During the Kefauver Committee hearings, which began in 1950, these and other so-called mobsters were brought before Congress and questioned about the existence of a widespread organization known as the Mafia or Cosa Nostra, which originated in Sicily and controlled crime across the United States. The hearings were televised, thus popularizing the idea that in America there was a well-organized, nation-wide crime syndicate composed mainly of Italians and Jews.
