It's a silly rule that serves no practical purpose.

Think about it....the Russian OC groups have guys from mixed ethnic backgrounds and the Russian OC groups are a lot more successful than Cosa Nostra.

Look at Joe Watts who had a Welsh father and a Italian mother and he could have easily have been a Gambino capo had he been made. Watts bought in tons of money for the Gambinos but because his father was Welsh suddenly he is unworthy.

Stupid.

Yeah but by mostly (not always in the US) sticking to their own, the Italian Mafia is one of the oldest organized crime groups in the world, by still being present for almost two centuries

The mafia was never inclusive,until the commission creation in 1931 the sicilians doesn't want the other italians like the neapolitans or calabrians in their gangs.Until the 1970s/1980s there was the little italies in the cities so was easy to by full blooded italian and boss like patriarca sr never made a wiseguy that wasn't full blooded.In the 1980s with the mafia crisis this rule was deleted and chucky porter was made even if he was italian only on the mother side.
Massino said that in the 2000 in the last commission meeting the rule was restored.
Personally I think that these days it's enough to have an Italian surname and made many $$$ to be made.About Joe Watts this is a different things because even he was a shell of what was,the american mafia is still italian so can made a guy (in the east coast families) with a not-italian surname.The outfit give to not-italian associates the same respect that give to made men so even not made their are at the same level.I think that this will be the future of LCN.

Actually by sticking to their own, that has helped contribute to their demise. Once there was 25 families in the US but now there are only 9. Less full blooded Italians around and the ones that are around don't want to join the mob.

The Chicago OutFit allows non Italians to be made and they aren't doing any worse than the Cosa Nostra families. It shows that the full blooded Italians only rule is pointless and contributing to their demise.

The Chicago Outfit don't allows non italians to be made,but made them to the same level of the made men in fact the Outfit core group is amde of 28 made men but with the associate they are around 100.

I've always seen the mob ( Made guys..) as a mechanism to privatize illegal criminal markets and contacts.

@ Furio

You should read some of John Dickes works. TheSicilian mafia has ALWAYS initiated just about any Italian they can get money with. Can't beat em, join em type of thing. There were a few powerful Mafiosi not Sicilian initiated into the SICILIAN Costa Nostra.

Examples?
1. Michele Zaza
2. Antonio Bardellino
3. Lorenzo Nuvoletta
4. One or more of those Piromallis, ,maybe Mommo, I gotta get my book....
There could

Like take Zaza, right? He was the biggest player in the cigarette trade, which centered around Naples. It was the biggest illegal business in Italy. So what did Costa Nostra do? They initiated men with influence in the industry, so as to gurrantee their stake, and to privatize the control of the markets in THIER hands. (But Zaza was STILL virtually uncontrollable, lol)

This was one of Luciano's main issues. It's why I think he and his click were so tight with Chicago. They cared about who was CAPABLE, first, ethnicity second, if they really cared at all.

if they start to make non italians it would be not cosa nostra anymore, but another organization that has nothing to do with it
one thing is make calabrians and neapolitans, who are like the sicilians with the same mentality, but not foreigners
i don't think anyway russian oc is more succesfull than cosa nostra, in the states cosa nostra is till stronger than russian oc, although by far weaker than the past

Joe Watts didnt have any italian in him at all and Gotti even said to him if he had even a little italian blood he would have been made.

CabriniGreen Im referring to american mafia not sicilian. Lorenzo Nuvoletta was called "the mafioso from Marano" and was the only man that the sicilian mafia respect in Campania. In 1981 Nuvoletta tried to stop the Nco-NF war and asked cosa nostra leaders to partecipate the meeting.
What interested to Luciano is to made $$$ and don't matter if Vito Genovese was Neapolitan,costello was calabrian ecc the Outfit was an exception for many years they doesn't had a formal induction ceremony just a sit in were the old men say ok youre in, to the mobster.

It’s all about family. If you’re not full blooded Italian, then it’s not Cosa Nostra.

Please bear in mind that any organized group or street gang is by nature territorial. It could originate in a small village in Italy or a small city block in south Boston of Irish decent. It could consist of family members, ethnicity or friends. Usually it forms in impoverished areas. It's success can depends on many factors such as numbers, street smarts, power,ability to expand and other. The groups or gangs that are most likely to succeed are the ones that abide by their criminal code.
The Mafia being one of the oldest criminal group has proven itself time after time to be resilient & strict adherence to it's code. In Italy they do not have a recruiting problem,so naturally they will be more discriminate and will recruit usually from territories they control or originate from and family members. So in Italy, just being Italian does not guarantee you membership. Let's forward to the Mafia in the USA. In the earlier days with a large influx of Italian coming into the country there was no problem with recruiting Italians that originate from their hometown (Sicily) or southern Italy.
Accepting members based on origin is a practice that most criminal groups around the world follow. Are there exceptions ? Yes there are. Even though a non Italian is not a member, he can still be an important associate within the mafia organization. Especially, if they are good earners.
So I do not buy this idea that non Italians are not accepted into the mafia organization. Example,Mayer Lansky couldn't care less that he couldn't be a boss in the mafia, his standing in the Mafia organization as an associate gave him more power & money than most that were members.

