I live near a small town in central Illinois that has a good sized Italian American community. They came here in the early 1900s to work in the coal mines. Lots of Croatians too.

I believe that most (if not all) of these immigrants were of Northern Italian origin. As far as how this pertains to Italian organized crime I have not heard anybody speak of an organized crime culture in this area. Everybody here is a redneck for the most part these days; even the Italian Americans.

The point is: I don't think Northern Italians have the Mafia as part of their culture, unless it has been imported from the South.
Joe Bonanno said that even Albert Anastasia could never fully understand "men of my tradition" and Anastasia was Calabrese.
Imagine what he'd think of a made guy from Milan?!