It is grammatically incorrect in Italian (like I said, in Italian it sounds like "the our thing"). I'm guessing the American guys who use it don't know the Italian language all that well. The Sicilians would have never said "la" to begin with.
I think the FBI may have actually been the first to use the "la", but I'm not sure why. Nonetheless, the mistake seems to have become permanent.
Not aimed at you, Ivan..but this really irks me when I hear this. Guys in Italy do not go around saying "Cosa Nostra" let alone, "La Cosa Nostra". So already that argument is dead.
In Italy, it is simply mafia, they don't refer to each as, "he's n'drangheta", "he's cosa nostra", "he's cammorista", etc.
They would say "la mafia" if anything, but really, they don't go around saying these things. They're very tight lipped people in Italy.
