The American Italian Mafia, or Cosa Nostra to members, has become very powerful by disregarding the law and creating its own structure of command and law. Its culture and many of its central values are founded in its home country of Italy. Through violence, intimidation, money laundering and racketeering the crime families made massive amounts of money and exerted control in their communities and over many government employees.
The Mafia created The Commission in 1931 consisting of the bosses from each of the major crime families. The families knew that if they could limit the amount of conflict between themselves, then they could all benefit and more easily evade the law. The Commission decided who could become a member, or made man, and also whether certain assassinations should be committed. In 1946, one Commission meeting decided that the families would enter into the narcotics trade.
Most pivotal of all of the rules was Omertà. It instructs all Mafia members to offer no support to the law under any circumstances. Even if a member is wrongly serving a sentence committed by a non-Mafia affiliated criminal he must remain silent. Omertà encourages justice to be carried between families. This pursuit of vengeance is called a vendetta. A violation of omertà is punishable by death.This code of honor was rooted in the birthplace of the Mafia: Southern Italy. It arose in the 16th century as an opposition to Spanish rule and continued for centuries along with the continued colonization from foreign powers. It is a core part of Mafia life because of honnor, fear and its cultural history.
Once a man became a made man he was considered untouchable and was not allowed to be murdered without approval from his own boss or The Commission. In some cases the Mafia would hire someone to carry out an assassination on made men or regular civilians. During the 1930s and 1940s, the best group of hit men was Murder Inc. It was the “enforcement arm” for several crime groups including the Italian and jewish Mafia. Murder Inc. contracted between 400 to 1,000 murders. Many of its members were also members of the Italian and Jewish gangs in New York. The contract killers would use a range of methods to murder, such as ice picks and live burial.
The Mafia has other strictly followed rules. All members must be Italian to become made men. Members are not permitted to discuss business with nonmembers. Vendettas may be carried out only with approval from The Commission. There may be no fighting amongst members. No facial hair of any kind. Members may not have an affair with another member’s wife. Lastly, members must pay tribute from all deals to their bosses every month.
The American Italian Mafia was not without rules; it simply did not follow American laws. The Mafia actually owes much of its success to the rules it created and the commitment of its members to those rules. This only goes to show that for a society to be successful there must be order through laws, whether or not they are the laws of the society at large.
