Mafia.

The word "Mafia" has become so common designation of all criminal groups that nobody remembers, as when there was the word. The term "mafia" appeared on the territory of Sicily in the 15th century. The original Mafia was a secret organization, whose members are sworn to protect the Sicilians from the Catalan marauders. Three and a half centuries the Mafia to protect the population of Sicily. The turning point came in the second half of the XVIII century., During the revolutions of 1848 and 1860 scattered groups of mobsters used the chaos to destroy too many knowledgeable people, including the police. After the riots subsided, and Rome gained strength, the mafia began to protect lemon plantations and the local nobility.





It has been very profitable business, and soon the Mafia to build a powerful conglomerate that provides protection to everyone, and then moved to an open and racketeering. Just a few years of La Cosa Nostra disparate groups of all defenders of Sicily has become a powerful criminal groups engaged in racketeering.



Now the Italian mafia has been a huge amount of legal and illegal activities. The main source of revenue of the Italian Mafia - the drug trade. Of course, the Mafia is engaged in racketeering, smuggling, prostitution, fraud, and many others. In addition, the Mafia owns a huge number of clubs, restaurants, bars, and casinos, as well as banks and insurance companies. Revenues mafias billions. For example, according to the calculations of the Italian law enforcement authorities of the Italian mafia group profit Ndrageta (recently greatly surpassing La Cosa Nostra) is 35-40 billion euros annually. This amount of profit would allow this group by a large margin to win first place in the list of Forbes, if in its ranking of the largest companies in the world involved the Italian mafia.



In general, the Sicilian Mafia is built on the principle of the secret service. However, for three centuries, and it has actually been such. Mafia hierarchy looks like this:

1. Capo di Tutti Capi (Capo di tutti capi) - "boss of bosses" - the head of all families. At the moment, you know the name of only one person who is engaged in such a position of the Sicilian Mafia - Matteo Messina Denaro.

2. Capo di Capi Re (Capo di Capi re) - literally, "King Boss of Bosses" - a title of respect awarded "boss of bosses" in retirement.

3. Capofamiglia (Kapofamiliya) - Don - the head of the family.

4. Consigliere (Consileri) - "advisers" - Consultant Don. The real power, in principle, has not, however, Don usually listens to the advice of his consigliere, and theoretically, this person can push through almost any decision.

5. Sotto Capo (Sotto Capo) - Deputy Don and formal - the second person in the family.



6. Capodecina, Caporigeme, Capo (Kapodechina, Kaporezhim, Capo) - All three of these words refer to the same post - the captain of "men of honor" of soldiers of the mafia. As a rule, subordinate Capo is from 5 to 20 "soldiers."

7. Uomini D'onore, Sgarrista, Soldato (Umino donors Sgarrista, soldiers) - "men of honor" or "soldiers" of the Mafia, the initial step in the Mafia career.

8. Picciotto (Picchiotti) - literally, "little man." This group includes people who even become a part of the Mafia, but has not yet adopted into the family.

9. Giovane D'Onore (Giovanni donor) - Boys of honor - Friends and supporters of the mafia, as a rule, not the Italian blood. In this large group consists of corrupt officials, the police, lawyers, bankers, mafia, and all those people who help a family to function.

It is important to note that Don family usually does not have anything to do with the soldiers, and very rarely communicates directly with the captains. And certainly never personally ordered the performers. And the performers (Mafia soldiers), in turn, do not know anything specific about any of the captain or the works of other "units". Thus, the money raised up, and all illegal activities remains at the lower levels of the hierarchy. This is one of the secrets of success of the mafia - to collect any evidence against Don is extremely difficult, because he was not formally involved in illegal activities. And those caught soldiers can always be replaced without affecting the family as a whole. Of course, despite the secrecy, even the soldiers know very much of what interests the police and Interpol. Mafia could not have so long to "stay afloat" if not Omerta.



Omerta is a word often used in connection with the Italian mafia. Omerta - a code of silence. In fact, it is a strict ban on any cooperation with law enforcement agencies, with the exception of Giovanni donor - corrupt servants of the law. Even if the party organization was wounded, he was threatened with death shall be prohibited to name his abuser. It is forbidden to solve problems with other families with the help of police. Omerta comes almost to the point of absurdity - even if the soldier imprisoned for a crime he did not commit, he is forbidden in any way would help the police find the perpetrator, even if he is an enemy of his family.

Violation of omerta involves only one punishment - death. Anyone who breaks the vow of silence, becomes a target for all families, including that of his own.



10 Commandments of the Mafia
1. No one can present himself directly to our friends. There must be a third person, who will do it
2. Never look at the wives and friends
3. You should not be seen together with the police.
4. Do not go to bars and clubs
5. always be available for Cosa Nostra is your duty - even if your wife is giving birth
6. Date must be respected
7. Wives must be respected
8. When asked about anything, the answer must be true
9. Money can not be assigned, if they belong to others or other families.
10. People who can not be members of the Cosa Nostra: anyone who has relatives in the police, anyone who does not have moral values ​​



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