who was FIRST in the world to start the Mafia, or the Mob....Italians,Russians,Japanese,(other)???

the Italians started it. way back in the 1800's i think, the word "Mafia" was first published. they started this when other countries try to invade them. . .

GoodFella

Actually it started in Sicily half a millenium ago... Sicily was constantly being bombarded by attacks from an Arabic tribe or something that finally took over the island... the Sicilian natives formed a secret society in the hills... and by the 1700's they were already beginning to go into crime...

The word "mafia" comes from an Arabic word meaning "refugee."

Italy never had a mafia, they had what was called the Camorra which was a hierarchy based organization... the Sicilians didn't a hierarchy...

The American Mafia is a combination of the Sicilian Mafia and the Italian Camorra... strong armed methods laced with business and a hierarchy.

By mob I was assuming you meant a mafia like they have on the Godfather... but technically the Japenese Yakuza has been around much, much longer than it's Sicilian counterpart.

Correct me if I'm wrong about any of this stuff.

-Lucky

In 1282, the French Angevins "held a tight grip on Sicily," and a secret society arose to defeat this oppressive organization. The battle cry of this rebellious group was:
"morte alla Francia Italia anelia!" (Italian for "death to the French is Italy's cry!"),
and if the first letters of the verse are taken, the anagram MAFIA is deciphered.

The word Mafia was first published in 1862 in a play by Giuseppe Rizzuto, called "I Mafiosi della Vicaria" (The Mafia in the Vicarage") about a secret criminal group in the prisons of Palermo.

In Sicily, the word mafia tends to mean "manly", and is often applied to someone without necessarily meaning they were a criminal. Sicily has had to adapt to numerous invasions: Arabs in the ninth century, Norman's in the 11th century, French in the 12th, Spanish in the 15th, as well as invasions by the Germans, Austrians and Greeks.


Secret societies in the hills were needed to resist foreign rulers. These societies were formed not only to try and defeat the French rulers but also to protect and feed the Italian families in the villages of Palermo and surrounding areas. Since most of the villagers were related, each village picked a member to head their family. These heads of families were called (capodecina or capos for short). The capodecina would pick men from the village to take with him to the hills. Before the men left for the hills they would have to pledge their loyalty, support and Omertá . The oath in English sounded like this:


"I (NAME GIVEN) want to enter into this secret organization to protect my family and to protect my brothers. ""morte alla Francia Italia anelia!" With my blood. (A knife is used to place a cut on the right index finger or hand) and the blood of all the saints, and the souls of my children.
(The sign of the cross is made) I swear not to divulge this secret and to obey with love and omerta. I enter alive into this organization and leave it only in death."


Once safe in the hills, all the capodecina's would get together and pick someone to be in charge of all the members of this secret society. The head of all the members was called (Capo di tutti capi) the boss of all the families. Food was scarce, conditions deplorable, the French controlled everything and if you didn't do what the French Angevins wanted, they would torture and kill you. The members of the society would raid supplies and weapons from the French and distribute their wares throughout the villages. They had to operate in complete secrecy. This was necessary to protect the members and their families from torture. This was an honorable society in the fact that you had to believe totally in the cause and be willing to die to protect the members. The villagers also respected and honored the soldiers from the hills. They knew there was a chance for freedom from the French but only if they remained silent about their fellow Italians in the hills.

Joining the society is like joining a religion. It is a lifetime commitment, stronger than any ties to other religions, state or even family. You cannot retire from it. This society has survived through centuries, it is secret and only members know other members. No one would ever admit to being a member nor tell you who other members are. That would violate Omertá and be punishable by death.

Throughout the centuries the leaders and soldiers have changed the society, some for the better, some for the worst. The men from the hills once stole to feed and protect their families and friends. They were very good at it. So good, they ended up with more food and supplies then they could ever use. In order to get things that they could not steal; they traded with mainland Italy and other countries. This was the start of the black market. The society has always been a powerful force in Italy.
Not everyone in the society is a criminal nor are all Italians in the society.


