Cosa Nostra

Cosa Nostra is the Sicilian Mafia, a criminal organization rooted in Sicily and active internationally. It is organized through local groups, uses violence and intimidation, and profits from illegal markets and coercive control.

Mafia family: A local Mafia group organized around a boss and members who coordinate criminal activity. Families are Cosa Nostra’s basic territorial units.
Sicilian Mafia: A criminal organization originating in Sicily, composed historically of local groups controlling territory through violence and influence. Cosa Nostra is the name commonly given to this Sicilian organization.
Tommaso Buscetta: A Sicilian Mafia member who became a major cooperating witness for Italian prosecutors. His testimony revealed the organization’s structure and helped clarify what Cosa Nostra meant.
Maxi Trial: A large 1986–1987 prosecution in Palermo that tried hundreds of people accused of Mafia membership and crimes. It brought Cosa Nostra’s hierarchy before a court on an unprecedented scale.
Anti-Mafia Pool: A group of Palermo magistrates who coordinated investigations into Mafia crimes during the 1980s. Its shared investigative method helped make the Maxi Trial possible.
Commission (Mafia): A council of Mafia leaders formed to resolve disputes and coordinate decisions among families. Commissions have mediated conflicts and cooperation between Cosa Nostra families.
Sicily: The largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and an autonomous region of Italy. Cosa Nostra developed amid Sicily’s nineteenth-century political and social upheavals.
Giovanni Falcone: An Italian magistrate who investigated Cosa Nostra and helped develop the Maxi Trial prosecution. Falcone used evidence from defectors and financial investigations to pursue Mafia leaders.
Second Mafia War: A 1981–1983 conflict in Sicily in which the Corleonesi faction seized dominance within Cosa Nostra. The war reshaped the organization’s leadership through mass killings.
Anti-Mafia movement: A civic and political movement opposing Mafia power and its violence. Cosa Nostra’s coercion and assassinations galvanized public resistance in Sicily and Italy.

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