The Mafia is a crime group working in many parts of the world that was created in Italy more than 200 years ago. The mafia makes money from crime. They make billions of dollars a year from such crimes as making and selling illegal drugs, money laundering, from stealing, gambling and prostitution.

Etymology 
The first written use of the word mafia has it being said on a list of rebels against the catholic church. It meant "boldness, ambition, pride", and since none of these were considered appropriate for a woman it is the name of a witch. Many people also believe that Arabic affected the word 'mafia' during the period of Arab control of Sicily, after the fall of the Roman Empire in 846 AD. 'Mahias' is an Arab word meaning 'bold man', and this is believed to be incorporated into the modern term mafia, which also suggests the bold and argumentative nature of its constituents.

Rules 
A boss in the Sicilian mafia had a list of ten rules. These rules have been called the mafia's Ten Commandments.
 No one can present himself directly to another of our friends. There must be a third person to do it.
 Never look at the wives of friends.
 Never be seen with cops.
 Don't go to pubs and clubs.
 Always being ready for Cosa Nostra is a duty - even if your wife's about to give birth.
 Superiors must absolutely be respected.
 Wives must be treated with respect.
 When asked for any information, the answer must be the truth.
 Money cannot be taken if it belongs to others or other mafia gangs
 People who can't be part of mafia: anyone who has close family  in the police, anyone with a two-timing relative in the family, anyone who behaves badly and doesn't hold to moral values.

Different groups

The Mafia in Italy
The mafia in Italy have been around for hundreds of years. They work in the areas of Calabria, Sicily, Naples and Apulia which are all areas in the South of Italy.
Sicily - The mafia in Italy was started in the island of Sicily. The mafia is still around here and they make a great deal of money. Selling drugs is frowned upon within the Mafia or La Cosa Nostra as being convicted of the intent to sell is a high prison sentence which will increase the risk of a member of the Mafia/Cosa Nostra to turn a 'rat.'
Calabria - The Calabrian mafia (really called the  'Ndrangheta ) are another mafia group in Italy. They also make profit from illegal drugs, and are now the richest Italian mafia group.
Naples - The mafia in Naples is called the Camorra. They are not as well known than the mafia in Sicily and Calabria, but have killed more people, as rival Camorra groups often fight each other.
Apulia - The mafia in Apulia is called the Sacra Corona Unita (meaning the "United Sacred Crown"). This group is not as old as the other Italian mafia groups. Little is known about this group but it is believed that they make money from prostitution.
Veneto - The mafia in Veneto was called Mala del Brenta (meaning "Brenta's bad thing").
This group was founded by Felice Maniero, but has now been dismantled.

The Italian Mafia in America 
The Italian-American mafia began at the time when many Italians moved to the United States in the 1800s. The first Italian mafia was in New Orleans in Louisiana but soon they were in many cities across the country. The Italian mafia in the United States is actually called La Cosa Nostra which in Italian language means "This thing of ours" or "Our thing". The American mafia is divided into different groups or "families".  Many large cities have only one Italian-American mafia family, but some larger cities like New York City have more.

New York City has five Italian mafia families. They are called:
The Bonanno  crime family
The Colombo crime family
The Gambino crime family
The Genovese crime family
The Lucchese crime family

Many other American cities have Italian mafia families.  These include Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Los Angeles

Mafia groups in other countries 
There are many other groups like the Italian mafia all over the world. Here are some:
The Yakuza - The Yakuza is the name given to the crime group in Japan. They make money from prostitution and drugs. Currently The Yakusa is not as big as a threat as it once was (1980)
The Triads - The Triads is a name given to all the crime groups in China. Because there are so many of these crime groups in China we give them one name, the "Triads". The Triads are not just from China but many countries in South East Asia. Another name for these groups is "Tongs".
Latin American Drug Cartels - In Latin America the largest crime groups are called drug cartels. They compete for control of the drug trade which makes them huge amounts of money. The drugs produced in South America are marijuana, cocaine and heroin. The main drug cartels are in Mexico, part of North America, and Colombia in the north of South America; this is where most of the drugs are produced and then smuggled north into the United States.
There are others as well, like the mafia groups in Russia that make money from drugs and weapons. All these groups operate in the United States, Canada, Australia, England and other Western countries and cause many problems in those countries and the countries they are from.

