The Mafia Boss: Original Free Mafia Game

1. The Mafia is like a family. If you want to be part of the mafia, it means accepting secret rituals and complicated rules that will bind your loyalty in tangled webs from which there may be no escape - even for those who have turned against them. Many mobsters ... meet an untimely death after they turn their backs on this powerful criminal organization.

2. The hierarchy of organized crime is clear. Many families make up the organization, all with higher-ranking members making decisions that trickle down to the other individuals in their respective family groups; however these different groupings of families have had mixed relationships throughout history and time periods ranging from friendly cooperation to bitter gang wars which can sometimes result in a "Commission" acting as an intermediary between fighting factions for greater profits at times or just simply agreeing not get involved when it's mutually beneficial.

1. Mafia ranks are an interesting way to look at the different ways that people can hold power in a hierarchical organization. The term "mafia" is often used to describe any organized crime group, but this is not technically accurate. According to the FBI's definition, a mafia is an organized criminal society that operates under strict orders and rules of conduct and has a formalized structure related to levels of authority. These structures are very similar across all groups and can be identified by five primary types: Bosses, Bruglione, Underbosses/Advisors, Capos (Captains), Soldiers/Associates (Soldiers), and Informers. The Soldier and Informer are relevant to any organized crime group, particularly those associated with a mafia.

2. A Soldier is a person whose primary role in the mafia is as a fighter and enforcement arm of the organization. Soldiers are often hired by bosses to help with enforcing rules, maintaining order, and enforcing contracts (such as loansharking). A soldier's highest priority is typically protecting their boss and making sure that business runs smoothly. Capos or captains are the following levels of authority, and they help to oversee lower-ranking members in a group called soldiers. As they may also be known, these crew leaders or captains are typically responsible for supervising the activities of all rank-and-file members involved in organized criminal activities such as drugs, gambling, extortion, and loan sharking. In addition to overseeing lower-ranking members, Capos are also responsible for organizing money and other illicit business, such as attending to the needs of corrupt politicians.

3. Underbosses are typically the number two man in charge of a group and act as counselors to the boss. They also serve as enforcers and hitmen for their bosses. They may function as advisors or aides on various matters, and they might even have official titles such as underboss or consigliere.

4. A Consigliere is an advisor or counselor to the boss in a mafia group who deals with disputes between members and is an unofficial member of the boss's executive board. Consiglieres are often 2nd in command under their boss. So how exactly does one become a consigliere? The term was derived from the Italian word "consigliere," which means "to advise" or "to give counsel." This is precisely what a consigliere does: he advises the mafia boss and counsels him about essential matters.

5. However, some conflicts can occur within this structure. For example, there may be a conflict between the boss's interests with those of his underboss and /or consigliere. This is typically resolved through a system of checks and balances (Power Guided Structure). The boss has the power to check or warn others in the structure but does not necessarily have authority over them when their interests conflict.

6. Most bosses will delegate responsibility to crew leaders by giving out territories that they are responsible for. Telling the capo what they need to do to keep their territory under control and how much money they think should be brought in. The boss will also appoint a crew chief that oversees many of these group leaders by either keeping them in line or managing their activities.

7. The most influential member within a family is the boss. The boss is considered the "father" of the family, while an underboss would typically be considered a "brother." Familia members often refer to each other as brother or cousin, whether or not they actually are related.The mafia boss has the most power in a group and is also considered to be the leader. The mafia boss typically makes final decisions for their families. They are usually older, wiser men with extensive criminal histories, which allows them to have experience negotiating with many different people and making important decisions when needed.

8. The role of a Mafia Boss is far more than simply making decisions for the group, however. In some criminal circles, they are even considered to be counselors of sorts.

1. When a newly inducted member is ready to get his "button" (a sign that he is now officially in the mafia), it is customary for the boss to play a role in this process. The boss ties a finger on the person's hand and wraps a sash around his arm. The boss says, " There are two things that my friend does not have: the sash and the button. We will give them to you."

2. The procedure involves the new member being given his button and then having a "council of war" in which the boss asks him several questions and then tells him how he thinks he should act and live his life as a member of the mafia. The new man also has to swear an oath that is heard by all those present.

