THE MAFIA or How To Be Well Connected in Italian Circles

In any discussion of Italian culture, the Mafia always comes up. At least, in any Italian-American conversation. Not since Jesse James and the Dalton boys have Americans embraced a group of outlaws and turned them into heroes. But in Italy, the Mafia is viewed as a regional problem--centered mainly on the island of Sicily and to a smaller extent in the city of Naples. In Italy, just like the United States, the north and the south don’t get along. (Northern Italians are fond of saying that Africa begins south of Rome, referring to early Moorish invasions and influences.) A recent Italian hit movie, “Tano To Die For,” is a musical-comedy that satirizes La Cosa Nostra. Hollywood is much more careful when it pokes fun at the mob.

What is it about this band of hoodlums that makes them so endearing in the United States? Well, they have an old-fashioned code of ethics we admire. They began as a self-help group of home boys, aiding Italian immigrants in an American society that didn’t exactly welcome them with open arms. Their women are passionate lovers and devoted mothers. Their men are rugged, studly--and really know how to dress.

The final admirable quality about the mob is that they came to power through a major American screw-up: Prohibition. Before that, the Mafia was just a couple of tough guys muscling protection money from the corner fruit vendor. But thanks to the FBI and other do-gooders (the crowd hisses here), organized crime got organized in a big way. So what’s not to like?

With the rise of Oriental gangs and the Russian mob, has the Italian-American Mafia lost its power? In lower Manhattan, New York City’s “Little Italy” gets smaller every year as neighboring Chinatown takes over block after block. On the other hand, the New York wise guys moved to the suburbs years ago. Check the freeway signs in the opening credits of the HBO series “The Sopranos” if you have any doubts. And the popularity of that premium-channel cable TV series (now also available on video) proves that our fascination with the mob is as strong as ever. Law enforcement groups are also still fascinated. In southern California a local branch of the Sons of Italy (a fraternal nonprofit group) recently started a website to promote the group’s activities, like potluck suppers and rummage sales. They subscribed to a tracking service to find out who was visiting their site--and discovered that the Department of Justice was a major fan.

Nowadays, the Mafia in fiction and the Mafia in fact overlap. Wise guys imitate “The

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