Hierarchy  
Just like in a company, where people have a boss and workers, the Italian-American mafia, or La Cosa Nostra (LCN), has a hierarchy. Everyone has a job to do. Some people are bosses and some are workers. However you can always work your way up the ladder of power, and respect. Below is the hierarchy of an American mafia family.
The Boss of the family. He controls everything that goes on in the mafia family. Every worker and lower ranking boss (see below; Caporegimes) works for him. It is the boss who decides if someone should be killed or if someone should be initiated (see below; Becoming a member). The boss gets money from all of his workers and therefore is usually the richest person in the family.
The Underboss. The underboss is the person who actually runs the family. He is boss over all the other members except the actual boss. He will often become the boss of the family if something happens to the boss. The boss will choose who his underboss is. A family will usually have only one underboss.
The Consigliere. Consigliere is an Italian term meaning someone who gives advice. The consigliere in a mafia family is the "right hand man" to the boss. It is his job to help the boss make important decisions. The consigliere is as important as the underboss but is not the boss of anyone in the family. A family will usually have only one consigliere. Acts as a middle man in personal vendettas. His role is to make impartial decisions for the family's benefit.
Caporegimes. The next position of the family is caporegime (or captain), often shortened to "capo". Families will have differing numbers of capos. A caporegime is in charge of a group of workers (see below; Soldiers). The underboss of the family is in charge of the capos. The job of the caporegime is to collect money from the workers to give to the boss, underboss and consigliere as well as keeping money for himself. A family can have anywhere from 2 to 20 capos.
Soldiers. The workers of a family are called "soldiers" or in Italian "soldati". Their job is to earn money to give to their captain (caporegime). They will do any job asked of them by their captain or the boss or underboss. A family can have anywhere from 10 to 1000 soldiers.
Each family will have a number of associates. These are people that work with them or for them but are not official members. (see below; Becoming a member)

History of the Mafia in New York 
The mafia in New York began when thousands of Italians moved there in the late 1800s and early 1900s to find a better life. At this time many Irish and Germans also moved to the US for the same reasons. Many of these people set up businesses or worked for businesses that were already there. Most earned very little money and some, who were tired of being poor, decided to earn money from crime, which was easier than earning money by working. There were many Irish and Italian criminal groups in the city who would steal, extort and murder for money. These groups were known all-together as "the Black Hand" but they did not actually work as one group called "the Black Hand"; there were many groups and they each worked on their own and the term "Black Hand" actually was the name of what these gangs did (extortion), not their names.

Prohibition, unification and the Castellammarese War 
In 1920 alcohol (or liquor) was made illegal in the US and the gangs had a new way to make money. They brought in illegal liquor from Canada and sold it in clubs. They bribed police into letting them sell liquor (which is also illegal) and made millions of dollars from this because they were the only ones who had liquor and so could sell it at extremely high prices. Around this time the gangs in New York became one large gang (the Mafia) as leaders of the gangs realized that more money could be made if all the gangs worked together. A man named Giuseppe Masseria and a man named Salvatore Maranzano both wanted to become the boss of the newly made New York mafia.  Fighting, known as the "Castellammarese War", broke out between the two men and many of their soldiers were killed. Giuseppe Masseria's underboss was a man named Lucky Luciano who also wanted to control the New York mafia. He met with Masseria's enemy Salvatore Maranzano and plotted to kill Masseria, his own boss. Masseria was shot to death in a restaurant in New York by Maranzano's soldiers; one of them was Vito Genovese -  a man who would later become boss - this was also the end of the "Castellammarese War". With the death of Masseria, Maranzano appointed himself the boss of the New York Mafia, in Italian language called the "Capo di tutti Capi" meaning "Boss of all Bosses". He called a meeting with the other "mafiosi" (plural: Italian language for Mafia members) from all over the US and made the rules that are still used today.
Maranzano united the Italian gangs of New York into one gang, known as the Mafia or La Cosa Nostra.
He then divided the gang into 5 families and appointed bosses of each family: "Lucky" Luciano, Joseph Bonanno, Joseph Profaci, Vincent Mangano and Thomas Gagliano - himself as the boss of these bosses.
He made it so that no members could kill without reason or talk to anyone outside of the mafia about the mafia.

