One of the three main regional Italian mafias that is probably the least known. It hails from Calabria and differs in structure from the more well-known Cosa Nostra from Sicily in that it is a more horizontal structure in which the majority of its members/associates have blood ties. Training in the "life" starts at a very young age on 'ndrangheta children. There are entire Calabrian towns consisting of 'ndrangheta families in which few outsiders or law enforcement dare to pass through.

Mafia men (mafiosi) are very dangerous criminals, mostly murderers on their own or on commission. The goal of mafia is power, and they achieve this keeping people in deep fear. If you disagree with a mafioso, you'll die. If not you, any other member of your family will, children included, probably more than one.

Mafia has many different "flavours", according to the region they rule in. Mafia in Sicily, 'Ndrangheta in Calabria, Camorra in Campania, Sacra Corona Unita in Puglia. Despite their local differences, they all act under the same criminality pattern: threats, blackmail and murder, sometimes carnages. Their major monetary income is usually by drug dealership.

Don't mistake italian mafia with italian folklore: they're really different issues. Italian mafia is the worst italian calamity.

The Mafia, also referred to in Italian as La Cosa Nostra (variously translated as This Thing Of Ours or Our Thing), is the name for a secret, criminal organisation which evolved in mid 19th century Sicily, and led to an offshoot on the East-Coast of the United States emerging during the late 19th century with the waves of Italian immigration to that country. As opposed to the insular Sicilian Mafia, during the 20th century the American Mafia became more accomodating of Neapolitan criminals, and other Southern Italians among the sworn-in membership of 'made-men', and forged closer associations with gangsters of other nationalities, thus becoming distinct from the original organisation in Sicily.

The term "Mafia" describes a specific secret society in Sicily and their descendants in the USA, yet the word itself has no pin-pointed historical birthplace. In the original Palermo dialect the word 'mafioso' once meant 'beautiful', 'bold' or 'self-confident'. Anyone who was worthy of being described as a mafioso therefore had a certain something, an intangible attribute called 'mafia'. 'Cool' is about the closest modern English equivalent; a mafioso was someone who fancied himself. In fact it was the early Italian government which attached specific criminal connotations to the word and turned it into a subject of national debate. It was following the Prefect of Palermo, Filippo Gualterio's report to Rome in 1865, citing that "the so-called Mafia or criminal associations" had be...

A Bulgarian alternative rock band.Highly influenced by British bands like The Smiths and Oasis.Three albums in Bulgarian and one in English.Actually quite good and somewhat popular.

A people coming from the Italian island region of Sicily. Many Sicilian-AMERICANS claim to be different and "better" than other Italians without actually having any evidence to back it up. Sicily was historically part of the same kingdoms of the rest of southern Italy and the Roman Empire, and was not the only Italian region to have been invaded by a large number of peoples and to have absorbed their cultures. Italy was cut up into many kingdoms before unification, and thus each region has their own distinct culture which they put before a united Italian culture. They ARE Italian.