The Mafia is a criminal syndicate or association from Sicily, Italy. It was organized in the middle of nineteenth century. Every territory has a group and they called each group a family or clan. They obey their common code of conduct. From Sicily, The Mafia spreads out all over the world.

There are many theories about the origin of term ‘Mafia’. Some says that it comes from Arabic slang ‘mahyas’ which means aggressive boasting or boldness. Other possible origin can be ‘maha’ or ‘muafa’. It is become familiar after making a play named ‘I mafiusi di la Vicaria’ by Giuseppe Rizzotto and Gaetano Mosca. Some member of the Mafia revealed that its name was ‘Cosa Nostra’.

Under feudalism there are some noble class people who owned most of the city land. They used their private armies to rule lower class. After 1812 nobility sold off their lands to public. Sicily was annexed by Italy and land was redistributed. Some people became landlords by this time. Because of free market capitalism they failed to control the property rights. Police force did not able to control the city. So the land owners depended on to private protectors. These protectors turned into Mafia clans. The more problems arose such that high price of foods, loss of feudal rights, loss of church lands etc. These problems turned peasants into banditry. People used Mafia to negotiate with criminals. Eastern noble people were much more active during the transition time. They used Mafia to suppress any violent group. Mafia started to involve them to politics so that they can control the local governments. During 1898 to 1900 a series report submitted by a police Chief Ermanno Sangiorgi revealed that Mafia started criminal activities like kidnapping, robbery, support imprisoned members etc. In 1925 Mussolini tried to suppress Mafia and imprisoned many of them using the Prefect of Palermo named ‘Cesare Mori’.  Some Mafia members cooperated with Mori for obtaining protection. Some Mafiosi fled to America and became Mafia bosses in New York City. After Second World War the Palermo became a city of 14000 homeless people. In this time Mafia took control of construction industry, cement factory, metal depots, sanitary fixtures etc. The first Mafia War was very important for Mafia clans as many Mafiosi were imprisoned, reduced to poverty after this War. But in the time of 1970 Mafia came back using cigarette smuggling. After that in modern time they are also controlling 80% of cocaine smuggling.