Sicilian Mafia Video | Movie Clips

The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily. 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", claims sovereignty over a territory in which it operates its rackets – usually a town...  MORE

The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily. 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", claims sovereignty over a territory in which it operates its rackets – usually a town or village or a neighbourhood of a larger city. Its members call themselves "men of honour", although the public often refers to them as "mafiosi". According to the classic definition, the Mafia is a criminal organization originating in Sicily. However, the term "mafia" has become a generic term for any organized criminal network with similar structure, methods, and interests. The Mafia proper frequently parallels, collaborates with or clashes with, networks originating in other parts of southern Italy, such as the Camorra, the 'Ndrangheta, the Stidda and the Sacra Corona Unita. Giovanni Falcone, the anti-Mafia judge murdered by the Mafia in 1992, however, objected to the conflation of the term "Mafia" with organized crime in general: LESS