The Sicilians in the mafia (as with the ’Ndrangheta and Camorra tribes), always subject to conquest, could operate only as a state-within-a-state. They and the Irish border folks took their insights into the New World (see Ethnic America by Thomas Sowell, 1981). These became the political machines: organized crime was its harness-mate, and the crossbreeding gave birth to various American political dynasties.
