International Journal on Criminology Volume 7, Number 1, Winter 2019/2020 | Page 74

Criminal Networks: The Forgotten Actors of International Politics
forth through these trusted go-betweens. Lieutenants, however, are not involved
in strategic decision making. Other caporegimes serve as chiefs of operating units.
The lowest level “members” of a family is the soldati, the soldiers or “button” men,
who report to the caporegime.
The right to constitute a family abroad is called decina (a tens), as it is said
that 10 men of honor are necessary to build a family (Reski 2013). On average, families
have between 25 and 30 men of honor. It is crucial to note that all subsidiary
families created abroad remain faithful and hierarchically submitted to the Sicilian
cosca of its founding members. This rule is de facto maintaining coherence in the
implementation of the global strategy decided by the Coupola. The Coupola or
Commission is Cosa Nostra’s overarching body where all rules and major decisions
are made, usually by consensus. It gathers capomendati (mandated Mafiosi representing
three or four families) from all Sicily and is headed by the most powerful
of their own, Capo di tutti capi (“boss of all bosses”) such as Bernardo Provenzano
and Toto Riina.
In the 1960s, membership was, ethnically speaking, exclusively Italian–
American—Cosa Nostra families only started to include Neapolitans and Calabrese
associates in their ranks in the 1930s and more noticeably in the 1960s.
Interestingly, many Jewish gangsters have played a significant role in the development
of Cosa Nostra in the United States and some of them were given high
positions of commands. Among many others, we can cite Arnold Rothstein who
mentored Charles “Lucky” Luciano, the founder of the modern Mafia, Benjamin
“Bugsy” Siegel, the head of Murder Incorporated, 2 and founder of the modern Las
Vegas, and finally Meyer Lansky, consigliere of several families’ bosses and who
managed their investments in the construction, tourism, and gambling industries
in Florida and the Bahamas (Cockayne 2016).
2.1.2. Mafias’ Normative Order
In the following section, we present Mafias’ as a counter-government operating
with its own laws, judicial system, and codes. This obviously constitutes a direct
challenge to Nation-States as they are founded on their normative production and
legitimacy. What are the components of Mafias’ normative order?
Mafiosi are soldiers primarily fighting for the interests of their Mafia.
Through its enforcement power and in exchange for an absolute obedience to the
hierarchy and normative order, Mafias provide security and protection to its initiates
(Grennan and Britz 2006). In fact, coercion, defined as “the use of overt threat
and actual force to influence another decision,” is central to Mafias’ functioning. 3
2 Murder Incorporated was a team of assassins formed by Jewish gangsters to support Luciano in his
successful putsch against old Mafia leaders such as Masseria.
3 Mafias have “enforcers” in their ranks, who maintain organizational integrity by arranging for the
maiming or killing of recalcitrant members.
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