Omertà is a Southern Italian code of honor and code of silence that places importance on silence in the face of questioning by authorities or outsiders; non-cooperation with authorities, the government, or outsiders; and willfully ignoring and generally avoiding interference with the illegal activities of others. It originated and remains common in Southern Italy, where banditry or brigandage and Mafia-type criminal organizations are strong. Similar codes are also deeply rooted in other areas of the Mediterranean, including rural Spain, Crete (Greece), and Corsica, all of which share a common or similar historic culture with Southern Italy.
A mafia is a type of organized crime syndicate whose primary activities are protection racketeering, arbitrating disputes between criminals, and brokering and enforcing illegal agreements and transactions. Mafias often engage in secondary activities such as gambling, loan sharking, drug-trafficking, prostitution, and fraud.
Zips is a slang term often used as a derogatory slur by Italian American and Sicilian American mobsters in reference to newer immigrant Sicilian and Italian mafiosi. The name is said to have originated from mobsters' inability to understand the faster-speaking Sicilian dialects, which appeared to "zip" by. Other theories include pejorative uses such as Sicilians' preference for silent, homemade zip guns. According to still another theory, the term is a contraction of the Sicilian slang term for "hicks" or "primitives." The older Sicilian mafiosi of the pre-Prohibition era known as "Mustache Petes" were also referred to as "zips".
The Pizza Connection Trial stands as the longest criminal jury trial in the federal courts in U.S. history. The trial began on September 30, 1985 and ended with convictions of all but one of the 22 defendants on March 2, 1987.
The Stidda is a name for Mafia-type criminal organizations centered in the central-southern part of Sicily in Italy. Members are known as stiddari or stiddaroli. It is most active in the rural parts of southern Sicily and is partially a rival to Cosa Nostra. Some members have a star tattooed on their bodies.
In the American Mafia and Sicilian Mafia, a made man is a fully initiated member of the Mafia. To become "made," an associate first has to be sponsored by another made man. An inductee will be required to take the oath of Omertà, the mafia code of silence. After the induction ceremony, the associate becomes a "made man" and holds the rank of soldier in the Mafia hierarchy.
Organized crime in Italy and its criminal organizations have been prevalent in Italy, especially Southern Italy, for centuries and have affected the social and economic life of many Italian regions since at least the 19th century.
A Mustache Pete is the name given to members of the Sicilian Mafia who came to the United States as adults in the early 20th century.
A crime family is a unit of an organized crime syndicate, particularly the Mafia, often operating within a specific geographic territory. In its strictest sense, a family is a criminal gang, operating either on a unitary basis or as an organized collection of smaller gangs. In turn, a family can be a sole "enterprise", or part of a larger syndicate or cartel.
Over four days, between October 12–16, 1957, the American gangster Joseph Bonanno allegedly attended a series of meetings between some high-level Sicilian and American mafiosi in the Grand Hotel et des Palmes in Palermo, Sicily – the most splendid in town at the time. The so-called 1957 Palermo Mafia summit has become a legendary landmark in the international illegal heroin trade in popular Mafia non-fiction. The question is if it ever took place. The details of it are still shrouded in mystery. According to some, one of the main topics on the agenda was the organisation of the heroin trade on an international basis. The FBI believed it was this meeting that established the Bonanno crime family in the heroin trade.
A cosca, in Sicily, is a clan or Sicilian Mafia crime family led by a capo.
The Motisi Mafia clan is a historical Sicilian Mafia clan from the Pagliarelli area in Palermo. The Mafia roots of the family date from the late 19th century. A Motisi was mentioned in 1937 as the Mafia boss of Pagliarelli by Melchiorre Allegra, a mafioso physician who became an informant when he was arrested.
The Greco Mafia family is a historic and one of the most influential Mafia clans in Sicily and Calabria, from the late 19th century. The extended family ruled both in Ciaculli and Croceverde Giardini, two south-eastern outskirts of Palermo in the citrus growing area and also rural areas of Calabria where they controlled the olive oil market. Members of the family were important figures in the Sicilian Cosa Nostra and Calabrian 'Ndrangheta. Salvatore "Ciaschiteddu" Greco was the first ‘secretary’ of the Sicilian Mafia Commission, while Michele Greco, also known as The Pope, was one of his successors.
A capodecina is the head of a decina, a branch within a Mafia family. In the larger families, a capodecina is selected by the head of the family and coordinates units of about ten people.
The pizzo is protection money paid to the Mafia often in the form of a forced transfer of money, resulting in extortion. The term is derived from the Sicilian pizzu ('beak'). To let someone wet their beak is to pay protection money. The practice is widespread in Southern Italy, not only by the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, but also by the 'Ndrangheta in Calabria and the Camorra in Campania.
The American Mafia or Italian-American Mafia is a highly organized Italian-American criminal society. The organization is often referred to by members as Cosa Nostra and by the government as La Cosa Nostra (LCN). The organization's name is derived from the original Mafia or Cosa nostra, the Sicilian Mafia, and it originally emerged as an offshoot of the Sicilian Mafia; however, the organization eventually encompassed or absorbed other Italian-American gangsters and Italian-American crime groups living in the United States and Canada that are not of Sicilian origin. It is often colloquially referred to as the Italian Mafia or Italian Mob, though these terms may also apply to the separate yet related organized crime groups in Italy.
Francesco Paolo Augusto Calì, known as "Frank" or "Franky Boy", was the current Boss of the Gambino crime family. Law enforcement considers Cali to be the Gambino "ambassador to Sicilian mobsters" and have linked him to the Inzerillo Mafia family from Palermo. "Cali is seen as a man of influence and power by organized crime members in Italy", according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Lipton.
This page lists books about mafia organizations all over the world:
