Hello there everyone its been awhile since ive been here. Well any way while I was out skateboarding today and a friend of mine said that the Mafia was started threw proahibition and bootlegging, I told him that the Mafia started back in early 1900s and earlier. Can you guys and gents help me proove him wrong.

thanks.

great to be back

Mafia got its start centuries ago in Sicily. The first American Mafia family established itself in New Orleans in the 1860s. By the time of Prohibition, all of the major US cities had Mafia families that had been operating for decades.

Bootlegging was just one of the Mafia's many organized crimes.

The first american mafia familie (like Turnbull said) was in New Orleans. It were the Matrangas (or the Provenzanos, not sure).
Prohibition just made the mafia (and other gangs) very rich and powerfull.

Mafia stuff started 500 or 600 years ago, or maybe Mafia started with the Devil performing a snake offering Eva an apple, or Cain killing Abel, his brother.

DPN, that isn't correct.

The maffia was founded in north-west Sicily, around 1857-1860.
In 1890, the maffia was already a very powerful organisation that controlled the whole country of Sicily.

If it is true that there were already mafiosi in New Orléans in the 1860's, then those mafiosi left Siciliy directly to establish the maffia there too.

Anyway, the maffia was founded because Sicily was the largest exporter of Citrus-fruits (oranges, lime, lemon) in the world. They exported especially to the USA. So those mafiosi in New Orleans probably wanted to be on the other side of the Citrus-connection too, to be sure they controlled every aspect of it.

The Mafia was gong on way before that Enzo, but it was certainly not called the mafia, it was considered the Honored Society and it wasn't nearly what it became in America it was more about Family and being helpful to the people of Sicily and being a sort of Government to the people when the many different governments couldn't help the people....that is the orgin of what we call today the "Mafia"



Joe Batters

Big mistake you make there, Joe.

The maffia is just a criminal violent organisation, that consist out of greedy people. It has nothin to do with being just for the people, with being friendly or whatever. It is the industry of violence. You CAN call the maffia a sort of replacement government. A corrupt, greedy, unjustice government.

And it is not something that is in every Sicilian, or something which is notable in every Sicilian.
And some people call every criminal Sicilian a maffioso. Also not correct! It is a strict organisation with members, and you can only become a member if they ask you. There are rules, but the most important rule is one that every mafioso makes for himself: Only follow the rules that you like.

The Mafia in Sicily may have not always been an organization of violent people. They evolved through many years, like the IRA in Ireland.

Enzo, I am sorry but I have to disagree with you, Mafia is older than 1800`s. So Mario Puzo said the origin of Mafia was in the 1400`s with The Borgia Family. But I think Julio Ceassar, Niccolo Machiavelli, Judas the 13th, were the old times mafiosos. I mean, maybe the Mafia was not known by the name itself in those times, but the behavior is the same. I think Mafia was born since Ada and Eva were born.

The Mafia of today and the 1900's was an Americanized version and over the years got more and more greedy, but if you read Joe Bonnano's Auotbiography Man of Honor you will see that the Honored Society of which his father was apart of wasn't out to steal money and deceive people, they were the most respected people in their town of Castelemaresse, but it could have just been in this areea that they were like that I don't know



Joe Batters

Caesar, Machiavelli, ... may have been criminal and powerful people but they were not mafiosi. The maffia is just one (1!) organisation of some Sicilian criminals. That patricular organisation was created during the 1850's/1860's, when Sicily was exporting citrus-fruits to the rest of the world. Big money was included, and some people gathered around Palermo, and they created a criminal organisation, which was very difficult to become member of. I agree the name 'maffia' may be newer, but the organisation wasn't.
What you mean I think is that Sicilians have had a diversion of the law for ages, since they always had a foreign ruler who put many taxes. But that doesn't mean they are all criminals, or even worse: all mafiosi, since again, the maffia is one particular organisation that has greed as it's biggest ...euhm thing.

Others can tell more, and more interesting about this.

What Mario Puzo tells has no value to me. He was very Americanized (didn't know how to speak Italian) and I don't think he knew something about the history of the maffia. He had a romanticized vision on the maffia.