3. The mafia member is now considered a made man within the organization. He must obey all rules, including never acting against his fellow members or revealing their activities.This ritual is meant to show that by becoming a member of this exclusive group, he is entering into a new family of brothers. The mafia family becomes his extended family.

4. The swearing of the oath is a very touchy subject for some who consider it pointless and superstitious. Still, others believe that the seriousness with which they have always sworn their oaths has been a factor in the survival of some mafia families.

5. In this regard, they have always considered themselves to be purely criminal organizations and do not recognize any sort of "honor among thieves" concept. The seriousness with which they swear their oaths is also a reflection of the religious nature of Sicily and Italians in general, who are very strict and devout in following rules.

6. In recent years, Italian organized crime has been experiencing an evolution in some aspects of its business conduct. The traditional hierarchy of the mafia is now being challenged by younger members who want more say in decision-making processes regarding matters such as how money should be allocated and how business should be conducted.

7. This has led to some internal friction and fragmentation of authority. But, overall, the mafia is still a potent force that has shown no signs of weakening at all. In Italy, mafia activities represent over €120 billion, or 20%, of the nation's gross domestic product. It would be tough to imagine Italy without the presence of the mafia.

1. The origins of the mafia are unknown but what we do know is that it dates back to the late 1800s. Some original mafia families are the Bonanno family, The Gambino Family, The Genovese family, and the Colombo family. The history of how the mafia came to America is fascinating too, the first recorded Mafia member to set foot in New York was Giuseppe Morello. He was a Sicilian who was on the run from Italian authorities, and he set up his base in New Orleans. When he arrived in America, he made many contacts with the Sicilian mafia, and they were mainly shipping goods from New Orleans to New York. This was because before the Port of New Orleans opened in 1914, it was almost impossible to get Italian goods into the country.

2. The Italian government tried many times to help out their citizens who had gone abroad for work but had no luck. There were only two groups of people who could get the goods through. This was the mafia and immigrants. Therefore this is how they got their money and power. In September 1897, a boat named "The Prima" docked in New York carrying Morello on board with him was 1.3 million dollars worth of heroin.

3. After his success in New York, Morello was able to send for his family to live with him in New York. These immigrants significantly impacted the mafia as most were from Sicily and brought their culture with them, such as the Sicilian Mafia. Though there were Irish and Italian gangsters before this time period, not many people know about it because they weren't as successful as the Italian mafia. The mafia flourished in New York because it was the best place for them to grow their business due to the large population of immigrants at the time, and some loopholes in American law allowed them to operate freely. Also that America had a lot of significant areas which suited well for smuggling. Once these areas were discovered, they spread like wildfire.

4. The early 20th century saw the rise of great mobsters such as Lucky Luciano and Al Capone, both of whom rivaled each other in power. The mafia was becoming stronger than ever and was in control of bootlegging, gambling, and prostitution. By the end of the 1920s, the mafia had started to work with the American government. This period was known as the "Two Tier" system, where gangsters were acknowledged by the police and allowed to run their businesses so long as there wasn't any severe violence. While most of this time was thought to be peaceful, in reality, it wasn't; organized crime figures had hired hitmen for their dirty work. The hitmen were employed against other gangsters competing with them or broke families up if they disagreed with the family business.

5. In 1929 the great depression caused a fall in crime around America because money for anything was in short supply. With this came many changes within the mafia; some families left New York for Florida, but certain ones, such as the Genovese Family and Luciano family, stayed in New York. In the 1930s, there was a significant rise of violence within the mafia because some families thought it would be easy money, but they were eliminated. The two-tier system ended after this because it had become ineffective, organized crime began to thrive again, and World War Two was the beginning of a new era for organized crime.

6. The war provided opportunities for the mafia to supply goods to soldiers, sell illicit goods, and gamble. In Italy, many Mafiosos were put into prison as they were against Mussolini, yet when he was overthrown, they went back to Mafia business. During WWII, the New York mafia families even worked with the US government to protect the ports against German and Italian saboteurs.

