Sicilian Mafia

"The mafia" redirects here. For other uses, see Mafia (disambiguation).
Sicilian Mafia
Founding locationSicily, Italy
Years activeSince the 19th century
TerritoryMainly western Sicily, particularly Palermo, Trapani, and Agrigento[1]
EthnicitySicilians
Membership5,500 members[2]
Criminal activitiesProtection racketeering, extortion, vote buying, narcotrafficking, bid rigging, loan sharking, kidnapping, and murder

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. The Mafia's core activities are protection racketeering, the arbitration of disputes between criminals, and the organizing and oversight of illegal agreements and transactions.[4][5]

The basic group is known as a "family", "clan", or cosca.[6] Each family claims sovereignty over a territory, usually a town, village or neighborhood (borgata) of a larger city, in which it operates its rackets. Its members call themselves "men of honour", although the public often refers to them as mafiosi. By the 20th century, wide-scale emigration from Sicily led to the formation of mafiosi style gangs in Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, and South America. These diaspora-based outfits replicated the traditions and methods of their Sicilian ancestors to varying extents.

  1. ^ Paoli (2014), p. 124
  2. ^ "Mapping the mafia: Italy's web of criminal gangs explained". Euronews.com. 25 May 2021. Retrieved 27 December 2018.
  3. ^ Pike, John (3 October 1998). "La Cosa Nostra". Federation of American Scientists Intelligence Resource Program. Archived from the original on 27 January 2022.
  4. ^ Gambetta (1996)
  5. ^ Gambetta (2009)
  6. ^ Raab, Selwyn (2014). Five Families: The Rise, Decline and Resurrection of America's Most powerful Mafia Empire (1at ed.). Thomas Dunne Books. p. 13. ISBN 978-0312361815.