Baisically my question is the original mafiosi how were they made? Were they made in italy and came over here or were they just self proclaimed made men? I know this is a horrible reference but in the Godfather 2 when Vito from what i kno was not made but when he killed the mob boss he was automatically the mob boss? Thanks for any info.

If I got it right, the Black Hand was a name given to a loose confederation of independent gangs most of which used a black hand sign to threaten their victims. Some of its members surely were made in Italy, but I don't think all of them were. For example, Giuseppe Esposito, one of the first New Orleans mafia bosses, wasn't even a mafioso before arriving in the USA, but just a bandit and a kidnapper. Others, like Vito Cascio Ferro, were already made and powerful before leaving Italy.

The black hand was an extortion group who would send a message to a store owner or someone else threatening to harm them if they didn't pay them a specific term without even seeing the person threatening them. They weren't the first mafia group the first i can think of was the Morellos but there was probably earlier ones.

The Black Hand was the name of the extortion racket they performed. The mailing of a threatening letter. Eventually, it became at term to categorize a new type of criminal in Italian ghettos in America.

There was no real leadership or structure. Aside from when a bunch of Black Hand extortionists got together to form an operation. Most worked alone however.

In fact, most mafiosi that came over from Italy preyed upon and used Black Hand extortionist for their own ends. I also read that the Black Hand method was relatively unknown or obscure in Italy. Alot of former Black Handers became American mafia members later on in their careers tho.

The roots of the Black Hand can be traced to the Kingdom of Naples as early as the 1750s. However, the term as normally used in English specifically refers to the organization established by Italian immigrants in the United States during the 1880s who, though fluent in their Southern Italian regional languages, had no access to Standard Italian or even a grammar school education. A minority of the immigrants formed criminal syndicates, living alongside each other. By 1900, Black Hand operations were firmly established in the Italian-American communities of major cities including New York, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Chicago, Scranton, San Francisco, and Detroit.

The Blackhand is not a Group or Organization, It is usually someone who work's for himself or work's for a group, The Blackhand is the same position as an Enforcer but only appears at the shop for money troubles.