"In his opening chapter, “Birth”, Varese compares the initiation rituals that are common to almost every mafia organization. He draws from interviews, autobiographies and police wiretap transcripts in which the gangsters do most of the talking. It is remarkable how close in style, substance and imagery the initiation ceremonies are across cultures – the religious symbolism, the use of tattoos, the omertà, the misogyny and sealing of membership through blood are present among the Yakuza of Japan, the Russian mafia, the Chinese triads and the Sicilian Mafia."
It seems to me mafias are basically tribal societies. That is not surprising as human psychology is basically designed for tribal existence. With complex civilized societies, humans are expected to integrate into something much larger than a simple tribe. However, civilizations often have spaces in which tribes can start up and survive, such as cults and criminal mafias.
One striking feature is the depth of trust in these organisations. Many of them function without written records for all or most matters of importance.
It's a little disingenuous to characterize it as anachronistic to not fall in line with the One World Order. One reason "alternative power structures" (including families, religions, corporations) arise is because organization is simply necessary to compete with "apex predator" cultures, governments etc., and members of smaller groups often are/feel marginalized. Not that o e ought to feel morally obligated to slow down the pace of social darwinism, but if you are the one getting eaten things look a little different.
The article doesn't really go into what mafias are actually doing to stay alive. What cyber crimes are the mafias in control of? Are any large "cyber gangs" not connected to local mafias?
I have always loved the fantasy of the mafia just from a job advancement and loyalty point of view. You start at the bottom, get rewarded for hard work and being intelligent and eventually get "made". Then you have power, unconditional respect, and life long guarantees of a job, security, and family. Getting "made" should be a real thing in the corporate world.
I think "made" is when you're on a few company boards and in the old boys' club, and you can spend the rest of your life patting each other on the back and voting for pay raises for each other.
The smartest of them saw the writing on the wall and used their I'll gotten gains to go mostly legit, investing heavily in high money throughput businesses such as Hollywood, casinos, banking, the legal field, insurance, etc.
Bonus: The mafia that even the mafia is afraid of that you've probably never heard of? The Jewish mafia.
Maybe I missed it in this article, but does the book talk about the accuracy (or lack thereof) of popular Mafia depictions, like in The Godfather? If they are accurate, where did their authors get their iformation? I'm aware that the author of the original The Godfather novel was Italian, but I don't know more about him beyond that.
The article doesn't mention the sourcing of pop depictions as such. However,Goodfellas for example made use of FBI tapes and the word of a former mafioso.
[+] [-] woodandsteel|8 years ago|reply
"In his opening chapter, “Birth”, Varese compares the initiation rituals that are common to almost every mafia organization. He draws from interviews, autobiographies and police wiretap transcripts in which the gangsters do most of the talking. It is remarkable how close in style, substance and imagery the initiation ceremonies are across cultures – the religious symbolism, the use of tattoos, the omertà, the misogyny and sealing of membership through blood are present among the Yakuza of Japan, the Russian mafia, the Chinese triads and the Sicilian Mafia."
It seems to me mafias are basically tribal societies. That is not surprising as human psychology is basically designed for tribal existence. With complex civilized societies, humans are expected to integrate into something much larger than a simple tribe. However, civilizations often have spaces in which tribes can start up and survive, such as cults and criminal mafias.
[+] [-] solidsnack9000|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] xkcd-sucks|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kmnc|8 years ago|reply
I have always loved the fantasy of the mafia just from a job advancement and loyalty point of view. You start at the bottom, get rewarded for hard work and being intelligent and eventually get "made". Then you have power, unconditional respect, and life long guarantees of a job, security, and family. Getting "made" should be a real thing in the corporate world.
[+] [-] taneq|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] michaelbuckbee|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] toomanybeersies|8 years ago|reply
Imagine a job where you're guaranteed a job, but you're also never allowed to resign on fear of injury and/or death.
[+] [-] arca_vorago|8 years ago|reply
Bonus: The mafia that even the mafia is afraid of that you've probably never heard of? The Jewish mafia.
[+] [-] frabbit|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nerdponx|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] staunch|8 years ago|reply
There are "The Goodfella Tapes" but here's a random JFK doc that has informant info:
https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/docid-3...
[+] [-] ch4s3|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cglace|8 years ago|reply