1. The United States is home to mafias of differing origins. The Italian-American mafia has shown itself to be perhaps more powerful than any other street gang or mafia in the country. This is due almost entirely to its ability to blend into the landscape and avoid prosecution from authorities as it grows in strength and numbers.

2. In recent years Russian mafia has begun to rise in the United States. There have been numerous reports of the Russian mafia being linked with Mexican and Colombian cartels across the US, especially in New York City. Some even believe that it is already a more robust organization than the Italian-American mafia across America. The Russian mafia is an entirely different beast, as they are not a family-based organization. Each crime family belongs to the Vory v Zakone or Thieve's Code. These families are connected by close bonds of loyalty and support for each other, but they answer to no one structure. Thus, in theory, any Russian criminal can belong to any family, as long as they abide by the Thieve's Code.

3. Chinese mafias have also been forming in America since the 1850s. Having quietly assimilated into American society – and changing its image to a more respectable business group – it has avoided prosecution for many years by adopting an open-minded view of commerce associated with a lower-level crime syndicate. Chinese mafia has now formed into a trans-national organization, with branches in all the major cities across America.

4. Organized crime families of Latin American origin are currently active in the United States. They have been able to operate with a fair degree of impunity due to their lack of visibility and because they do not confront other criminal organizations that are equally dangerous.When we think about organized crime in America, we tend to associate it mainly with Italian-American criminals, but that is far from the case. There are at least 28 different types of organized crime families operating in the USA.

5. There is a big misconception that Italian organized crime controls everything," says Mike Vigil. He spent three decades battling narcotics traffickers as an agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration and its predecessor agency. "They control a portion of the New York City area and Chicago, but they have been eclipsed by big crime groups in most other parts of the country."

1. When the local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies are pitted against organized crime, it is almost inevitable that a pragmatic marriage of convenience will evolve. Both sides require each other when the chips are down; there are some things even law enforcement can't do well if done alone. American mafia families have always taken advantage of this situation and proven themselves useful for nefarious activities that government agencies find useful. Since its inception, the marriage of convenience between the Mafia and law enforcement has been the cornerstone of organized crime. In fact, it was this very relationship that spawned the American Cosa Nostra (translated as "our thing") and allowed them to run free in a country where some crimes are tolerated.

2. The stereotypical story of organized crime and law enforcement associates La Cosa Nostra with the FBI and their illicit collaboration - that's all it was, after all: a matter of the right people at the right time, of willing lawbreakers who liked to talk with a sympathetic listener. Although there were many such episodes, the alliance between organized crime and the FBI was typically episodic and superficial.

3. Once again, Prohibition changed everything. However, it was not planned or recognized as such by either side. The agents sought criminals and made cases - the outlaws wanted protection from the police. When law enforcement arrested Al Capone, it was not because his crimes were especially heinous but simply because they could: they had sufficient evidence to make him expendable to Chicago's mobsters even though he was their most valuable asset. This mutual, temporary abandonment of one another by both the criminals and law enforcers could not be sustained.

4. The Mafia's main competitor, and law enforcement's biggest headache, is the drug trade. The drugs are a financial bonanza for both sides. The Mafia can't do without the drugs (it would cause competition among its members). The police can't let them flood into the streets because of other less tangible reasons—the social dangers to the community and the potential for corruption.

5. The public image of law enforcement would be severely damaged if it were found to be systematically protecting major drug dealers. Yet, on the other hand, successful police action against drugs is essential if public confidence in authority does not collapse. The situation has led to an uneasy compromise between the police forces and organized crime. In many cities, the local police are known to tip off mobsters whenever they plan a significant drug bust. The Mafia will often take advantage of this knowledge.

6. Joe Bonanno made an interesting observation about the way things are done between organized crime and law enforcement. He told a television interviewer, "The police are more afraid of you than you think they are . They're not trying to get the Mafia because they take their orders from me." He was hinting, of course, that the Mafia has a substantial influence over the police by corrupting them.