The bosses of the five families, particularly Luciano, began to grow tired of Maranzano's arrogance and the way he ran the mafia. Maranzano realized this and planned to have Luciano and his "consigliere" and "underboss", Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, as well as others, killed. Maranzano did not act quickly enough and was killed by men dressed as police officers, on the orders of Luciano and his friend, a Jewish gangster from Florida named Meyer Lansky. Luciano then became the head of the New York mafia, but not in the way Maranzano was; he helped the five families run their business but he did not control them or call himself the "boss of bosses". The five families were kept. 
The Profaci family (named after the first boss Joseph Profaci) went on to become named the Colombo crime family after a later boss, Joseph Colombo. The Mangano family (named after the first boss Vincent Mangano) went on to become named the Gambino crime family after a later boss, Carlo Gambino. The Gagliano family (named after the first boss Thomas Gagliano) went on to become named the Lucchese crime family after a later boss, Gaetano Lucchese.  Frank Costello became the boss of Luciano's old family which later went on to become named the Genovese crime family after Vito Genovese became the boss and tried to kill Frank Costello. The Bonanno family (named after the first boss Joseph Bonanno) kept its name as Joseph Bonanno was the boss for a very long time.

The Five Families over the years 
A chart of the bosses of the five families of New York since the "Castellammarese War" would look like this:

Bonanno crime family
Joseph Bonanno (was boss from 1931-1965)
Gaspare DiGregorio (was boss from 1965-1968)
Paul Sciacca (was boss from 1968-1970)
Natale Evola (was boss from 1970-1973)
Phillip Rastelli (was boss from 1973-1975)
Carmine Galante (was boss from 1975-1979)
Phillip Rastelli (was boss once again from 1979-1991)
Joseph Massino (was boss from 1991-2005)
lucy reed
(Note: In more recent years Vincent Basciano, Salvatore Montagna, Anthony Graziano, Anthony Rabito, Michael Mancuso, Anthony Urso and Alphonse Bonanno have run the family - though not necessarily as bosses.)

Colombo crime family
Joseph Profaci (was boss from 1928-1962)
Joseph Magliocco (was boss from 1962-1963)
Joseph Colombo (was boss from 1964-1971)
Joseph Yacovelli (was boss in 1971)
Vincent Aloi (was boss from 1971-1973)
Carmine Persico (was boss during 1973)
(Note: In more recent years the leaders of the Colombo crime family have been Carmine Persico, Andrew Russo, Alphonse Persico, Jr., Joel Cacace, Thomas Gioeli, John Franzese, Vincent Aloi and Paul Bevacqua - though not necessarily as bosses.)

Gambino crime family
Vincent Mangano (was boss from 1931-1951)
Albert Anastasia (was boss from 1951-1957)
Carlo Gambino (was boss from 1957-1976)
Paul Castellano (was boss from 1976-1985)
John Gotti (was boss from 1986-1992)
John Gotti, Jr. (was boss from 1992-1996)
Nicholas Corozzo (was boss from 1996-1997)
John Gotti, Jr. (was boss from 1997-1999)
Peter Gotti (was boss from 1999-2003)
(Note: In more recent years the leaders of the Gambino crime family have been Peter Gotti, Arnold Squitieri, Anthony Megale, John D'Amico, Domenico Cefalu, Joseph Corozzo and Nicholas Corozzo - though not necessarily as bosses.)

