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• n  a crime syndicate in the United States; organized in families; believed to have important relations to the Sicilian Mafia
• n  a secret terrorist group in Sicily; originally opposed tyranny but evolved into a criminal organization in the middle of the 19th century
• n  any tightly knit group of trusted associates

• Scholars disagree on whether the term came from maehfil, meaning union in the language of the 9th century Arab conquerors of Sicily, or from the Tuscan word maffia, signifying .
• They flocked around Andrea Finocchiaro-Aprile, energetic mouthpiece for Sicilian separatism, and nominal head of the maffia.

• Mafia
• Maffia
• Cosa Nostra
• Sicilian Mafia
• mafia

News & Articles

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• Lincoln student helps other students
  Lincoln Elementary School teacher Jolee Maffia said she was always pretty sure that Ethan Ontiveros, a 4-year-old student in her transitional kindergarten class, would be her choice for a Character Counts award, but there was one moment that clinched it.
  Oct. 26, 2013 - Visalia Times-Delta / Tulare Advance-Register

Quotes

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• Randy Shannon in The Ledger
  We bring somebody in every year to talk about gambling,said Miami coach Randy Shannon. "We had someone who was part of the maffia come in and talk about point shaving and gambling -- how they set you up and get you to that point where they...