7. An investigation of this charge is complex because of the secrecy surrounding organized crime and law enforcement activities. When senators or representatives ask questions about organized crime's links to government officials in congressional inquiries, they are often informed it is a national security issue. The fact that this national security issue is used to resist the examination of organized crime by congressional committees only contributes to public mistrust.

8. Even with this in mind, federal law enforcement has consistently pursued cases against organized crime and has managed to convict many mobsters over the years. New York's "Mafia Cops," for example, Michael Dowd, Gerald Nunziato, and Ector Linter were taken down and sent to prison in 1989 by an FBI sting operation. The charges they faced included extortion, shaking down bars and restaurants for protection money, and accepting bribes to help cocaine smugglers. The charges were so severe that three of the four chose to plead guilty rather than take their chances in a Bronx jury trial. They received stiff sentences: up to twenty-eight years for Nunziato and Dowd and seventeen years for Linter.

Who were the most notorious mafia bosses?

1. The biggest mafia boss of all time is widely considered to be Al Capone, who became infamous for his violent and brutal ways.

2. The leadership of the Italian mafia has always been a hotly contested affair because it has only ever really been about strength and power. This leads to arguments as to which boss was the biggest mafia boss, but what is for certain is that they often ran their criminal empires like a business.

3. With that in mind, here are four of the biggest mafia bosses in history and how they became so big.

Al Capone

1. Born on January 17th, 1899, in Brooklyn, New York, Alphonse Gabriel Capone was better known as 'Scarface Al,' following his ruthless rise to power from a small-time gangster to the most significant mafia boss on the east coast. Capone moved to Chicago in 1919 and started working for Johnny Torrio as his bodyguard after one of Torrio's men killed his brother Frank.

2. A few years later, Capone became 'number two' after he helped Torrio run the business of illegal alcohol during the prohibition era. Capone was forced to make a deal with corrupt politician William Hale Thompson. The latter allowed him and his fellow mobsters to continue their criminal activity in exchange for a cut of their profits.He later lost this control after he led an attack on rival gangster George 'Bugs' Moran following an argument over the sale of beer. The incident left seven dead at a warehouse as well as Moran being wounded by shotgun pellets.

3. These events saw him become the most wanted man in America and forced to flee Chicago, eventually returning once pardoned for his crimes. He died on January 25th, 1947, after serving less than nine years in prison.

Meyer Lansky

1. Born as Maier Suchowljansky on January 17th, 1902, Meyer Lansky was one of the most prominent Jewish mobsters in history. He moved to the US from Poland and ran a small gambling operation before moving to New York City to work for Benjamin 'Bugsy' Siegel.Lansky then started to work closely with Frank Costello and Lucky Luciano before going on to become one of the most powerful mafia bosses in history, a period which saw him help to run the infamous Commission.

Alphonse D'Arco

1. Born as Alphonse Dominick DiFilippo on May 6th, 1936, Alphonse D'Arco was an Italian American mobster who became a captain in the Lucchese crime family and is widely considered one of the biggest mafia bosses in history.

2. As well as being a leader on the streets, D'Arco also worked his way up the ranks by becoming a made man within the organization because he had proven himself to be a reliable and valuable criminal asset.

Giacomo 'Jack' Tocco

1. Born in Sicily, Giacomo 'Jack' Tocco earned his living as a bootlegger before becoming one of the biggest mafia bosses in history when he took control of the Detroit Mafia from Antonio 'Tony Jack' LaRocca.

2. Tocco died in 1976 of cancer, and his reign as the top mobster was short but highly influential because he is credited with laying the foundations for what would eventually become the Detroit Partnership, one of the most prominent mafia organizations today.

John Gotti

1. Born as John Ruggiero on October 27th, 1940, John Gotti is widely considered one of the biggest mafia bosses in history because he effectively took control of the New York Mafia and injected a new level of professionalism into its day-to-day running.

2. Before taking over, Gotti was said to have convinced other members that he could make them all rich through his aggressive leadership style. This worked and led to him becoming the boss of the Gambino family in 1986, a position he held until 1991 when he was sent to prison for life on racketeering charges.