Genovese crime family
Salvatore "Lucky" Luciano (was boss from 1931-1946)
Frank Costello (was boss from 1946-1957)
Vito Genovese (was boss from 1957-1969)
Thomas Eboli (was boss from 1969-1972)
Frank Tieri (was boss from 1972-1981)
Anthony Salerno (was boss from 1981-1987)
Vincent Gigante (was boss from 1981-2005)
(Note: In more recent years the leaders of the Genovese crime family have been Liborio Bellomo, Dominick Cirillo, Matthew Ianiello, Frank Serpico, Ernest Muscarella, Mario Gigante and Daniel Leo - though not necessarily as bosses.)

Lucchese crime family
Gaetano Gagliano (was boss from 1931-1953)
Gaetano Lucchese (was boss from 1953-1967)
Carmine Tramunti (was boss from 1967-1973)
Anthony Corallo (was boss from 1973-1986)
Anthony Luongo (during 1986)
Vittorio Amuso (from 1987 on)
(Note: During the 1990s the leaders of the Lucchese crime family were Vittorio Amuso, Anthony Casso, Alphonse D'Arco, Salvatore Avellino, Anthony Baratta, Domenico Cutaia, Frank Lasterino and Joseph Defede - though not necessarily as bosses. More recently the leaders of the family have been Louis Diadone, Aniello Migliore, Nick Beale and Leo Madden - Leo and Nick were bosses.)

(Note: These dates may not be correct)

The Mafia in movies 
Many movies have been made about the mafia, particularly the American Mafia. Here are some of the most popular movies about American gangsters.
Little Caesar (1931) directed by Mervyn LeRoy, starring Edward G. Robinson and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
The Public Enemy (1931) directed by William A. Wellman, starring James Cagney
Scarface (1932) directed by Howard Hawks and Richard Rosson, starring Paul Muni, George Raft and Boris Karloff
Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) directed by Michael Curtiz, starring James Cagney, Pat O'Brien and Humphrey Bogart
The Roaring Twenties (1939) directed by Raoul Walsh, starring James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart
White Heat (1949) directed by Raoul Walsh, starring James Cagney and Edmund O'Brien
The Enforcer (1951) directed by Bretaigne Windust, starring Humphrey Bogart
The Godfather (1972) directed by Francis Ford Coppola, starring Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall and John Cazale
Mean Streets (1973) directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel and David Proval
The Godfather Part II (1974) directed by Francis Ford Coppola, starring Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, John Cazale and Lee Strassberg
Scarface (1983) directed by Brian De Palma, starring Al Pacino, Steven Bauer and Robert Loggia
Once Upon a Time in America (1984) directed by Sergio Leone, starring Robert De Niro, James Woods, Burt Young and Joe Pesci
The Godfather Part III (1990) directed by Francis Ford Coppola, starring Al Pacino, Andy Garcia and Joe Montegna
Goodfellas (1990) directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci
Reservoir Dogs (1992) directed by Quentin Tarantino, starring Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi and Lawrence Tierney
Léon: The Professional (1994) directed by Luc Besson, starring Gary Oldman and Jean Reno
Pulp Fiction (1994) directed by Quentin Tarantino, starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Harvey Keitel and Tim Roth
Casino (1995) directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci
Analyze This (1999), a Mafia comedy directed by Harold Ramis, starring Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal
Analyze That (2002), sequel to Analyze This, also directed by Ramis and starring De Niro and Crystal in the same roles
Gangs of New York (2002) directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Day-Lewis
The Departed (2006) directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen and Alec Baldwin

The television series The Sopranos is about the mafia in New Jersey and stars James Gandolfini, Steve Van Zandt, Tony Sirico, Michael Imperioli, Vincent Pastore, David Proval and Joe Pantoliano among others.

References

 
Italy
History of Italy
History of the United States