Another example, but maybe not as strong, is Don Fanucci. In Part II and the novel it becomes clear that he wasn't a crime boss but just a loner. People in the Italian neighborhood adressed him as Don out of fear and respect because they thought he was 'connected' to Maranzalla and the Black Hand.
Yes. Fanucci was accurately portrayed as a type of "Black Hander" common to American urban ethnic neighborhoods in the early 1900's. Those people usually acted alone, or in very small groups, but were able to terrorize local people by cloaking themselves in the mantle of feared organizations in their native lands. Not just Italians--Jews, Irish, Eastern Europeans, too.
