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A crime family is a term used to describe a unit of an organized crime syndicate, often operating within a specific geographic territory. The term is used almost exclusively to refer to units of the Mafia, both in Sicily and in the United States, although it is occasionally used to refer to other groups.

Origins

The origins of the term come from the Sicilian Mafia. In the Sicilian dialect, the word cosca, which literally translates into artichoke (a multi-layered vegetable surrounding a vital core), is also used for clan. In the early days of the Mafia, loose groups of bandits organized themselves into associations that over time became more organized, and they adopted the term based on both of its meanings.

As the Mafia was imported into the United States in the late 1800s, the English translation of the word cosca was more at clan or family.

The term can be a point of confusion, especially in popular culture and Hollywood, because in the truest sense, crime families are not necessarily blood families who happen to be involved in criminal activity, and not necessarily based on blood relationships. The Godfather films as well as a spate of "Mafia princess" made-for-TV-movies in the late 1980s underscores this confusion.

It can further be speculated that the Mafia was simply emulating, to a certain degree, a more medieval order in which a noble family would more or less serve as the power in a local village, in a sort of inverted hacienda culture.

The Calabrian 'Ndrangheta is, however, purported to be organized along familial lines.

Nevertheless, the term stuck, both in the minds of popular culture as well as the national law enforcement community, and eventually began to be used to describe individual units of not only Sicilian gangsters, but those whose origins lie in other parts of Italy (e.g., the aforementioned 'Ndrangheta, the Neapolitan Camorra, etc.). Indeed, the "family" mystique is to such a great degree that in the late 1990s, after many Camorra leaders were imprisoned during a large-scale crackdown in Naples, many of their wives, girlfriends, daughters, and even mothers took temporary control of their gangs, in a widespread phenomenon of Camorra "godmothers".

Sometimes the term is used to describe distinct units of crime syndicates of other ethnic and national origin, such as the Irish Mob, Japanese Yakuza, Chinese Tongs and Triads, Colombian drug cartels, and the Eastern European and Russian Mafia (it should be noted here that some of these entities, like the 'Ndrangheta, may also be organized along blood-family lines).

Mafia crime families

North America

There are many crime families which make up the American Mafia, ranging from giant powers with international influence like the Outfit and the Five Families of New York to small groups with only about 30–50 made members.

• New York has five families. These families, together with several powerful members of Jewish-American organized crime, established the Commission in the 1930s, which decided on the rules for the entire American Mafia. This ruling board was established shortly after the end of the bloodiest war in the history of the New York Mafia, the Castellammarese War. One of its most famous founders was Lucky Luciano, who became the most powerful member of the Commission after arranging the murders of Joe Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano, the two belligerents in the Castellammarese War. Although the media often attempts to anoint one boss of one of the Five Families as capo di tutti capi ("boss of all bosses") of the American Mafia, in reality the position does not really exist. The only individual believed to have ever been in a position to actually claim the title was Luciano, who explicitly renounced it.

The Five Families are:

• The Gambino crime family
• The Bonanno crime family
• The Genovese crime family
• The Lucchese crime family
• The Colombo crime family

Over the years, the New York Mafia has been the focus of many of the more prominent pop culture representations of the Mafia. Such films as Goodfellas, The Godfather trilogy, Donnie Brasco, and Little Caesar have been set in New York.

• Chicago is the home of the Chicago Outfit, the direct descendant of the Prohibition-era gang run by iconic crime boss Al Capone. The most powerful Mafia family outside of New York, the Outfit also controls rackets throughout much of the Midwest, and once controlled many of the most prominent casinos in Las Vegas, Nevada, although its power there (like the rest of the Mafia's) has waned in recent decades. Unlike other Mafia families, the Outfit has been noted as very ethnically diverse in its leadership, with such non-Italian individuals as Jake Guzik, Gus Alex, and Murray Humphreys rising to positions of authority within it.

The Chicago Outfit, too, has been the subject of numerous portrayals in pop culture, including the TV show The Untouchables, its Academy Award-winning film adaptation, and the films Casino, Scarface, and Road to Perdition.

• Philadelphia is the home base of the Philadelphia crime family, which also has interests in much of South Jersey, especially Atlantic City, Camden, and Trenton. Although long known as one of the least violent crime families, it was wracked by a bloody civil war after the 1980 assassination of longtime boss Angelo Bruno, allegedly killed for his attempts to keep the lucrative Atlantic City rackets from other families after the legalization of casino gambling there. Although Atlantic City mobster Nicodemo Scarfo would eventually win the war and become boss of the family, he was convicted under the RICO Act in 1989 and sentenced to 60 years in prison, leading to yet another civil war. After reputed boss Joseph Merlino was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2001, the family has reportedly been returning to its tradition of quieter, more low-key operations.

• New Jersey has the smaller and less powerful DeCavalcante crime family, which mostly holds control over turf in North Jersey, such as Hudson County and Newark. Although not as powerful as other families, the DeCavalcante family is noted for inspiring the fictional crime family portrayed in the most popular pop culture portrayal of the mob in recent years, the HBO TV series The Sopranos.

• New England is the domain of the Patriarca crime family, which is based in Boston and named after its longest-serving leader, Raymond L.S. Patriarca. Although once the undisputed master of organized crime in New England, the family was significantly diminished during the 1970s and 1980s by the defection of prominent associate Vincent Teresa, who became a government informant, and the rising power of the Irish Mob, particularly the Winter Hill Gang under the infamous James "Whitey" Bulger. Today, although smaller and somewhat less influential than in the past, the Patriarca family is still one of the most prominent American crime families.

• Florida is the home of the Trafficante crime family, a small family named for its two most notable former bosses, Santo Trafficante, Sr. and Santo Trafficante, Jr. Although once a major power in the national Mafia (especially in their operations in pre-Castro Cuba), the Trafficante family now operates on a much lesser level, mostly in extortion, numbers, loan sharking, and drug trafficking. It holds most of its influence in Tampa and Miami, the latter of which is now considered an "open territory" by the Mafia at large.

• New Orleans is the home of the New Orleans crime family. Its most notable (and longest serving) leader was Carlos Marcello, who is perhaps most famous for his role in Operation Mongoose, the CIA plot to assassinate Castro, and his prominent placement in many Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories. Since Marcello's death in 1993, the family has receded into the shadows, and its relative power, both in New Orleans and nationally, is a topic of debate.

• Buffalo is the home of the Buffalo crime family, also known as "The Arm", which has seen its fortunes wane considerably in recent years. Originally recognized when it was led by Stefano Magaddino, a cousin to Joseph Bonanno, the family has now been removed from the Commission and is no longer considered to hold undisputed status as master of the Upstate New York rackets.

• There are Mafia crime families of varying degrees of prominence in numerous other North American cities, including the Detroit Partnership, the Cleveland crime family, and the Los Angeles crime family.

See also

• Mafia

References