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Michael Corleone: My father is no different than any powerful man, any man with power, like a president or senator. Kay Adams: Do you know how naive you sound, Michael? Presidents and senators don't have men killed! Michael Corleone: Oh? Who's being naive, Kay? — The Godfather
Scary Italian dudes with guns. Part tight-knit community, part protection racket, these paisani live by a code - which just happens to include vendetta (killing anyone who wrongs la famiglia) and omertà (going to your Don, rather than the cops, when you have trouble with a fellow Italian). Classically known as the Cosa Nostra, and also called "wiseguys".
While the Italian mafia has obvious basis in fact, it has remained a staple of entertainment even as the Yakuza and former Soviet-bloc mafias lapped it for sheer scare value in the real world.
It should be noted that in reality, the Mafia is actually Sicilian, not Italian. It was for this reason that, despite popular belief, Al Capone wasn't technically in the Mafia at all. Few people seem to realise this, however.
For the laughably inept, PG-rated version, see The Family For The Whole Family. If present as a global player, The Mafia may evolve into The Syndicate. Also see Mafia Princess. Obviously not connected with Legitimate Businessmens Social Club at all.
Compare The Mafiya, The Cartel, The Triads And The Tongs and Yakuza.
Examples:
- Obvious literary and film example: The Godfather. Pretty much the genesis of the modern media portrayal, though the actual word 'mafia' was notably absent from the film versions. (Ironically, it would go on to influence real-life mafia culture, particularly the glamorous self-image that would be aspired to.)
- The producers of The Godfather were able to speak to a real member of the Mafia, who provided some of his 'boys' for crowd-control on-set. In exchange, he made several requests, one of which was that the word 'Mafia' be removed from the script (the director agreed, which was easy enough to do — considering that it wasn't in the script in the first place).
- The Sopranos. Which finally put an end to the popular cliche of mobsters acting like 1940's era gangsters from The Godfather.
- Goodfellas
- Casino
- King Of New York
- Scarface did this with Cuban and South American guys, instead of Italians.
- This is the more recent version with Pacino. The film it's a remake of had Italians.
- Sexy Beast, with British organised crime.
- The anime series Baccano!, which takes place during the American prohibition era.
- Grand Theft Auto 3 revolves around The Mafia, and the group also shows up in important roles in the other parts of the series. In fact, Liberty City Stories has you play as a mobster who's of some importance in 3.
- Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door has the 'Pianta Syndicate', a Cultural Translation of the Japanese version's Yakuza Piantas.
- Also spoofed in Les Triplettes de Belleville - the otherwise entirely stereotypical mobsters are actually French, and obsessed with cycling.
- The video game Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven is all about La Cosa Nostra. And it's getting a sequel soon.
- Parodied in Sam And Max Freelance Police with the Toy Mafia, who all wear colorful grinning teddy bear heads and use a Suck E Cheeses-style restaurant as a thinly-disguised front for their operations.
- City Of Heroes has the Family, who are basically Italian mobsters in nice suits and bowler hats. City Of Villains also has the Mooks, who are just the same, except less well-dressed.
- Both are hilariously anachronistic as well, even the Mooks wear 20s-style fashion outfits in a Twenty Minutes Into The Future world, and wield tommy guns equally as effective as modern assault rifles and lasers. Rule Of Cool, folks.
- The Mafia shows up from time to time in Survival Of The Fittest, along with other organized crime groups such as the gangs in Denton usually in the background but occasionally directly involved. For example, Antonio Franchini is the son of a Mafia Don, abducted to prove a point after the Don reneged on his part of a deal between him and Danya. In v2, Seth Mattlock's father is an enforcer for a Mafia family based in Denton, and Seth himself is not only friends with some of the mobsters but is considered an honourary member, and the mob family helps his gang when they need it (for example, when an all out gang war starts). Montezzo Valtieri, a graduate of the highschool targetted in v3, is rumoured to be a Mafia member due to his advanced fighting ability, Sicillian heritage, great wealth, and formal, cultured appearance, but he denies this.
- The Valachi Papers was created from interviews and testimony of Joe Valachi, the first major mob informant.
- The Mafia was a major villain in the early The Executioner novels staring Mack Bolan.
- Snow Crash. The Mafia delivers pizza, among other things. Uncle Enzo's Cosa Nostra Pizza guarantees delivery within 30 minutes, or you get your pizza free, Uncle Enzo flies down to your house, apologizes, and gives you a free trip to Italy. The delivery boy gets custom concrete shoes.
- Even The World Of Darkness had its share, with a few branches of the Giovanni
 , a vampire mob with necromantic power. As Gary puts it in Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines: "Spaghetti and corpses, boss."
- The Punisher's first of many victims. (The original version has his family being gunned down by gangsters for stumbling onto a gangland execution, while the version told on the one-shot MAX comic The Cell has an attempted coup go bad with both the hitman and the target's bodyguards killing the Castle family in the crossfire.)
- The book of Man On Fire and the first film had the Mafia being behind the kidnapping that Creasy seeks vengeance for, but the 2004 film with Denzel Washington removed them from the picture.
- The Golgo 13 story "Wiseguys" has Duke Togo called in by a Mafia don over a matter of a blood feud. It opens with an FBI presentation that attempts to strip away most of the romantic myths surrounding the Mafia, and does a decent job at presenting organized crime as just prettied-up hooliganism.
- Verrocchio's gang in Black Lagoon; in a reversal of the common portrayals, they come off as more brutal and overall worse people than Balalaika's or Chang's gangs.
- "Iron Goldie", the nemesis of Rally Vincent from Gunsmith Cats, and her people. She's from Sicily.
- The Mafia makes several appearances in CSI, unsurprisingly considering the location. CSI New York also dealt with a New York branch, and particularly, The Inglewood Boys, a gang of Mafioso youth.
- Recent Italian movie Gomorra takes a rather more realistic view of the Sicilian Camorra family.
- Many of Batman's non-Cape villains. Carmine "The Roman" Falcone, Salvatore "Boss" Maroni, Rupert Thorne and Carl Grissom qualify.
- Fat Tony's gang in The Simpsons.
- Katekyo Hitman Reborn. A series about a mafia boss who gets shot in the head. A lot. Him and his Unwanted Harem of Bishonen Although they're pretty much the Girlscout Mafia. The good guys, at least(I'm looking at you, Yamamoto Takeshi!). The antagonists have plans like possessing the body of the thirteen year old wimp and using him to cause World War III.
- The premise of Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure Part 5
- Futurama has the Robot Mafia, which is composed of only three members.
- Vampire The Masquerade had the Giovanni clan, an independent clan of Italian origin with ties to organized crime. Oh, and necromancy. And we can't forget the incest. Needless to say, the Giovanni are fucked up.
- Kingdom Of Loathing has the Penguin Mafia. The reason they're penguins is probably partly the resemblance between penguins and men in fine black suits, and partly that penguins are inherently funny.
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