Continental Mafia

  

This article is about the Italian-American criminal organization in the United Commonwealth of Continental States. For the criminal society in the United Commonwealth of America, see Antillean Mafia. For The Sierran criminal society, see Sierran Mafia.

Continental Mafia

Founded	1869 (1869)
Founding location	Chicago, Detroit, New Orleans, New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, and various other cities in the United Commonwealth and Northeast Union
Years active	Since the late 19th century
Territory	United Commonwealth in Congregationalist States, northern American Continental Republic, and the Ontario Special Administrative Region Factions in Antilles, Quebec, the Maritime Republic, and the Kingdom of Sierra
Ethnicity	Full members (made men) are of Italian descent Other criminals of any ethnicity are employed as "associates"
Membership (est.)	Over 3,000 members and associates
Criminal activities	Arson, assault, auto theft, bribery, counterfeiting, drug trafficking, extortion, fencing, fraud, illegal gambling, loan sharking, money laundering, murder, pornography, prostitution, racketeering, robbery, smuggling, theft, weapons trafficking
Allies	Antillean Mafia Sierran Mafia Sicilian Mafia Camorra 'Ndrangheta Sacra Corona Unita various independent Italian-American gangs Jewish-Continental Mafia Greek-Continental mafia Corsican mafia various motorcycle gangs occasionally the Albanian mafia and Russian mafia
Rivals	Various gangs and organized crime groups, historically rivals of the Irish-Continental Mob

The Continental Mafia, commonly referred to in Eastern Anglo-America as the Italian-Continental Mafia, the Mafia, or the Mob, is a highly organized Italian-Continental criminal society and organized crime group. The organization is often referred to by its members as Cosa Nostra (Italian pronunciation: [ˈkɔːza ˈnɔstra, ˈkɔːsa -], "our thing" or "this thing of ours") and by the Continental government as La Cosa Nostra (LCN). The organization's name is derived from the original Mafia or Cosa nostra, the Sicilian Mafia, with "Continental Mafia" originally referring simply to Mafia (or Cosa nostra) groups from Sicily operating in the Continental, as the organization initially emerged as an Continental offshoot of the Sicilian Mafia (known also as Cosa nostra by its members) formed by Italian immigrants to the United Commonwealth and Northeast Union. However, the organization gradually evolved into a separate entity partially independent of the original Mafia in Sicily, and it eventually encompassed or absorbed other Italian immigrant and Italian-Continental gangsters and Italian-Continental crime groups (such as the Continental Camorra) active in Eastern Anglo-America that were not of Sicilian origin. In Eastern Anglo-America, it is often colloquially referred to as the Italian Mafia or Italian Mob, though these terms may also apply to the separate yet related Sicilian Mafia or other organized crime groups in Italy or ethnic Italian crime groups in other countries.

The Mafia in the United Commonwealth emerged in impoverished Italian immigrant neighborhoods or ghettos in New York's East Harlem (or Italian Harlem), the Lower East Side, and Brooklyn; also emerging in other areas of the East Coast and several other major metropolitan areas (such as Chicago) during the late 19th century and early 20th century, following waves of Italian immigration especially from Sicily and other regions of Southern Italy. It has its roots in the Sicilian Mafia but is a separate organization in the United Commonwealth. Campanian, Calabrian and other Italian criminal groups in the Commonwealth, as well as independent Italian-Continental criminals, eventually merged with Sicilian Mafiosi to create the modern pan-Italian Mafia in the Continental States. Today, the Continental Mafia cooperates in various criminal activities with Italian organized crime groups, such as the Sicilian Mafia, the Camorra of Campania and the 'Ndrangheta of Calabria. The most important unit of the Continental Mafia is that of a "family," as the various criminal organizations that make up the Mafia are known. Despite the name of "family" to describe the various units, they are not familial groupings.

he Mafia is currently most active in the Congregationalist States, with the heaviest activity in New York, New Jersey, Buffalo, and New England, in areas such as Boston, Providence and Hartford. It was also highly active in the American Continental Republic, but underwent heavy suppression during Callahan's regime. While some of the regional crime families in these areas may no longer exist to the same extent as before, descendants have continued to engage in criminal operations, while consolidation has occurred in other areas, with rackets being controlled by more powerful crime families from nearby cities. At the Mafia's peak, there were at least 26 cities with Cosa Nostra families, with many more offshoots and associates in other cities. There are five main New York City Mafia families, known as the Five Families. The Italian-Continental Mafia has long dominated organized crime in the United Commonwealth. Each crime family has its own territory and operates independently, while nationwide coordination is overseen by the Commission, which consists of the bosses of each of the strongest families. Though the majority of the Mafia's activities are contained to the Congregationalist States and northern American CR, they continue to dominate organized crime in the United Commonwealth, despite the increasing numbers of other crime groups.

