Mafia

The Mafia are an organized crime network of Italian origin in North America and Europe, one of the main organized crime groups in the world.

European Mafia
In Europe there is the Sicilian Mafia (the original group), the Neapolitan Camorra, and the youngest faction, the Nuovo Mafia. In the state of Italy, both the Sicilian Mafia and Camorra have become legitimate political parties. The Sicilian Mafia from Palermo rules the islands of Sicily and Sardinia, plus the southwestern tip of Italy. They have kept the corporations mostly out of Sicily. In turn the Camorra from Naples rules the rest of southern Italy and has basically sold itself to the corporations. Recently a new group emerged in Italy, called the Nuovo Mafia which is an anti-corporation resistance group that finances its operations via robberies, kidnapping for ransom, and the drug trade.

The Mafia organizations in Europe are involved in a variety of criminal activities. Which include smuggling, the drug trade, gambling, protection rackets, and so on. In the Mediterranean Sea there are a number of Mafia groups participating in the extensive smuggling in that area. Unlike the Triads who are concerned about their communities and invest a lot of their profits back into the community, some of the Mafia groups act like the Yakuza and Sudams showing no concern for their communities and focused only on profit.

American Mafia
The Mafia's origins trace back to the Sicilian clan-families known as the Coas Nostra. Because for years the Mafia was thought of as a myth, they were able to consolidate their power and adopt a cloak of secrecy. In the United States, the Mafia is the most powerful organized crime network. It makes the majority of its money via semi-illegal activites and is the least visible and expected.

It is organized into Families, each of which owns a specific city. A family may have in its employment hundreds of "wiseguys". It's led by a Capo (Godfather) who is always male, and his successor is either his oldest son or the closest and eldest of his male relatives. Ruling the families is a Commission of Capos, who try to put as much distance between itself and illegal dealings. It assigns the positions and cities within the Mafia and settle any major disputes betwen the families.

The Mafia provides their community and others with a variety of services and goods such as desperately needed loans, "discounted" surplus "goods", settling domestic disputes, and so on. Which has bought them the support of their community. It's rackets consist of loansharking and gambling, money laundering and stock fraud, and of course labor unions. The drug trade is still frowned on in the Mafia.

Major Mafia Groups

 * Sicilian Mafia (Italy)
 * Camorra (Italy)
 * Nuovo Mafia (Italy)
 * Mafia (United States)