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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 ...
The Force of Destiny: A History of Italy Since 1796, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, ISBN 0-618-35367-4; Finkelstein, Monte S. Separatism, the Allies and the Mafia: The Struggle for Sicilian Independence 1943-1948, Lehigh University Press; Lupo, Salvatore (2009). The History of the Mafia, New York: Columbia University Press, ISBN 978-0-231-13134-6
Based on research conducted in this capacity he wrote the acclaimed Theft of the Nation, a treatise on the Cosa Nostra, and later the smaller Criminal Organization, in which he extended his conceptualization of organized crime to include criminal groups other than the Cosa Nostra. Cressey is credited with the theory of the "fraud triangle ...
The term was coined by the press and is informal; the criminal organizations themselves have their own names (e.g. the Sicilian Mafia and the related Italian-American Mafia refer to their organizations as "Cosa Nostra"; the "Japanese Mafia" calls itself "Ninkyō dantai", but is more commonly known as "Yakuza" by the public; "Russian Mafia ...
Within the Cosa Nostra, a mandamento is traditionally a district of three geographically contiguous Mafia cosche, which are families controlling a single land feud, or a city ward, in Sicily. A capomandamento represents the head of a territory, the mandamento, and is usually entitled to be part of the provincial Mafia Commission .
The Mafia was identified with the Cosa Nostra organization, and defined a unique, pyramidal and apex type organization, provincially directed by a Commission or Cupola and regionally by an interprovincial organism, in which the head of the Palermo Commission has a hegemonic role. [5] This premise became known as the Buscetta theorem.
To combat Italian organized crime, notably the Cosa Nostra in Sicilia and the 'Ndrangheta in Calabria, the Fascist government gave special powers in 1925 to Cesare Mori, the prefect of Palermo. [65] These powers gave him the ability to prosecute the Mafia, forcing many Mafiosi to flee abroad (many to the United States) or risk being jailed. [66]
Cosa Nostra. A history of the Sicilian Mafia, London: Coronet. ... Mafioso. A history of the Mafia from its origins to the present day, London: Secker & Warburg.