Is There A Mafia?

Conclusions

The Sicilian and American Mafia organizations have long held the same traditions, the same terminology, the same ideals. They have exchanged and shared members and leaders. They have cooperated on illicit enterprises. The closeness of the relationship between the two organizations - if one insists that they are two organizations rather than one, large multi-national organization - is further illustrated by visits between them, common actions against common enemies and the traditional American payment of a formal tribute to a supreme Mafia leader in Palermo, Sicily.

Though American members have adopted various other names for their organization, including Cosa Nostra (which, translated as "this thing of ours," is less a name than an attempt to refer to the organization WITHOUT naming it), Outfit, Syndicate (more properly used with regard to the extended organized criminal enterprise which involves non-Italian groups), Combination (similar to Syndicate), the organization is essentially the same in structure, membership, function and tradition as the Mafia in Sicily. As a result of the transplantation of numerous Mafiosi from Sicily to the United States, the two societies may also be viewed as genetically identical. It is not inappropriate to call this American organization by its hereditary name.

That is not to say that every use of Italian terminology when dealing with American organized crime is appropriate. Employing the respectful Romance language title of "don" as a synonym for "crime boss" is one of the more careless, improper and bigotry-inspired shorthands to find its way into crime reporting. The term "don" was never indicative of involvement in the Mafia until ignorant tabloid journalists got hold of it. It fit easily into headlines, even when the headline type was enlarged to eye-popping sizes.

The term "Mafia" itself ought not be used by us as a synonym for "The Syndicate" or for the generic "organized crime" term. Organized crime in America is composed of a variety of elements. The Italian-Sicilian Mafia is merely one component (but certainly one of the more influential and likely the most influential component). It is highly inappropriate - and, I believe, profoundly disrespectful to those of Italian/Sicilian descent (including myself) - to use the term "Mafia" as a generic term for organized crime or to link it with ethnic criminal groups and secret societies that do not share the heritage that produced the term.

While there certainly are organized criminal groups of different ethnic and racial backgrounds, there is no "Mexican Mafia" or "Jewish Mafia" or "Irish Mafia." Such things exist only in the copy of writers for whom the desire to be colorful outweighs the desire to be accurate and fair.

The author relied on the sources cited in the Bibliography web page for information contained in this article.