Mafia - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Overview

The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering. Each group, known as a "family", "clan", or "cosca
Cosca
The word cosca is a Sicilian word which refers to any plant – such as the artichoke or the thistle – whose spiny closely folded leaves symbolize the tightness of relationships between members of the Mafia. In the English language this is best described as a clan. It is often used as a synonym for...

", claims sovereignty

Sovereignty

Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...

over a territory in which it operates its racket

Protection racket

A protection racket is an extortion scheme whereby a criminal group or individual coerces a victim to pay money, supposedly for protection services against violence or property damage. Racketeers coerce reticent potential victims into buying "protection" by demonstrating what will happen if they...

s – usually a town or village or a neighbourhood (borgata) of a larger city.

Unanswered Questions

What are the legal activities of mafia?

When a crime boss, or don, dies what would be the traditions in selecting a new boss? Is there a specific something the old boss might say or do (suc...

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Discussions

American mafia

What effect did fascism have upon the mafia?

What codes of conduct are expected of Mafiosi?

The modern Italian mafia

i was told by a notorious old timer in his early 90's. that there were pro nazi's rallies on the upper east side of manhatten just prior to the war...

Carmine “The Cigar” Galante. Mafia boss and Silvio Berlusconi. Italian President.

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Timeline

1963 Ciaculli massacre: a car bomb, intended for Mafia boss Salvatore Greco, kills seven between police officers and military personnel near Palermo.

1985 Mafia: In New York City, Paul Castellano and Thomas Bilotti are shot dead on the orders of John Gotti, who assumes leadership of the Gambino family.

1991 Libero Grassi, an Italian businessman from Palermo is killed by the Mafia after taking a solitary stand against their extortion demands.

1992 In New York, Mafia boss John Gotti is convicted of murder and racketeering and is later sentenced to life in prison.

1992 Anti-Mafia Judge Paolo Borsellino is killed by a Mafia car bomb in Palermo, Italy together with five police officers.

1993 Italian former minister and Christian Democracy leader Giulio Andreotti is accused of mafia allegiance by the tribunal of Palermo.

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