Mafia

The term Mafia refers to a criminal organization that originated in Sicily in the mid-19th century. Although “Mafia” is sometimes considered a single entity, a more accurate view would identify the Mafia as a confederation of criminal groups with similar organizational structures, codes of conduct, and an interest in common crimes. In fact, the ability of Mafia groups to change according to circumstances enables the organizations to adapt to different cultural (national) and immediate (what is more profitable at the time) conditions. One chronicler, Raimondo Catanzaro, traces the origins of the Mafia to the orange groves of Conca D'Oro near Palermo, Sicily, in the early 1800s.

There, a loose confederation of rural bandits built a network that would exist for hundreds of years worldwide in one form or another. The network would not only oppose the authority of the Italian government in Sicily in the 1940s but would also eventually infiltrate it and take control of its agencies. Moreover, the Mafia would become the “law” over all of Sicily. Similar structures would be born in other countries and at other times, most likely because of the flexible structure of the Mafia.

Paradoxically, the inability of Mafia groups to institutionalize their power beyond a single person and his charismatic qualities became the foundation on which the strength of the Mafia power system rests, since it allows for adjustment to new situations, according to Catanzaro. The ability of organized crime to change according to conditions, culture, time, and individuals is what has made Mafia-like syndicates enduring and worldwide. However, there is another characteristic of organized crime that distinguishes it from other criminal activity. Organized crime differs from most street crime because the offenders will continue to associate with each other even when they are not committing crimes. It is the continued association that characterizes organized crime and Mafia-like organizations from other criminal forms.