Informally or generally, a mafia is any of various criminal organizations that include, or bear a strong similarity to, the original Sicilian Mafia, the Italian-American Mafia, or other Italian …

Dec 31, 2025 · The Mafia emerged in Sicily in the 19th century during Italy’s unification, although some suggest it began in the late Middle Ages as a secret organization against foreign …

Oct 29, 2009 · The Mafia, a network of organized-crime groups based in Italy and America, evolved over centuries in Sicily, an island ruled until the mid-19th century by a long line of …

This website attempts to uncover the important individuals, events and locations in the history of the American Mafia, to dispel the false legends that have risen about that history, to offer …

Learn all about the people and conditions that helped create the modern mafia here.

Learn how the Mafia formed in the 19th century and how it spread from Sicily to New York City and beyond

La Cosa Nostra evolved from the Sicilian Mafia and is one of the foremost organized criminal threats to American society. Translated into English it means “this thing of ours.”

Emerging as a form of local protection and control over land and agriculture, the Mafia gradually evolved into a powerful criminal network. By the mid-20th century, it had infiltrated politics, …

Nov 12, 2023 · The origins of the Sicilian Mafia are tangled up in romantic folklore that muddies the real history. These stories mix medieval legends, tales of foreign conquest, and 19th …

The Mafia owes its origins to and drew its members from the many small private armies, or mafie, that were hired by absentee landlords to protect their estates from bandits in the lawless …