Mafia Not At All That Bad Essay
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Introduction
Background
All my life I ve always wanted to be a gangster
This line by Henry Hill tells us about his fascination and respect for that organization of honorable men known as the mob or the Mafia. Objectively speaking, he cannot be blamed for such a sentiment. A lot of people share in this respect and fascination. Books such as The Godfather and The Last Mafioso, as well as movies like Casino and Goodfellas give people a realistic view of Mafia life and the struggles that a Mafioso experiences.
During the ninth century, Sicily was occupied by Arab forces. The native Sicilians were oppressed and took refuge in the surrounding hills. They then formed a secret society to unite the natives against the Arab and Norman invaders. This secret society was called Mafia after the Arabic word for refuge. In the 1900 s Mafia only referred to the rich American-Sicilians living in the United States who provided financial aid and protection to their less fortunate countrymen also residing in their areas. The society's intentions were to create a sense of family based on ancestry and Sicilian heritage.
Although the world labels the Mafia as ruthless, destructive, corrupt and evil criminals, they do have their honorable side. What we should admire in these people are their code of honor and vow of silence (the Omerta), and the way they value friendship, camaraderie, loyalty, respect and trust.
Statement of the Problem
In the early part of the 20th century, gambling was very much illegal and therefore the Mafia held most of its operations in the US, especially in the areas of New Jersey, New York and Chicago. It was not legalized until Bugsy Siegel founded Las Vegas after the First World War. This was the first criminal activity that the Mafia was known to have, along with the murders and assassinations of people that got in their way. Since then the police and the FBI have been trying to pin down all the Mafia families.
Our society nowadays, upon hearing the term Mafia immediately thinks of a gang of ruthless criminals that kill people out of a slight anger, bribe the police and politicians, all for the pursuit of making themselves richer. They are branded as evil, heartless, corrupt and greedy. Donald Cressey, in his book Theft of the Nation: The Structure and Operations of Organized Crime in America (1969), says that organized crime is the most sinister kind of crime in America. This is because the Mafia chiefs practically have the entire community in their pockets: they have a number of the police and politicians in their payrolls, and these people blindly do as the Mafia commands, for fear of an untimely death. They are forced to manipulate and corrupt the laws that they themselves have sworn to protect. Society therefore, becomes a puppet of these greedy and selfish monsters.
But this is just not the case. On contrary to common belief, the Mafia is not merely a band of ruthless criminals after personal wealth, but a group of honorable people who uphold values and work together in order to survive. This paper discusses how the mob s distinct moral values make them more honorable and higher than most of the members of society and how the criminal acts they execute are committed only when absolutely necessary.
Definition of Terms
The term Mafia came from the Arabic word for refuge. Nowadays this word is used to refer to a secret criminal organization composed of a Don, the head of the Family, and his members. Another reference to the Mafia would be the Italian phrase La Cosa Nostra , literally translated as this thing of ours or our affair.
The code of Omerta is the vow of silence sworn by a Sicilian, the highest form of oath that one takes when he enters a particular family. The simple rule would be not to inform anyone about the affairs of the Family. After having sworn life and loyalty to his Don, the man is said to be made or he is said to have made his bones, referring to the new, higher form of life he has chosen to take. Only then can he be called a Mafioso or a member of his Mafia Family.
The structure of a Family is as follows: the Don is the boss or the chief of operations. He makes all the decisions in the Family, and these decisions are always final and unquestioned. Every Don must have an advisor or a consiglieri, someone who acts like a lawyer and a secretary. There is even an old adage that the affinity between the Don and his consiglieri is stronger than that of the Don and his wife! Next in command are the caporegimes, or captains, who acts as commanding officers and leaders of a group of Mafiosi (plural of Mafioso ) who are part of the same Family and serve loyalty to the same Don. Each caporegime commands a small band of henchmen,
called soldati or buttons. These soldati are the ones who do most of the dirty work, such as killing people and setting establishments on fire. An associate is someone who is being paid by the Don for his services, but is not part of that Family. Associates can include politicians, judges, policemen or even just ordinary people who cannot be made because they are not of Sicilian descent. The Mafia believes that only Sicilians can only be a part of La Cosa Nostra because only they are able to uphold the law of Omerta, and that is a very important part of the deal.
Significance of the Study
This principal aim of this paper is to try to change the people s view on the Mafia. They have been branded as animals who kill and steal, but there is really more to a Mafioso than that. This paper presents the lighter side of the organized crime, so that people in general, upon reading this, would think twice about the Mafia. Hopefully they would start seeing them as powerful people with reason, honor and integrity instead of cold-blooded criminals.
Scope and Limitations
The paper only touches on the American-Sicilian Mafia, particularly those living in the United States. The rules and generalizations that were formulated may not accurately apply to the Japanese Yakuza, Chinese Triad nor Russian Mafia. The statements are based on facts and insights taken from foreign books and movies, such as Jimmy Fratianno s The Last Mafioso and the films of the Godfather trilogy by Francis Ford Coppola.
Body
Reasons Why They Are Seen As Bad People
Upon the mention of Mafia, the first criminal activity that one could think of would be murder and assassination. The Don merely has to nod and a person is ordered to be killed. And as can be seen in various movies, an order to have someone killed is always given with so much casualness that it seemed as if the Don was not even bothered about ordering a murder. In some circumstances, he would even specify if the job was to be a confession (meaning that the body would be found) or a communion (saying that it would not be found). How cold-blooded can they be?!
The second reason would be because they engage in other illegal operations such as gambling, extortion, usury, bribery, kidnapping and the distribution of narcotics and untaxed liquor. These are very serious offenses against the society and most of the crimes mentioned are even punishable by death penalty. The Mafiosi control almost all the illegitimate gambling operations that take away most of the people s money by playing with their vice. Bribery is also a big thing because the Mafia puts the politicians, judges and policemen in their pockets and more or less coerce them into doing illegitimate acts, when in fact they are supposed to be the ones who should protect and uphold the laws of the state. Also, the soldati at times kidnap people when they are to beat information out...
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