
Sources[edit]
Albanese, Jay S., Dilip K. Das & Arvind Verma, (eds.) (2003). Organized Crime. W
orld Perspectives, Prentice-Hall, ISBN 9780130481993
Dickie, John (2007). Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia. Hodder. ISBN
978-0-340-93526-2.
Gambetta, Diego (1993). The Sicilian Mafia: The Business of Private Protection.
Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-674-80742-1.
Gambetta, Diego (2009). Codes of the Underworld. Princeton University Press. ISB
N 9780691119373.
Glenny, Misha (2008). McMafia. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-1400095124.
Hess, Henner (1998). Mafia & Mafiosi: Origin, Power, and Myth, London: Hurst & C
o Publishers, ISBN 1-85065-500-6
Mosca, Gaetano (2014). "What is Mafia." M&J, 2014. Translation of the book "Cosa
la Mafia," Giornale degli Economisti, Luglio 1901, pp. 236 62. ISBN 979-11-8566600-6
Paoli, Letizia (2003). Mafia Brotherhoods: Organized Crime, Italian Style, Oxfor

d/New York: Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-515724-9

Seindal, Ren (1998). Mafia: money and politics in Sicily, 1950-1997, Copenhagen:
Museum Tusculanum Press, ISBN 87-7289-455-5
Servadio, Gaia (1976), Mafioso. A history of the Mafia from its origins to the p
resent day, London: Secker & Warburg ISBN 0-436-44700-2