What Americans call Mafia in this country, is believed to be started by Don Vito Cascio Ferro, who fled to New York following the murder of banker Emanuele Notarbartolo in Sicily, in 1893. More society members fled to America during the 1920's, when Mussolini attempted to eradicate the Mafia in Sicily. When the Allies liberated Italy in World War II, they freed anti Mussolini prisoners, including many society members. Some were installed in positions of power, and thus began to interweave politics and organized crime in Italy. The society moved from the rural hills to the cities of Sicily. The Sicilians have developed co-operative agreements with other secret Italian societies, the Camorra and Ndrangheta, but remain the controlling organization. The Sicilians are flexible and can work with many nationalities. The major threat to the Sicilians and the society is their own periodic bloodletting feuds. If the society that was called Mafia in the 12th century was alive and well today; there would not be a need for government programs. All would prosper. Italians need to look close at their families and friends. There is no Mafia, it does not exist anymore, but there is a chance for Italians to work together with their families and friends to make life better and more prosperous.

don't forget about those Irish Gangsters

Corleone wrote, "There is no Mafia, it does not exist anymore"

EXCUSE ME ??? Where do you live ? In a Disney World ?!!! Just a few days ago the Sicilian police arrested a bunch of mafiosi who had gathered to elect a new capo, haven't you heard the news ??? Never heard abt the maxi-trials nicknamed "mano pulite" (clean hands) in the 90's ???

If you mean that the Mafia (with a capital M) as it first started doesn't exist anymore, well, it's not entirely true either 'cuz if the "official" reason usually given for its creation was to protect the islanders against invaders, the REAL reason was to extort money or goods from poor peasants, 'cuz there's no free lunch, you know ! Criminals got organized to be more powerful but without fees from the peasants they would provide no protection. As the years passed, it turned into extorsion, robbery, abductions, cigarette smuggling, etc. And murders of course. Many Italian judges who tried to erradicate the Mafia were killed (Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino in 1992 for example).

A lot has been written abt the rituals performed upon entering the organization and they differ from one "cosca" (family) to another.

There are different organizations : the Mafia is typically Sicilian (West-Sicilian to be precise), the Camorra comes from Campania, the N'Drangheta from Calabria (they specialize in children kidnappings), the Sacra Corona Unita from the Pouilles.

Nobody knows for sure the origins of the word "mafia", etymologists still have different theories abt it.
As Corleone said, the first public spreading of the word appeared in a play in Sicilian dialect in 1863 : 'I mafiusi della Vicaria", so far the word was used only in Palermo and its vicinity.

The word then appear as a neologism in a Sicilian/Italian dictionary in 1868 with several definitions describing several behaviors, from courage to insolence, from arrogance to bragging, and only the last definition says "collective name of all the mafiosi".
On April 25, 1865 the word mafia first appears in an administrative paper, a report from Palermo's prefect Filippo Gualterio who worries abt the power of the criminal organization.

We usually associate the word "mafia" with Sicily, yet it was used in the Piemont (Northern Italy) by the end of the XIXth century where it was synonymous with "camorra" (=bandits); there is a via Maffia in Florence near the Palazzo Pitti; and an island called Mafia is to be found near Tanzania.

As far as Sicily is concerned, today most etymologists and philologists agree on Arabic origins but does it come from "Maafir", the name of the Arabic family who occupied Palermo ? Or from ""mahias" which characterizes an insolent behavior ? Or from "Maha" which means a marble quarry like the one near Marsala and which served as a refuge for those who were on the run from the police ? Does the word come from the language spoken by the invaders of Western Sicily in the IXth and Xth c. or was it introduced by the Spanish settlers who occupied the island for over 4 centuries ?

A last point : some Sicilians started to worry abt the reduction of the meaning of the word to criminality and Giuseppe Pitré for example wrote several articles/pamphlets to underline that the word first meant noble qualities, strength, pride, perfection, courage and manliness.

Today "mafia" also works as an adjective to designate international criminal organizations : the Japanese mafia, the Columbian mafia, the Russian mafia, etc.

i didnt mean to say it doesnt exsist anymore, i am very sure it does (my family). i was directing it to what you said, you thought i meant.the capital M from way back. but i am in the US so i dont know what is going on back home. sorry.

Don't be sorry, Corleone, I wasn't sure what you meant exactly as I put it in my previous post and I doubted that you were as naive as truly believing that there was no M/mafia anymore.

I might be a little bit touchy on the subject 'cuz I grew up in a country (France) that's touched by the M/mafia and we get lots of documentaries and news on TV almost everyday, so we CAN'T ignore it.