The mafia (also: Maffia) was initially a secret federation, that its roots in the Sicily 19. Century had, in the meantime however is world-wide criminally organized active. The mafia and the Cosa Nostra designate today practically the same organization. The vague term mafia only Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino got a face into the 1990ern by the late judges murdered by the mafia, since by the statements of the ex mafia member Tommaso Buscetta the structures were legally usably uncovered for the first time here up to prominent Bossen of the families of the Cosa Nostra operating world-wide. The colloquially used term mafia for any form of organized criminality is essentially wrong, since here a differentiation between mafia and other similarly aggierenden criminal organizations in the world, which developed locally and historically independently of the mafia completely, do not take place any longer; that applies e.g. to the Mafiabegriffe coined/shaped by media like e.g. Russian mafia or Vietnamesi mafia. These criminal organizations are called however mafiose organizations, because they are very similar in their activities and because of their influence on society, economics and politics of the mafia of Italian origin.

Etymologie

The origin of the word mafia is uncertain; there are different beginnings. A possibility would be the Arab mahyah (Prahlerei), or also ("m" = "and = "protect courage""). To another mafia leads away itself from "mA afir", a sarazenischen sex, which governed from 831 to 1072 in Palermo. Mafia could let itself be deduced in addition, from the French "mauvais". Some historians see the origin in the initial letters of the battle calls "to Morte Alla Francia, Italia Anela "("Italy "desires itself the death of France) and "Morte Ai Francesi, Invasori, Assasini" ("death the Frenchman, intruders, murderers"), with which fighters fell themselves into Palermo on their Besatzer. In an Sicilian-Italian dictionary the term mafia emerged in the year 1868 and as synonym for Camorra is for the first time designated there.

The mafia and the organized criminality

Before one turns to the term mafia, the article organized criminality should be read, in order a umfassenen overview of the different manifestations of organized criminality to receive and the demarcation to the mafia. The mafia differs from other forms of the organized criminality in her structure: The mafia of Sicilian origin consists of families so mentioned - whereby it does not concern families in the actual sense here, but around a close strictly hierarchically arranged group federation from members of Sicilian descent - which a Codex follows, whose rules exactly each family member has to keep. Offences against these rules were often punished in the past with most brutal means up to murder. The mafia is not above all also a patriarchale organization, women has an entrance to the hierarchy of the Mafiafamilien, the members is excluding men. Each Mafiafamilie has a Boss, each family member is committed to which to absolute obedience. Again a Oberboss manages this Bossen, which has unrestricted power over all families. The hierarchy of the mafia is listed in the article Cosa Nostra.

The mafia and who can be ranked among it

Actually only the mafia of Sicilian origin can stress this name for itself, however today further criminal organizations are assigned to the Mafiabegriff.

Italy

• The country of origin of the mafia is today firm until in her hands. The fact that the mafia is further present proves the recent events in to Neapel, with which rivaling clan of the Camorra, which control the drug trade among other things into and around Neapel, supplied themselves a bloody gang war. Since the escape Paolo di Lauros, who could be arrested in September 2005, came it to bloody arguments between the different families of the Camorra around the supremacy, which between 2004 and 2005 nearly 200 humans fell to the victim.
• After the bloody Mafiakrieg in the Palermo of the 1980er transferred the heroin market controlling Corleoneser under guidance Riinas the Sicilian Cosa Nostra. After the arrest Riinas replaced it Bernardo Provenzano, which 2006 could be arrested. Whether the mafia stands however at all still under the upper supervision of an individual Bosses, how this with the old mafia of Sicilian origin the case was ever more strongly doubted. Is ever more probable that the different Mafiafamilien aggieren interlaced with one another, in their territories however completely independent ways go.
• The kalabresische' Ndrangheta is in the meantime probably one of the most powerful criminal organizations of Europe.
• The Sacra corona unita is one only 1983 in Apulien Mafiaorganisation developed.
• The Sicilian Stidda is a smaller Mafiaorganisation.

The USA

• The American Cosa Nostra was considered because of the mostly Sicilian origin of its members as a folder of the mafia, although it is not clarified, into to what extent it with the Sicilian mafia it is connected and whether there is today still another uniform power structure, if there were her ever. (Members from and the 30's 20's: Lucky Luciano; Members of the modern times: John Gotti and Sammy Gravano)

Criminal alliances mafiosen type

The following criminal organizations become often under the term mafia summarized, although they do not have the socialhistorical context. These are to be called therefore rather organized criminality, whereby there does not have to actually be a uniform organisational structure in all cases.

The USA

• The Cosher Nostra was a mafioses alliance particularly in the New York of the 30's, to which hundreds murders are attributed. She got their name following the Cosa Nostra and the mostly Jewish descent of some legendary gang members such as Meyer Lansky, Bugsy seal and Dutch Schultz. The Cosher Nostra disappeared however with the death of its members.

Colombia

• Latin America was controlled in, the 80's and 90's 70's by two Colombian drug trusts, which divided the Latin American and American cocaine market nearly completely under itself. The most powerful was the Cali trust, which controlled up to 80% of the cocaine trade with the USA. The substantially smaller trust was well-known because of its notorious Bosses Pablo Escobar, which among other things created it by its crimes to one of richest humans of the world and to a brief seat in the Colombian congress, but 1993 were shot after longer hunt by the police on the escape.

Asia

• The Japanese Yakuza
• The Chinese triads

Mafia and politics

The mafia a development of right-conservative thinking is politically regarded, with a very strong restriction of the principles of the right nationalness and the free free-market economy. From this political positioning the mafia infiltrates in particular parties of the right and moderate spectrum. Their classical political opponent are left parties, left trade unions, in addition, partially liberals movements and trade associations. Simply said the mafia all movements are opposite, whose common interest is the transparent and social organization of national conditions.

In the case of Italy was apparent fascism under Mussolini such an opponent of the mafia at the same time most radical and most successful. Within fewer years and Kraft of the possibilities of totalitarian state order here the of the mafia up to the Bedeutungslosigkeit succeeded. As drawback of this success and at the same time importantly for specifying the phenomenon mafia, less an opponent than rather an unequal competitor steps opposite with the fascism of the mafia. This "Mafia connection" of totalitarian states becomes also itselfable, where, in the reverse case, with the collapse not-democratic regime, as the states, a partially rapid development of the mafia is to be observed former Eastern Bloc. Remarkably in feature thereby in particular former functionaries from secret service, a party and the political economy step.

The characteristic of the mafia, thus the fusion of organized criminality and state, is only possible in the measure, how it a common, in the people deeply embodied mentality expresses. Their penetration into the administration describes at the case of Italy Violante (in the nineties boss of the anti-Mafia-commission): "The mafia tried ever more to penetrate directly into the policy and places even her own candidates. Therefore one must regard the eyes open and react sharply""Â… "as the mafia is it not so much the problem to find connections with national politicians the mafia wants to money to come. Therefore it is important for the Cosa Nostra to transfer also on local and regional level politician into the institutions. All parties would have to set themselves with the danger of Mafia involving apart."

In the people common attitude against national order penetrates on the one hand into all instances of publicly visible political life, adererseits organizes it hierarchically arranged decision-making bodies including implementing organs. Thus a Vincenzo Calcara reports from the day of its ritual admission: "The Cosa Nostra recognizes the authority of the state not on, to which she always stood and will stand in contrast. We do not worry about the state. Our homeland is the Mafia family, which we must defend up to the last blood drop". (Bettini 1994, 86-88).

Articles in category "Mafia"

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