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mafia
(maˈfiːa, now usu. ˈmæfɪə, ˈmɑːfɪə)
Also maffia.
[Sicilian.]
In Sicily, the spirit of hostility to the law and its ministers prevailing among a large portion of the population, and manifesting itself frequently in vindictive crimes; the body of those who share in this anti-legal spirit. In the U.S. and elsewhere, an organized secret society existing for criminal purposes. Also attrib. and transf. Hence maf(f)iˈoso (pl. -osi), mafiˈosa (fem.), ˈMafiaist, a member or supporter of the mafia; ˈMafiaism, the doctrines or practices of the mafia.
1875Times 9 June 5/4 The malevolent influence and oppression of the Mafia and the Mafiosi. 1902Encycl. Brit. XXXI. 163/1 (art. New Orleans) He had been active in proceedings against certain Italians accused of crime, and it was popularly believed that his death was the work of a maffia, or sworn secret society. 1902G. Mosca Ibid. XXXII. 618/1 (art. Sicily) The Maffia is not, as is generally believed, one vast society of criminals, but is rather a sentiment akin to arrogance which imposes a special line of conduct upon persons affected by it...The maffioso considers it dishonourable to have recourse to lawful authority to obtain redress for a wrong or a crime committed against him. 1924A. Christie Poirot Investigates iii. 92 Suddenly they learn that one of these secret societies, the Mafia, or the Camorra..is on their track. 1927Daily Tel. 22 Nov. 7 Thuggism meant an end to human life; Mafiaism poisoned every department of it. 1948Oxf. Jun. Encycl. I. 135/2 Through a secret society called the Mafia, they [sc. the Czechs and Slovaks] gave help to the Allies against the Austrians and Germans. 1948E. L. Irey Tax Dodgers (1949) vii. 145 His gunmen shot the Mafiaists out of the top rung of the underworld. 1959Times Lit. Suppl. 9 Oct. 575/1 Mr. Maxwell also prints statements by members of the ruling classes and outsiders: a nun, a priest, a semi-mafioso doctor, a Tuscan carabiniere. 1965J. Wainwright Death in Sleeping City i. 75 She was born into the Mafia. She was a Mafiosa... He was a lousy Mafioso—because he wasn't all rotten. 1967Times 28 Feb. (Canada Suppl.) 29 Their Mafia-conscious compatriots south of the border. 1967Listener 20 Apr. 529/2 He [sc. J. F. Kennedy] was constantly personalizing the office he held, filling the White House with his ‘Irish mafia’,..extending the influence of the Kennedy court to cover the whole range of American cultural and intellectual activity. 1969C. Drummond Odds on Death v. 118 No law enforcement agency had ever learned to cope with mafiosi. 1970New Yorker 3 Jan. 44 The composers' Mafia, with its dedication to atonality and the production of new noises, holds no terrors for him. 1970E. Tidyman Shaft (1971) vi. 92 If a Mafia don was breaking his kid into the business today, he would break him in through the Harvard Business School. 1971M. McCarthy Birds of America 263 I'm prepared for attacks, naturally, from the academic Mafia. 1971P. Ziegler King William IV xiii. 162 It was the turn of the Ultra Tories. This mafia of malcontents..pledged themselves to destroy the Duke [of Wellington]. 1972‘J. Ripley’ My Word you should have seen Us 88 The F.B.I. know Joseph Colombo as a Capo Mafioso. 1973Guardian 16 Feb. 13/8 British Brussels is..split on the issue of the TUC's participation in Europe. The Labour Party mafia is oversensitive about the TUC. 1974Sumter (S. Carolina) Daily Item 24 Apr. 12A/4 Another top Mafioso, Aniello Dellacroce, just finished an income-tax sentence in the Atlanta pen. A few days before his release, another Mafioso leader, Frank Valenti, was locked behind federal bars. |