"Our thing" or "this thing of ours" derived from Italian. Although it does not symbolize any "Mafia" because such an organization never existed. With the mass immigration of Southern Europeans during 1917, a large portion of the nationality groups included Italians and Sicilians. Many of these men wished to leave behind a life of hopeless dreams and poverty so they seized this land of opportunity becoming involved in what many Americans like to call, "organized crime." Such men included Joe Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano, the "Moustache Petes." For over 70 plus years, these men would prove to reign very prosperously. Some men such as the brilliant Carlo Gambino, led their families or "crews" towards harmless business ventures. Ventures including gambling, protection, and various legal businesses. Others became involved with lucrative, yet immoral and dangerous businesses such as narcotics distribution and business extortion. However, to regard these people as the "Mafia" is an act of discrimination because the word itself holds such infamous representations. It has the same effect of calling a black man a nigger. These men are not criminals, but smart individuals that held the common sense to give up a never-ending life of scrubbing toilets and assembly lines, making a couple of cents within a whole day's work.