1. The New York branch of the Italian-American Mafia began with Sicilian immigrants who grew tired of living under the rule of the Sicilian Mafia. The immigrants fled their native land and settled in New York, where they formed a new branch of the mafia, one that was not united by race or religion as previous chapters had been but rather was united solely by nationality.

2. Once the Italian Mafia had established itself in New York, it continued to build its power base and began to expand. The expansion first took place on the island of Manhattan and quickly spread from there outwards into the suburbs of America. As the mafia family continued to grow, they were organized into five territorial groups called the Five Families. These families all have their own boss, who is the supreme leader. The families all work with each other and have a number of associates who are organized under different captains.

3. Each family has many rackets and activities that they are involved with. Still, the main activities for all five families are extortion, loansharking, bookmaking(gambling), labor racketeering, hijacking (pilfering), narcotics trafficking, prostitution, and fraud. The mafia makes billions of dollars every year from these activities.

The current five Mafia Families in New York are:

The Genovese Family

1. The Genovese family was formed in the 1910s by Giuseppe "Joe" Masseria. Masseria founded the family by organizing several Sicilian Mafia gangs from New York into one organization and created new rules; these were that each active member had to pay an equal share of his earnings to the gang leader and that only Italian-born men could become members. The Genovese family is based around Little Italy in Manhattan and Brooklyn. From here, the family branches out to parts of New Jersey and Long Island. In the 1930s, the Genovese family was regarded as one of the most powerful mafia families in America after they helped Al Capone to control Chicago. Still, before long, they were taken down by law enforcement, and their power base decreased significantly.

The Lucchese Family

1. The Lucchese family was founded in 1932 by Gaetano Reina to replace Masseria's Genovese family. The gang was initially based around East Harlem and Little Italy but quickly expanded into Brooklyn, New Jersey, and parts of Long Island. Law enforcement took this family down in the 1980s but promptly reformed it under Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno. This time, the Lucchese family are based in Lower Manhattan, but their power base has not yet returned to its former glory. The Lucchese family is known globally as the "Labour Bosses" due to their close ties with labor unions from New York and New Jersey.

The Gambino Family

1. The Gambino family was founded in 1957 by Carlo Gambino and was initially known as "the Albert Anastasia family" because it replaced the Mangano family; Anastasia had taken over after Albert Anastasia was assassinated in 1957. The clan is based around Howard Beach, Queens, and has strong ties to the Sicilian Mafia even though they are primarily of Italian-American descent. The Gambino boss was at one time the most powerful boss in America after he convinced President Richard Nixon to have him pay only $60,000 of a $300,000 fine for fraud instead of serving time in prison. In 1987, the family was broken up by law enforcement, and its power base decreased significantly. The Gambino family is easily the most powerful mafia family in New York due to their ties with the Sicilian Mafia in Sicily and their strong connections with other American-Italian mafia families all over the country.

The Colombo Family

1. Of the five New York families, the Colombo family was the last to be formed; they were founded by Joseph Profaci in 1927 after he fled Masseria's increasingly brutal reign. Initially based around East Harlem, the family quickly expanded their territory across Brooklyn and outwards into Long Island. In 1937, a group of breakaway mobsters from this family broke away to form the Genovese family but soon re-joined after becoming powerful again under Carmine Persico. Today, the Colombo family is based in Brooklyn and has a solid power base in Long Island; despite this, more members of the family have been put in jail than any other mafia family in New York.

The Bonanno Family

1. The final of the New York five families is the Bonanno family, who hail from Brooklyn. The family was founded in 1930 by Salvatore "Bill" Bonanno despite his father's (Don Giuseppe) disapproval. This family had kept a low profile for many years until Bill fled to his villa in Tucson, Arizona, in the mid-nineties to avoid prosecution. After this, the family split into two factions and began a long war that continues today. The Bonanno Family are known for their drug trade and have interests in extortion, gambling, and racketeering. This crime family has been in decline since the 1990s when they lost many vital members to law enforcement. Currently, the Bonanno family is not considered to be as powerful as they once were. The most famous boss of this family is Salvatore "Sonny Black" Napolitano, who was later killed in a gangland hit in 1981.