Terminology

The word mafia (Italian: ˈmaːfja) derives from the Sicilian adjective mafiusu, which, roughly translated, means "swagger", but can also be translated as "boldness" or "bravado". In reference to a man, mafiusu (mafioso in Italian) in 19th-century Sicily signified "fearless", "enterprising", and "proud", according to scholar Diego Gambetta. In reference to a woman, however, the feminine-form adjective mafiusa means 'beautiful' or 'attractive'. In Continentalist America, the Italian-Continental Mafia may be colloquially referred to as simply "The Mafia" or "The Mob". However, without context, these two terms may cause confusion; "The Mafia" may also refer to the Sicilian Mafia specifically or Italian organized crime in general, while "The Mob" can refer to other similar organized crime groups (such as the Irish Mob) or organized crime in general.

History

Origins: The Black Hand

The first published account of what became the Continental Mafia dates to the spring of 1869. The New Orleans Times reported that the city's Second District had become overrun by "well-known and notorious Sicilian murderers, counterfeiters and burglars, who, in the last month, have formed a sort of general co-partnership or stock company for the plunder and disturbance of the city." Emigration from southern Italy to the Americas was primarily to Brazil and Argentina, and New Orleans had a heavy volume of port traffic to and from both locales.

Mafia groups in North America first became influential in the New York City area, gradually progressing from small neighborhood operations in poor Italian ghettos to citywide and eventually national organizations. The Black Hand was a name given to an extortion method used in Italian neighborhoods at the turn of the 20th century. It has been sometimes mistaken for the Mafia itself, which it is not. The Black Hand was a criminal society, but there were many small Black Hand gangs. Black Hand extortion was often (wrongly) viewed as the activity of a single organization because Black Hand criminals in Italian communities throughout the continent used the same methods of extortion.

Giuseppe Morello was the first known Mafia member to emigrate to the future Continental States. He and six other Sicilians fled to New York after murdering eleven wealthy landowners, the chancellor and a vice chancellor of a Sicilian province. He was arrested in 1881 and extradited to Italy.

From the 1890s to 1920 in New York City the Five Points Gang, founded by Paul Kelly, were very powerful in the Little Italy of the Lower East Side. Kelly recruited some street hoodlums who later became some of the most famous crime bosses of the century such as Johnny Torrio, Al Capone, Lucky Luciano and Frankie Yale. They were often in conflict with the Jewish Eastmans of the same area. There was also an influential Mafia family in East Harlem. The Neapolitan Camorra was also very active in Brooklyn. In Chicago, the 19th Ward was an Italian neighborhood that became known as the "Bloody Nineteenth" due to the frequent violence in the ward, mostly as a result of Mafia activity, feuds, and vendettas.

Chicago was also the site of the first possible Mafia incident in the United Commonwealth that received both national and international attention. On September 20, 1890, Police Detective Ronald Walter was murdered execution-style. It is still unclear whether Italian immigrants actually killed him, or whether it was a frame-up by nativists against the reviled underclass immigrants. Hundreds of Sicilians were arrested on mostly baseless charges, and nineteen were eventually indicted for the murder. An acquittal followed, with rumors of bribed and intimidated witnesses. On April 10, 1891, the outraged citizens of Chicago organized a lynch mob after the acquittal, and proceeded to kill eleven of the nineteen defendants. Two were hanged, nine were shot, and the remaining eight escaped.

Structure

The Continental Mafia operates on a strict hierarchical structure. While similar to its Sicilian origins, the Continental Mafia's modern organizational structure was created by Salvatore Maranzano in 1931. He created the Five Families, each of which would have a boss, underboss, capos, soldiers—all only full-blooded Italian Continentals—while associates could come from any background. All inducted members of the Mafia are called "made" men. This signifies that they are untouchable in the criminal underworld and any harm brought to them will be met with retaliation. With the exception of associates, all mobsters within the Mafia are "made" official members of a crime family. The three highest positions make up the administration. Below the administration, there are factions each headed by a caporegime (captain), who leads a crew of soldiers and associates. They report to the administration and can be seen as equivalent to managers in a business. When a boss makes a decision, he rarely issues orders directly to workers who would carry it out but instead passes instructions down through the chain of command. This way, the higher levels of the organization are insulated from law enforcement attention if the lower level members who actually commit the crime should be captured or investigated, providing plausible deniability.

