Thinking about joining the Italian mafia? Well, then you need to come up with a convincing sounding name! Our guide to Italian mafia names explains exactly how members of this organization are assigned their names.
The Italian Mafia is a highly secretive society that is classified as a criminal group which developed in the mid 19th century in Sicily. It is also known as Cosa Nostra. The influence of the Italian mafia is not at all restricted to several illegal activities; rather it has authority over certain functions that belong to the public sector as well. The larger group contains a hundred smaller groups known as Cosche or families. Each family has a territory under its control where it exercises its own rule. There are a number of things that set this criminal organization apart. Firstly it is a group of men with supposedly very fine moral conduct in terms of behavior, education and personality. The second thing that sets this organization apart is the names that some of their members tend to have.
Italian Mafia Names in the Media
One could very well feel as if the names of the members of the Italian mafia were those of stage characters of a screen play. The media has played a huge role in popularizing Italian mafia names with mafia movie flicks like “The God Father” and “Scarface”. Recent years have seen movie directors make fun of Italian mafia names in parody movies and even in cartoon flicks. Many cartoon movies seek to show the way of life of the Italian mafia through animated characters. Italian mafia names incorporate the person’s actual name and a title that is given to the individual in the mafia.
How the Mafia Assign Names
The title that one gets in the Italian mafia is derived from a number of different sources. An individual may get a title based on his position in the organization or a particular family. Larry “The Boss” Pistone is a classic example of an Italian mafia name that belongs to a ring leader.
Other Italian mafia names are performance based. Since violence is a key element in the functioning of this organization you will find names that compliment the violent nature of some of the individuals. These names are used to indicate the potential dangers that the particular individual poses. Examples include Mickey “The Animal” Costelle and Francesco “The wolf” Lonardo.
An Italian mafia name may be based on a personal attribute or skill of an individual member. Deriving nicknames from these sources is a common practice amongst most cultures in the world. But in the perspective is a bit twisted when it comes to criminal organizations. Someone with great spying skills maybe given the name of Franky “The Weasel” Napotano or Stefano “Crazy eyes” Brasco maybe a name for an individual with a highly intimidating set of eyes.
Physical characteristics also play an important role in the Italian mafia naming system. Again this has been a common factor in the history of Italian names. Franky “the Stud” Luchhese is a classic example of the good looking mafia man from Italy. In our times these names are taken as a way of jest and mockery. People often play games where they amuse themselves by coming up with Italian names relative to their own personalities.
