The Mafia started in Sicily in around 1865. The Mafia is a clan or group that is involved in organised crime. It has spread all over the world to countries like Russia and America. The Italian Mafia still have many groups and over 5000 members today and still operate all over the world.
The ITALIAN MAFIA originated in Sicily in around the year 1865 AD, when some powerful Sicilians or Sicilian families engaged in violent and criminal activity. The island of Sicily, with a tradition of resistance to outside domination saw the rise of the Sicilian Mafia in the second half of the nineteenth century. Between 1925 and 1929, the Italian Fascists made an effort to get rid of the mafia and re-establish government control of violence, but prefect Ceasare Mori (the man putting the effort to effect), was dismissed when he targeted powerful people supporting the Fascist regime. Mori's effort did replace Mafia control of the relationship between peasants and landowners with state control, but it didn't solve the problem. The Mafia restored itself when fascism fell and got a further boost when the Allied occupation in 1943 turned to local powers for help in governing. There are four types of Mafia that rule over Italy. The biggest is the Sicilian Mafia based in Palermo. This Mafia has 186 families with 67 of them located in Palermo. Joining the Mafia is like joining a religion, once you're in there -- you're in there for life! There is no retirement from the Mafia and the only way to quit is death.
The AMERICAN MAFIA began in 1878 when Guiseppi Essposito and other Sicilians arrived in America. This clan was barley noticed. In 1893, Don Vito Cascio fled to North America in fear of the death penalty. This was the first true site of the Sicilian Mafia in America. During the 1930's the greatest mob boss of all time, Lucky Luciano, and other mob bosses overtook La Cosa Nostra and spread it throughout the U.S. Moving families to 25 cities in all. La...