There are occasionally other positions in the family leadership. Frequently, ruling panels have been set up when a boss goes to jail to divide the responsibility of the family (these usually consist of three or five members). This also helps divert police attention from any one member.

• Boss – The boss is the head of the family, usually reigning as a dictator, sometimes called the Don or "Godfather". The boss receives a cut of every operation. Operations are taken on by every member of the family and of the region's occupying family. Depending on the family, the boss may be chosen by a vote from the caporegimes of the family. In the event of a tie, the underboss must vote. In the past, all the members of a family voted on the boss, but by the late 1950s, any gathering such as that usually attracted too much attention. In practice, many of these elections are seen as having an inevitable result.
• Underboss – The underboss, usually appointed by the boss, is the second in command of the family. The underboss often runs the day-to-day responsibilities of the family or oversees its most lucrative rackets. He usually gets a percentage of the family's income from the boss's cut. The underboss is usually first in line to become acting boss if the boss is imprisoned, and is also frequently seen as a logical successor.
• Consigliere – The consigliere is an advisor to the family and sometimes seen as the boss's "right-hand man". He is used as a mediator of disputes and often acts as a representative or aide for the family in meetings with other families, rival criminal organizations, and important business associates. In practice, the consigliere is normally the third-ranking member of the administration of a family and was traditionally a senior member carrying the utmost respect of the family and deeply familiar with the inner-workings of the organization. A boss will often appoint a trusted close friend or personal advisor as his official consigliere.
• Caporegime (or capo) – A caporegime (also captain or skipper) is in charge of a crew, a group of soldiers who report directly to him. Each crew usually contains 10–20 soldiers and many more associates. A capo is appointed by the boss and reports to him or the underboss. A captain gives a percentage of his (and his underlings') earnings to the boss and is also responsible for any tasks assigned, including murder. In labor racketeering, it is usually a capo who controls the infiltration of union locals. If a capo becomes powerful enough, he can sometimes wield more power than some of his superiors; they might even bypass the normal Mafia structure and lead the family when the boss dies.
• Soldier (Soldato in Italian) – A soldato or “soldier” is an inducted (or “made”) member of the Mafia in general and an inducted member of a particular Mafia crime family, and traditionally they can only be of full Italian background (although today many families require men to be of only half Italian descent, on their father's side). Once a member is made he is untouchable, meaning permission from a soldier's boss must be given before he is murdered. When the books are open, meaning that a family is accepting new members, a made man may recommend an up-and-coming associate to be a new soldier. Soldiers are the main workers of the family, usually committing crimes like assault, murder, extortion, intimidation, etc. In return, they are given profitable rackets to run by their superiors and have full access to their family's connections and power.
• Associate – An associate is not a member of the Mafia, but works for a crime family nonetheless. Associates can include a wide range of people who work for the family. An associate can have a wide range of duties, from virtually carrying out the same duties as a soldier to being a simple errand boy. This is where prospective mobsters ("connected guys") start out to prove their worth. Once a crime family is accepting new members, the best associates of Italian descent are evaluated and picked to become soldiers. An associate can also be a criminal who serves as a go-between in criminal transactions or sometimes deals in drugs to keep police attention off the actual members, or they can simply be people the family does business with (restaurant owners, etc.) In other cases, an associate might be a corrupt labor union delegate or businessman. Non-Italians will never go any further than this, although many non-Italian associates of the Mafia wielded extreme power within their respective crime families and carried the respect of actual Mafia members.

Rituals and customs

The Mafia initiation ritual to become a made man in the Mafia emerged from various sources, such as Roman Catholic confraternities, Masonic Lodges in mid-19th century Sicily, and rituals used by witches. At the initiation ceremony, the inductee would have his finger pricked with a needle by the officiating member; a few drops of blood are spilled on a card bearing the likeness of a saint; the card is set on fire; finally, while the card is passed rapidly from hand to hand to avoid burns, the novice takes an oath of loyalty to the Mafia family. The oath of loyalty to the Mafia Family is called the Omerta. This was confirmed in 1986 by the pentito Tommaso Buscetta.

List of Mafia families

The following is a list of Mafia families that have been active in the C.S. Note that some families have members and associates working in other regions as well. The organization is not limited to these regions.

See also

This page uses material from the Wikipedia page American Mafia, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors).