Etymology
There are several theories about the origin of the term. The Sicilian adjective mafiusu may derive from the Arabic mahyas, meaning "aggressive boasting, bragging", or marfud meaning "rejected". Roughly translated, it means "swagger", but can also be translated as "boldness, bravado". In reference to a man, mafiusu in 19th century Sicily was ambiguous, signifying a bully, arrogant but also fearless, enterprising, and proud, according to scholar Diego Gambetta.
According to the Sicilian ethnographer Giuseppe Pitre, the association of the word with the criminal secret society was made by the 1863
play I mafiusi di la Vicaria (The Beautiful people of Vicaria) by Giuseppe Rizzotto and Gaetano Mosca, which is about criminal gangs in the Palermo prison. The words Mafia and mafiusi (plural of mafiusu) are never mentioned in the play, and were probably put in the title
because it would add local flair.
The association between mafiusi and criminal gangs was made by the association the play's title made with the criminal gangs that were
new to Sicilian and Italian society at the time. Consequently, the word "mafia" was generated from a fictional source loosely inspired by
the real thing and was used by outsiders to describe it.
The use of the term "mafia" was subsequently taken over in the Italian state's early reports on the phenomenon.
The word "mafia" made its first official appearance in 1865 in a report by the prefect of Palermo, Filippo Antonio Gualterio.
Leopoldo Franchetti, an Italian deputy who travelled to Sicily and who wrote one of the first authoritative reports on the mafia in 1876,
saw the Mafia as an "industry of violence" and described the designation of the term "mafia": "the term mafia found a class of violent
criminals ready and waiting for a name to define them, and, given their special character and importance in Sicilian society, they had the
right to a different name from that defining vulgar criminals in other countries."
He saw the Mafia as deeply rooted in Sicilian society and impossible to quench unless the very structure of the island's social institutions were to undergo a fundamental change.

  The real name: Cosa Nostra
  According to some mafiosi, the real name of the Mafia is "Cosa Nostra" ("Our thing").
  Many have claimed, as did the Mafia turncoat Tommaso Buscetta, that the word "mafia" was a literary creation.
  Other Mafia defectors, such as Antonio Calderone and Salvatore Contorno, said the same thing.
  According to them, the real thing was "cosa nostra". To men of honour belonging to the organization, there is no need to
  name it.
  Mafiosi introduce known members to other known members as belonging to "cosa nostra" (our thing) or la stessa cosa (the
  same thing), meaning "he is the same thing, a mafioso, as you".
  Only the outside world needs a name to describe it, hence the capitalized form "Cosa Nostra".
  Cosa Nostra was first used, in the early 1960s, in the United States by Joseph Valachi, a mafioso turned state witness,
  during the hearings of the McClellan Commission.
  At the time, it was understood as a proper name, fostered by the FBI and disseminated by the media.
  The designation gained wide popularity and almost replaced the term Mafia.
  The FBI even added an article to the term, calling it 'La Cosa Nostra'.
  In Italy the article 'la' is never used when the term refers to the Mafia.

Rituals of Sicilian Cosa Nostra
The orientation ritual in most families happens when a man becomes an associate, and then, a soldier.
As described by Tommaso Buscetta to judge Giovanni Falcone, the neophyte is brought together with at least three "men of honor" of the family and the oldest member present warns him that "this House" is meant to protect the weak against the abuse of the powerful; he then pricks the finger of the initiate and spills
his blood onto a sacred image, usually of a saint.
The image is placed in the hand of the initiate and lit on fire.
The neophyte must withstand the pain of the burning, passing the image from hand to hand, until the image has been consumed, while swearing to keep faith with the principles of "Cosa Nostra," solemnly swearing "may my flesh burn like this saint if I fail to keep my oath."
Joseph Valachi was the first person to mention that in court.
The Sicilians also have a law of silence, called omertà; it forbids the common man, woman or child to cooperate at all with the police or the government, upon pain of death.

  Origins of Sicilian Cosa Nostra
  It has long been debated whether the mafia has medieval origins. Deceased pentito Tommaso Buscetta thought so, whilst modern
  scholars now believe otherwise.
  It is possible that the "original" mafia formed as a secret society sworn to protect the Sicilian population from the threat of Catalan
  marauders in the fifteenth century.
  However, there is very little historical evidence to suggest this. It is also feasible that the "Robin Hood" myth was perpetuated by the
  earliest known mafiosi as a means of gaining goodwill and trust from the Sicilian people.
  After the Revolution of 1848 and the revolution of 1860, Sicily had fallen to complete disorder. The earliest mafiosi, at that time
  separate, small bands of outlaws, offered their guns in the revolt.
  Author John Dickie claims that the main reasons for this were the chance to burn police records and evidence, and to kill off police and
  pentiti in the chaos. However, once a new government was established in Rome and it became clear that the mafia would be unable to
  execute these actions, they began refining their methods and techniques over the latter half of the nineteenth century.
  Protecting the large lemon groves and estates of local nobility became a lucrative but dangerous business.
  Palermo was initially the main area of these activities, but the Sicilian mafia's dominance soon spread over all of western Sicily.
  In order to strengthen the bond between the disparate gangs and so ensure greater profits and a safer working environment, it is
  possible that the mafia as such was formed at this time in about the mid-19th century.

Mafia after the unification of Italy
From 1860, the year when the new unified Italian state first took over both Sicily and the Papal States, the Popes were hostile to the state.
From 1870, the Pope declared himself besieged by the Italian state and strongly encouraged Catholics to refuse to cooperate with the state.
Broadly speaking, in mainland Italy, this did not lead to violence.
Sicily was strongly Catholic, but in a strongly tribal sense rather than in an intellectual and theological sense, and had a tradition of suspicion of outsiders.
The friction between the Church and the state gave a great advantage to violent criminal bands in Sicily who could claim to peasants and townspeople that cooperating with the police (representing the new Italian state) was an anti-Catholic activity.
It was in the two decades following the 1860 unification that the term Mafia came to the attention of the general public, although it was considered to be more of an attitude and value system than an organization.
The first mention in official law documentation of the 'mafia' came in the late 1800s, when a Dr. Galati was subject to threats of violence from a local mafioso, who was attempting to oust Galati from his own lemon grove in order to move himself in.
Protection rackets, cattle rustling and bribery of state officials were the main sources of income and protection for the early mafia.
Cosa Nostra also borrowed heavily from masonic oaths and rituals, such as the now famous initiation ceremony.

  Fascist era
  During the Fascist period in Italy, Cesare Mori, prefect of Palermo, used special powers granted to him to prosecute the Mafia, forcing many
  Mafiosi to flee abroad or risk being jailed.
  Many of the Mafiosi who escaped fled to the United States, among them Joseph Bonanno, nicknamed Joe Bananas, who came to dominate the
  U.S. branch of the Mafia.
  However, when Mori started to persecute the Mafiosi involved in the Fascist hierarchy, he was removed, and the Fascist authorities proclaimed
  that the Mafia had been defeated.
  Though the mafia was weakened, it had not been defeated as claimed.
  Despite his assault on their brethren, Mussolini had his admirers in the New York Mafia, notably Vito Genovese (although he was from Naples and
  not from Sicily).

 Maxi Trial and war against the government
  The Second Mafia War in the early 1980s was a large scale conflict within the Mafia that also led to the assassinations of several
  politicians, police chiefs and magistrates. Salvatore Riina and his Corleonesi faction ultimately prevailed in the war.
  The new generation of mafiosi placed more emphasis on "white-collar" criminal activity as opposed to more traditional racketeering
  enterprises. In reaction to these developments, the Italian press has come up with the phrase Cosa Nuova ("the new thing", a play
  on Cosa Nostra) to refer to the revamped organization.
  The first major pentito (a captured mafioso to collaborate with the judicial system) was Tommaso Buscetta who had lost several allies
  in the war and began to talk to prosecutor Giovanni Falcone around 1983.
  This led to the Maxi Trial (1986-1987) which resulted in several hundred convictions of leading mafiosi.
  When the Italian Supreme Court confirmed the convictions in January 1992, Riina took revenge. The politician Salvatore Lima was killed
  in March 1992; he had long been suspected of being the main government connection of the Mafia (later confirmed by testimony of
  Buscetta), and the Mafia was clearly displeased with his services.
  Falcone and fellow anti-Mafia prosecutor Paolo Borsellino were killed a few months later. This led to a public outcry and a massive
  government crackdown, resulting in Riina's arrest in January 1993.
  More and more pentitos started to emerge. Many would pay a high price for their co-operation usually through the murder of relatives.
  For example, Cosa Nostra defector Francesco Mannoia's mother, aunt and sister were murdered.
  The Corleonesi retaliated with a campaign of terrorism, a series of bombings against several tourist spots on the Italian mainland: the
  Via dei Georgofili in Florence, Via Palestro in Milan, and the Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano and Via San Teodoro in Rome, which left 10
  people dead and 93 injured and caused severe damage to cultural heritage such as the Uffizi Gallery.
Bernardo Provenzano took over as boss of the Corleonesi and halted this campaign and replaced it with a campaign of quietness known as pax mafiosi. This campaign has allowed the Mafia to slowly regain the power it once had. He was arrested in 2006, after 43 years on the run.

The modern Mafia in Italy
The main split in the Sicilian Mafia at present is between those bosses who have been convicted and are now imprisoned, chiefly Riina and capo di tutti capi Bernardo Provenzano, and those who are on the run, or who have not been indicted.
The incarcerated bosses are currently subjected to harsh controls on their contact with the outside world, limiting their ability to run their operations from behind bars under the Italian law 41 bis.
Antonino Giuffrè - a close confidant of Provenzano, turned pentito shortly after his capture in 2002 - alleges that in 1993, Cosa Nostra had
direct contact with representatives of Silvio Berlusconi who was then planning the birth of Forza Italia.
The deal that he says was alleged to have been made was a repeal of 41 bis, among other anti-Mafia laws in return for electoral deliverances in Sicily. Giuffrè's declarations have not been confirmed. The Italian Parliament, with the support of Forza Italia, extended the enforcement of 41 bis, which was to expire in 2002 but has been prolonged for another four years and extended to other crimes such as terrorism.
However, according to one of Italy's leading magazines, L'Espresso, 119 mafiosi - one-fifth of those incarcerated under the 41 bis regime - have been released on an individual basis.
The human rights group Amnesty International has expressed concern that the 41-bis regime could in some circumstances amount to "cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment" for prisoners.
In addition to Salvatore Lima, mentioned above, the politician Giulio Andreotti and the High Court judge Corrado Carnevale have long been suspected of having ties to the Mafia.
By the late 1990s, the weakened Cosa Nostra had to yield most of the illegal drug trade to the 'Ndrangheta crime organization from Calabria.
In 2006, the latter was estimated to control 80% of the cocaine import to Europe.
The mafia also have a strong business in extortion big companies as well as smaller ones. It estimates that 7% of Italy's output is filtered off by organised crime. The Mafia has turned into one of Italy's biggest business enterprises with a turnover of more than US$120bn a year.

  Ten Commandments
  In November 2007 Sicilian police reported to have found a list of "Ten Commandments" in the hideout of mafia boss Salvatore Lo Piccolo.
  Similar to the Biblical Ten Commandments, they are thought to be a guideline on how to be a good mobster. The commandments are as follows:
  1. None can present himself directly to another of our friends. There must be a 3rd person to do it.
  2. Never look at the wives of friends.
  3. Never be seen with cops.
  4. Don't go to pubs and clubs.
  5. Always being available for Cosa Nostra is a duty - even if your wife's about to give birth.
  6. Appointments must absolutely be respected.
  7. Wives must be treated with respect.
  8. When asked for any information, the answer must be the truth.
  9. Money cannot be appropriated if it belongs to others or to other families.
 10. People who can't be part of Cosa Nostra: anyone who has a close relative in the police, anyone with a two-timing relative in the family, anyone who
 behaves badly and doesn't hold to moral values.

Prominent Sicilian mafiosi

Vito Cascio Ferro (1862-1943), prominent early Don, imprisoned by Cesare Mori.
Calogero Vizzini (1877-1954), he was considered to be one of the most influential Mafia bosses of Sicily after World War II until his death in 1954.
Giuseppe Genco Russo (1893-1976), boss of Mussomeli, considered to be the heir of Calogero Vizzini.
Michele Navarra (1905-1958), boss of the Mafia Family in Corleone from 1930 to 1958.
Salvatore "Ciaschiteddu" Greco (1923-1978), he was the first "secretary" of the first Sicilian Mafia Commission that was formed somewhere in 1958.
Gaetano Badalamenti (1923-2004), boss of the Mafia Family in Cinisi.
Angelo La Barbera (1924-1975), boss of the Mafia Family in Palermo Centro.
Michele Greco (born 1924), also known as "The Pope", boss of the Mafia Family in Croceverde.
Luciano Liggio (1925-1993), boss of the Mafia Family in Corleone.
Tommaso Buscetta (1928-2000), he became a pentito (informant) in 1984. Buscetta's evidence was used to great effect during the Maxi-Trials.
Salvatore Riina (born 1930), also known as Totò Riina is one of the most infamous members of the Sicilian Mafia.
He was nicknamed The Beast, or The Short One ('U Curtu in Sicilian) and ruled the Mafia with an iron hand from the 1980s until his arrest in 1993.
Bernardo Provenzano (born 1933), successor of Riina at the head of the Corleonesi and as such considered one of the most powerful bosses of the
Sicilian Mafia. Provenzano was a fugitive from justice since 1963. He was captured on 11 April 2006 in Sicily.
Leoluca Bagarella (born 1941), member of the Mafia Family in Corleone arrested in 1995.
Salvatore Lo Piccolo (born 1942), considered to be one of the successors of Provenzano.
Giovanni 'Lo Scannacristiani' Brusca (born 1957), who was involved in the murder of Giovanni Falcone.
Matteo Messina Denaro (born 1962), considered to be one of the successors of Provenzano.
Benedetto Santapaola (born 1938), the most important boss of Catania.

  Traditional terminology

  1. Capo di Tutti Capi (the "Boss of All Bosses", namely Matteo Messina Denaro for the Sicilian Mafia and Renato Gagliano for the Sacra Corona Unita)

  2. Capo di Capi Re (a title of respect given to a senior or retired member, equivalent to being a member emeritus, literally, "King Boss of Bosses")

  3. Capo Crimine ("Crime Boss", known as a Don - the head of a crime family)

  4. Capo Bastone ("Club Head", known as the "Underboss" is second in command to the Capo Crimine)

  5. Consigliere (an advisor)

  6. Caporegime ("Regime head", a captain who commands a "crew" of around ten Sgarristi )

  7. Sgarrista or Soldato ("Soldier", made members of the Mafia who serve primarily as foot soldiers)

  8. Picciotto ("Little man", a low ranking member who serves as an "enforcer")

  9. Giovane D'Onore (an associate member, usually someone not of Italian ancestry).

Italian Mafia structure

1. Capofamiglia (Don)

2. Consigliere (Counselor/Advisor)

3. Sotto Capo (Underboss)

4. Capodecina (Group Boss/Capo)

5. Uomini D'onore ("Men of Honor")

  American Cosa Nostra
  The Italian Mafia continues to dominate organized crime in the U.S. It uses this status to maintain control over much of both Chicago's and New York City's
  organized criminal activity, as well as criminal activity in other cities in the Northeast and across the country, such as Philadelphia, Las Vegas, and many
  others.
  The Mafia and its reputation have become entrenched in American popular culture, being portrayed in movies, TV shows, commercial advertising and video
  games.
  The American Mafia, specifically the Five Families of New York, has its roots in the Sicilian Mafia, but has been a separate organization in the United States
  for many years.
  Today, American Cosa Nostra cooperates in various criminal activities with the different Italian organized crime groups, such as Camorra, which are
  headquartered in Italy.
  It is wrongly known as the "original Mafia", although it was neither the oldest criminal organization, nor the first to act in the U.S.
  In 1986, according to government reports, it was estimated that there are 1,700 members of "Cosa Nostra" and thousands of associate members.
  Reports also are said to include the Italian-American Mafia as the largest organized crime group in the United States and continues to hold dominance over
  the National Crime Syndicate, despite the increasing numbers of street gangs and other organizations of neither Italian nor Sicilian ethnicity.
  American Cosa Nostra is most active in the New York metropolitan area, Philadelphia, New England, Detroit, and Chicago, but there are actually a total of
  26 Cosa Nostra family cities around the United States.

Origins: The Black Hand
Mafia groups in the United States first became influential in the New York City area, gradually progressing from small neighborhood operations in poor Italian ghettos to citywide and eventually international organizations.
The American Mafia started with the La Mano Nera, "The Black Hand", extorting Italians (and other immigrants) around New York city. Black Hand gangsters would threaten them by mail if their extortion demands were not met.
The threats were sometimes marked with a hand-print in black ink at the bottom of the page.
As more Sicilian gangsters immigrated to the U.S., they expanded their criminal activities from extortion to loan-sharking, prostitution, drugs and alcohol, robbery, kidnapping, and murder.
Giuseppe Esposito was the first known Sicilian Mafia member to emigrate to the United States. He and six other Sicilians fled to New York after murdering eleven wealthy landowners as well as the chancellor and a vice chancellor of a Sicilian province.
He was arrested in New Orleans in 1881 and extradited to Italy.
New Orleans was also the site of the first Mafia incident in the United States that received both national and international attention. On October 15, 1890, New Orleans Police Superintendent David Hennessey was murdered execution-style. Hundreds of Sicilians were arrested, and nineteen were eventually indicted for the murder. An acquittal followed, with rumors of bribed and intimidated witnesses. The outraged citizens of New Orleans organized a lynch mob and proceeded to kill eleven of the nineteen defendants.
Two were hanged, nine were shot, and the remaining eight escaped. In the 1910s and 1920s in New York City, the Sicilian Mafia developed into the Five Points Gang.

  The rising: the Prohibition
  Mafia activities were restricted until 1920, when they exploded because of the introduction of the prohibition.
  Al Capone's Syndicate in the 1920s ruled Chicago.
  By the end of the 1920s, two factions of organized crime had emerged, causing the Castellamarese war for control of organized crime in New York
  City.
  With the murder of Joseph Masseria, the leader of one of the factions, the war ended uniting the two sides back into one organization now dubbed
  Cosa Nostra.
  Salvatore Maranzano, the first leader of American Mafia, was himself murdered within six months and Charles "Lucky" Luciano became the new
  leader.
  Maranzano had established the code of conduct for the organization, set up the "family" divisions and structure, and established procedures for
  resolving disputes.
  Luciano set up the "Commission" to rule their activities.
  The Commission included bosses from six or seven families.

After-war
In 1951, a U.S. Senate Committee, led by Democratic Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver, determined that a "sinister criminal organization", with ties to
the USSR, also known as the Mafia operated around the United States.
In 1957, the New York State Police uncovered a meeting of major American Cosa Nostra figures from around the country in the small upstate New York town
of Apalachin.
This gathering has become known as the Apalachin Conference. Many of the attendees were arrested and this event was the catalyst that changed the way law enforcement battles organized crime.
In 1963, Joseph Valachi became the first American Cosa Nostra member to provide a detailed look at the inside of the organization.
Having been recruited by FBI Special Agents, and testifying before the US Senate McClellan Committee, Valachi exposed the name, structure, power bases, codes, swearing-in ceremony, and members of this organization.
All of this had been secret up to this point.
Today Cosa Nostra is involved in a broad spectrum of illegal activities: murder, extortion, drug trafficking, corruption of public officials, gambling, prostitution, pornography, infiltration of legitimate businesses, labor racketeering, loan sharking, tax fraud schemes and most notably today, stock manipulation schemes.

  Union corruption
  In the mid-20th century, the Mafia was reputed to have infiltrated many labor unions in the United States, notably the Teamsters, whose
  president Jimmy Hoffa disappeared and it is widely believed to have been murdered in July-August 1975.
  Jimmy Hoffa was an American labor and criminal convict.
  As the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s, Hoffa wielded considerable influence.
  After he was convicted of attempted bribery of a grand juror, he served nearly a decade in prison.
  He is also well-known in popular culture for the mysterious circumstances surrounding his unexplained disappearance and presumed death.
  His son James P. Hoffa is the current president of the Teamsters.
  In the 1980s, the United States federal government made a determined effort to remove Mafia influence from labor unions.

Structure
The Mafia had eventually expanded to twenty-six crime families nationwide in the major cities of the United States, with the center of organized crime
based in New York.
After many turf wars, the Five Families ended up dominating New York, named after prominent early members: the Bonanno family, the Colombo family, the Gambino family, the Genovese family, and the Lucchese family.
These families held underground conferences with other mafia notables like Joe Porrello from Cleveland, and other gang leaders, such as Al Capone.

Boss - The head of the family, usually reigning as a dictator, sometimes called the don or "godfather". The Boss receives a cut of every operation taken on by every member of his family. Depending on the Family, the Boss may be chosen by a vote from the Caporegimes of the family. In the event of a tie, the Underboss must vote. In the past, all the members of a Family voted on the Boss, but by the late 1950s, any gathering such as that attracted too much attention.

Underboss - The Underboss, usually appointed by the Boss, is the second in command of the family. The Underboss is in charge of all of the Capos, who
are controlled by the Boss. The Underboss is usually first in line to become Acting Boss if the Boss is imprisoned or dies.

Consigliere - The Consigliere is an advisor to the family. They are often low profile gangsters that can be trusted. They are used as a mediator of disputes
or representatives or aides in meetings with other Families. They often keep the Family looking as legitimate as possible, and are, themselves, legitimate apart from some minor gambling or loan sharking. Often Consiglieres are lawyers or stock brokers, are trusted and have a close friendship or relationship
with the Don. They usually do not have crews of their own, but still wield great power in the Family. They are also often the liaison between the Don and important 'bought' figures, such as politicians or Judges.

Caporegime - (or Capo)- A Capo (sometimes called a Captain) is in charge of a crew. There are usually four to six crews in each family, possibly even seven to nine crews, each one consisting of up to ten Soldiers. Capos run their own small family, but must follow the limitations and guidelines created by the Boss, as well as pay him his cut of their profits.
Capos are nominated by the Underboss, but typically chosen by the Boss himself.

Soldier - Soldiers are members of the family, and can only be of Italian background. Soldiers start as Associates that have proven themselves. When the books are open, meaning that there is an open spot in the family, a Capo (or several Capos) may recommend an up-and-coming Associate to be a new member. In the case that there is only one slot and multiple recommendations, the Boss will decide. The new member usually becomes part of the Capo's crew that recommended him. Sometimes a soldier will be called a button man, because, in theory, when a capo presses a button, someone dies. They are also called made men, who have made their bones, by committing a murder in front of Mafia witnesses.
This ensures the soldier's reliability: he will never testify against a man who could testify against him. Being made is the beginning but not the end of a Mafia career.
(The definitions of made man and making one's bones are inferred: Most books on the Mafia-fiction or nonfiction-assume these terms but never define them.)

Associate - An Associate is not a member of the mob, and an Associate's role is more similar to that of an errand boy. They are usually a go-between or sometimes deal in drugs to keep the heat off the actual members. In other cases, an associate might be a corrupt labor union delegate or businessman. Non-Italians will never go any further than this.
However, occasionally an associate will become powerful within his own family, for example Joe Watts, a close associate of John Gotti.

The American Mafia's organizational structure and system of control were created by Salvatore Maranzano (who became the first "capo di tutti capi" in the US, though he was killed after holding the position for only six months, by Lucky Luciano). Most recently there have been two new positions in the family leadership: the family messenger and Street Boss.
These positions were created by former Genovese leader Vincent Gigante. Each faction was headed by a caporegime, who reported to the boss. When the boss made a decision, he never issued orders directly to the soldiers who would carry it out, but instead passed instructions down through the chain of command. In this way, the higher levels of the organization were effectively insulated from incrimination if a lower level member should be captured by law enforcement. This structure is depicted in Mario Puzo's famous novel The Godfather.
In The Godfather: Part II, These links are called "buffers": they provide what the intelligence community calls plausible deniability.

  Rituals
  The initiation ritual emerged from various sources, such as Catholic confraternities and Masonic Lodges in mid-nineteenth century Sicily and has hardly
  changed to this day.
  The Chief of Police of Palermo in 1875 reported that the man of honor to be initiated would be led into the presence of a group of bosses and underbosses.
  One of these men would prick the initiate's arm or hand and tell him to smear the blood onto a sacred image, usually a saint.
  The oath of loyalty would be taken as the image was burned and scattered, thus symbolising the annihilation of traitors.
  This was confirmed by the first pentito, Tommaso Buscetta.
  A hit, or assassination, of a "made" man had to be preapproved by the leadership of his family, or retaliatory hits would be made, possibly inciting a war.
  In a state of war, families would go to the mattresses - rent vacant apartments and have a number of soldiers sleeping on mattresses on the floor in
  shifts, with the others ready at the windows to fire at members of rival families.

Symbolism in murders
There are many symbolic deeds done during certain gangland executions that are requested by the don.
For allowing Joseph Pistone into the Bonanno crime family caporegime Dominick Napolitano had his hands severed.
Later during the attempted murder of Joseph Ianuzzi this is what Tommy Agro attempted to do.
As in the murder of Lucchese crime family soldier Bruno Facciola, a dead canary was stuffed inside his mouth after he was shot to death.
A mobster who was thought to be skimming from gambling profits was shot dead and found with a twenty-dollar bill shoved into his rectum.
Frank Abbandando J. gave a powerful capo in the Colombo crime family the middle finger and although his life was spared, his middle fingers were
severed by a dull knife and sent to him preserved in vinegar.

  Prominent Italian American mafiosi

  Al Capone 'Scarface' (1899-1947): Prohibition Chicago Boss.

  Charles Luciano 'Lucky' (1897-1962): New York Boss. Founder of Modern American Mafia. First Boss of the Genovese Family.

  Joe Bonanno 'Joe Bananas' (1905-2002): First Boss of the Bonanno Family.

  Carlo Gambino 'Don Carlo' (1902-1976): Boss expander of the Gambino crime family. Seen by some as the Chairman of the Commission since 1957.

  Gaetano Gagliano 'Tommy' (1884-1951): First Boss of the Lucchese Family.

  Vincent Mangano (1888-1951): First Boss of the Gambino Family.

  Joe Profaci (1897-1962): First Boss of the Colombo Family.

  Joe Valachi 'Joe Cargo' (1903-1971): First Mafioso to turn informer.

  Paul Castellano (1915-1985): Gambino Boss. Assassinated on the orders of John Gotti.

  John Gotti 'The Dapper Don' (1940-2002): Gambino Boss. Famous for flamboyance and his media friendly attitude.

  Henry Hill (born 1943): Mob turncoat immortalized in the film Goodfellas.

Law Enforcement and the Mafia
On very rare occasions, the United States government has conspired with organized crime figures to assassinate foreign heads of state.
In August 1960, Colonel Sheffield Edwards, director of the CIA's Office of Security, proposed the assassination of Cuban head of state Fidel Castro by mafia assassins. Between August 1960 and April 1961, the CIA, without the help of the Mafia (who had taken the money and done nothing), pursued a series of plots to poison or shoot Castro. Those allegedly involved included Sam Giancana, Carlos Marcello, Santo Trafficante, Jr., and John Roselli.
In several Mafia families, killing a state authority is forbidden due to the possibility of extreme police retaliation. In some rare strict cases, conspiring to commit such a murder is punishable by death. The Jewish mobster Dutch Schultz was reportedly killed by his Italian peers out of fear that he would carry
out a plan to kill New York City prosecutor Thomas Dewey.
The Mafia has been known to carry out hits on law enforcement in its earlier history. New Orleans police officer Joe Petrosino was shot by Sicilian mobsters
in the United States. A statue of him was later erected across the street from a Luchhese hangout.
The RICO Act of the 1960s made it a crime to belong to an organization that performed illegal acts, and it created programs such as the witness protection program. The Act only began to come into frequent use during the late 70's and early 80's.
Charges of racketeering convicted scores of mobsters including 2 of New York's Godfathers (Anthony Corallo and Carmine Persico) during the Commission Case in 1985 (Although one of the convicted Anthony 'Fat Tony' Salerno was thought of as the Genovese Godfather he was only the Underboss).
The Act continued to be used to great effect up to the end of the 20th century and hurt the Mob severely. The establishment of the United States Organized Crime Strike Force made it more possible to find and prosecute the Mafia. The United States Organized Crime Strike Force was established in the 1970's by a joint congressional effort led by Robert Kennedy. The Strike Force was under the Office of the the Inspector General in the Department of Labor. It was disbanded at the National Level, but continues at the state and local level today. It was jointly responsible for investigating and eventually helping
to bring down high level Mafiosos such as Joseph Aiuppa of the the Chicago Outfit, Anthony Salerno of the Genovese Family of New York and Paul Castellano of the Gambino Family. Also the Strike Force took down and cleaned up much of the Organized Crime in The Teamsters across the country, However the Mafia is still the dominant organized crime group in the United States, despite the success of RICO.
According to Selwyn Raab, author of Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires, after 9/11 the FBI has redirected most of its attention to finding terrorists, which contributed to a resurgence of Mafia activity in the U.S.

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