Luciano agreed to the rule to appease the Sicilian hard liners. The wars probably would have continued if he hadn't. One of the reasons Bonanno tried to start on upheaval is because too many non Sicilian and Jews had equal or more clout than him. And, look how fast he was banished.

It hasn't been Cosa Nostra for over 100 years. They were not a criminal organization when they started out, in fact they were the good guys.

The Russians are worldwide and are involved in more rackets and scams than Cosa Nostra. They own banks, politicians and numerous legitimate businesses. In the big trades like drug trafficking and arms trafficking, Cosa Nostra can never compete with the Russians.

Sammy said his mother was Italian.

It's all about money and Cosa Nostra has drifted very far from what purpose it was created. When Cosa Nostra started in the US they were the opposite of what Cosa Nostra was all about. They were extorting their own people.

I know the Russian mafia to be a powerful organization but not to the point you make them out to be. The Cosa Nostra operates in different countries the Calabrians are worldwide and are into drugs and arms trafficking and have politicians under their belt as well but yet more frequently than none you here Italian mafia's arrests. When do you hear of Russians getting arrested for trafficking. Certainly not as often. This tells me that the frequency of trafficking by Russians is not as prevalent.

He's just some Russian fan boy. It really makes me laugh when these random kids go around on the internet, blabbering on how the Russians are the toughest and most feared and biggest and blah blah blah. Like you said ciment, there is no proof to show the Russians are so powerful. Sure they may be very powerful in Russia, but so are the Italians in Italy, the mexicans in Mexico, triads in China, and so on so forth, so a point can't be made there, you have to look outside the country of origin. Outside of Russia, the Russians may have some power in eastern Europe, and a few guys scattered here and there in spain and some other countries but not nearly to the extent of the Italians. You got huge families in Canada, clans in germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Australia, Venezuela, other parts of South America and of course the United States where they continue to make headlines year after year. Where are the Russians? And don't give the Bs excuse that they are so secretive they can't ever get caught, because that's bullshit. They are just small and low-key so nobody in law enforcement really gives a shit about them. There's no heirarchies or anything I can really find anywhere for Russian groups in Canada or the US. What do the Russians have in the us? A few gavone's in Brighton Beach, and some outposts in Florida and LA. You can't even begin to compare that to the lcn, even it's weakened state today, that still has thousands of guys. The five families still dominate organized crime in New York City, the largest and arguably most important city in the us, and I would also say they are still the most important players throughout the whole east coast, chicago and detroit. (And arguably some other cities too). So I would definitely say the Russians are second tier to the Italians. The only reason people make them out to be big are because they aren't Italian and just want to bust the Italians balls. The same argument can be made for the other oc groups. Sure they are powerful in their home countries, but worldwide they aren't nothing like the Italians. And you gotta remember, countries like Mexico and China are less developed and more corrupt than Italy in the present day, so it's easier to do crime in these places.

cosa nostra started as a criminal organization since the beginning, i mean in sicily
i was talking of the united states anyway, cosa nostra is stronger than russian oc over there
a better comparison would be between italian oc as a whole (sicilian mafia/ndrangheta/camorra/scu) and russian oc as a whole (russian/georgian/ukrainian etc.)

The Calabrians are 'Ndrangheta not Cosa Nostra.

The Russians don't get arrested for trafficking because they got politicians and Police protecting them.

The FBI said it themselves that they target the Russians in the US more than the Cosa Nostra families because the Russians are a bigger threat.

Cosa Nostra never started as a criminal organization in Sicily.

Russian OC wins against the Italian OC. Much more money.

yes, it started as a criminal group at the beginning of 1800s and it copied ranks and rituals from the freemasons, at least this is the most believable theory so far



according to who? italian mafia seems to be more widepsread worldwide and more involved in international drug trafficking
both have strong political links and largely involved in frauds and money laundering in their countries

That's ridiculous and completely unfounded. The FBI love to publicly announced and brag when they bust organized crime rings, plus it makes the public know they are "doing something useful". I rarely if ever see them busting Russians, maybe one relatively smaller bust every few years, not even. Meanwhile there are multiple la Cosa nostra busts a year, a few small ones and usually one bigger one. And the lcn is a low key organization these days. If there were Russian mob busts in the us, people would likely be posting about them on this site, but there aren't because the Russian mob in the US mostly exists in the imagination of kids who don't know any better. Please stop trying to blow up these gavone's to be much bigger than what they really are, Russian OC in the United States is not that much.

Easy on the vodka ! So you say Russians don't get arrested. In a previous post you said they are worldwide. Are we to conclude from your intellectual analysis,that the police & politicians worldwide will not arrest Russian mafia members because they are on the Russian mafia payroll.

Furio,

Then who made Frank Salemme? His mom was Irish, and theres been different documents saying " Patriarca couldn't make him because his mother was Irish."

Yet he was considered the boss of New England at one point?

Later on even Salemme's son was made, who only was a quarter Italian..

Right but was Frank Sr made? And if not, how was he considered to be the boss?????

With the law and lnc not changing with the time being full blood this day n age make no sense.

Does this "only Italians" thing stop rats? No fucking way.