What is "sicilian mafia"

Maffia \Maf"fi*a\, Mafia \Ma"fi*a\, n. [It. maffia.]

1. A secret society which organized in Sicily as a political organization, but is now widespread among Italians, and is used to further or protect private interests, reputedly by illegal methods; called also the Sicilian Mafia.

2. A group of loosely associated of criminal organizations in the United States, some having ties to the Sicilian Mafia, and organized in ``families''; the term is applied to the entire group of organizations, or to any one local group. Also, loosely, organized groups of criminals anywhere, as the Russian mafia. [WordNet sense 1]

   Syn: syndicate, mob, Cosa Nostra, La Cosa Nostra, organized crime.

3. Any tightly knit group of trusted associates having strong control or influence in some area; as, Kennedy and his Irish Mafia. [informal] [WordNet sense 3]

The Sicilian Mafia, also known as simply the Mafia or Cosa Nostra ("our thing"), is a criminal syndicate in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organisational structure and code of conduct. The basic group is known as a "family", "clan", or " cosca" or "cosche" in Sicilian. Each family claims sovereignty over a territory, usually a town or village or a neighbourhood (borgata) of a larger city, in which it operates its rackets. Its members call themselves "men of honour", although the public often refers to them as "mafiosi". The Mafia's core activities are protection racketeering, the arbitration of disputes between criminals, and the organizing and oversight of illegal agreements and transactions.

Following waves of emigration, the Mafia has spread to other countries such as the United States, Canada, and Australia.