Whether in a movie fiction or in reality, Mafia has lashings of long-established traditions that entrepreneurs can use today. Needless to say, you shouldn’t be putting up your own mob empire to marshal illegal activities to make a lot of money, but you could latch onto the ideals of these business-minded mafiosos and apply it in a good way.
The central movements of a mafia-type of organizations are protection rackets, as well as brokering and enforcing illegal agreements and transactions. Among one the most notorious Mafia connive is labor union infiltration.
You must have heard of this most quoted line from The Godfather, “I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse.” More than being just a cool remark, it’s also a de facto negotiation tactic that these crafty unlawful organization has used in business for centuries.
Mobsters give a menacing offer to acquire union stocks and get into the higher leadership rank within the association themselves. This allows them to take a grip on an enormous chunk of the industry.
Several people don’t know that although these mafias are unlawful, it is not a terrorist organization. They only want humongous profits, so they resort to illicit schemes to achieve that.
You can actually discover how to run a tight ship when it comes to business from this criminal organization. But before we do that, you first need to know the mafia’s framework.
Etymology
Sicilian Mafia is an organized mob syndicate and a lawless society that originated in the region of Sicily back in the Victorian period. It is an alliance of criminal groups that accords to a similar organizational arrangement. Their main group is coined as a family or clan, and each dominates a certain territory—typically a town or village.
The word “mafia” is originated from the Sicilian adjective “mafiusu,” which can be translated as “swagger,” “bravado,” or “boldness.” Upon migrating to the United States, its members referred Sicilian Mafia as Casa Nostra.
Other organizations operate similarly to the Sicilian Mafia, for instance, Russian and Japanese Mafia.
In Japan, there is a Mafia-like criminal organization called Yakuza, also known as gangsters. They engage in smuggling, drug trafficking, blackmail, day-labor contracting, and other known illegal rackets in large Japanese cities.
Yakuza members are often marked out as males with slicked hair wearing sharp clothes ornamented with heavy body tattoos. Although their organization is not as big as the Sicilian Mafia, they manage to engross themselves in large criminal activities worldwide, making them among the wealthiest and sophisticated organizations in the world.
Bratva. Vory v zakone. Red Mafia. Going by many names, the Russian Mafia possesses a criminal resume that covers nearly all illegal activity in existence. Name any crime, and the Russian organized crime has it in their repertoire. The Russian Mafia is somewhat different from the Italian Mafia since they don’t value family as Italian mafiosi do.
The Development of the Mafia
Organized crime had so completely infiltrated Sicilian life up to the point that it was almost unlikely to elude contact with the Mafia. Throughout the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini’s leadership, the Mafia was cracked down using a brutal method in prison.
However, confined criminals were set free from the dictator’s grip during World War II, when the U.S. military troops invaded Sicily. These subjugators unleased many mobsters, thinking that they were political prisoners.
What’s worst, they appointed many of them as heads of city governments and police chiefs. This commenced Mafia’s firm hold on Italian Partito della Democrazia Cristiana, known as Italy’s Christian Democrat Party. Just like that, they placed drug lords, murderers, and criminals in charge of the governance.
During the postwar years, competing Sicilian families recognized the negative consequence of their fighting in their finances. They had a truce and organized a new group called Cupula, which would supervise all operations of every family and accede to major assassinations and enterprises.
The committee succeeded in suppressing gang wars for a while. However, Mafia’s big bosses become more susceptible to prosecution since they personally approve murders with the Cupola in place.
In the 1980s, the authority’s fight against the Sicilian Mafia reached a critical crisis. Prosecutors who battled head-on and damaged Mafia were assassinated in bombardments. This outraged the Italian public, making government finally acknowledge the implementation of the Maxiprocesso, better known as the Maxi Trial.
The criminal trial has tested over 400 Mafioso in a customed-made bunker. Defendants were held in the back of the courtroom, screaming threats to witnesses loudly.
The Mafia killed numerous judges and magistrates through and after the trial. On the good side, 338 were found guilty, and 19 were sentenced to life imprisonment. Even in world history, the maxi trial was regarded as the most notable trial against the Sicilian Mafia.
However, this legal proceeding has yet to stamp out Sicily’s guileful mafiosos. In 1992, about 7,000 military troops were sent to Sicily by the Italian government, seizing the island for six years.
If you’re curious if these crafty Sicilian Mafia still exists today, they do. They are still active in many countries, including the United States, but the way they do things is now quieter and less violent.
According to BBC’s report, the Sicilian Mafia no longer takes part in the international drug trafficking activities and currently purchases drugs from the Neapolitan dealers for the local market. Nevertheless, several Sicilians still seek help from the Mafia to claim uncompensated debts, handle economic struggles and obtain stolen goods.
The Main Goal of the Mafia
At its core, the Mafia is all about one thing: money.
Participating in illegal ventures inside the black market makes enormous money since smuggled goods are expensive yet unregulated and untaxed. This makes their business more profitable.
Over the decades, the Mafia has been involved in illegal drugs, gambling, and prostitution. Their most common illegal activity is extortion, which is a practice of getting money through threats, and blackmails. Although we often hear such cases executed by individuals, it is more frequently undertaken by organized groups.
Mafia Lessons You Can Apply to Your Business
Even lawless and dangerous individuals can teach us something. Here are the valuable lessons you can learn from the world’s most successful criminal organization in history:
Organization
The mafia has a strong organizational structure. High-ranking members oversee decisions that are issued down to the lower-ranking members of the family. On top of the pile is the boss, then comes the underboss and Consigliere, who makes fair decisions for the entire family’s good, whether it comes to family feud or business. There’s also a Capo, captain, and soldier.
Your business should have an organizational structure just as a criminal organization like Mafia has one. Work performance will increase by establishing a well-thought arrangement since the tasks would be distributed according to the structure built.
Values
Mafia bosses have this thing called Code of Silence that protects them from undertakings of criminals beneath them. They also culminate tests that originated from Sicily. They follow certain values and principles that make their organization stronger and more powerful.
A company’s values involve philosophies, beliefs, and principles that steer businesses, impacting work delivery and performance. It further influences your relationship with customers, shareholders, and customers. Make sure to amplify your company’s values to your employees and customers. This will allow you to establish a more formidable business.
Know your enemy
When you study your enemy, you grasp a better understanding of how they work and how you can effectively outgrow them. The knowledge you will take hold of will give you the advantage to strike your competitor’s weakness and enhance your business performance.
