Perhaps the best known patron-client networks are the Sicilian and Italian American Cosa Nostra, most commonly known as the Sicilian Mafia.

In revenge, the Brigades assassinated his brother Roberto in 1981 significantly damaging the standing of the group and lowering them in the public's eyes to little more than a supposedly radical Cosa Nostra.

Two prime suspects are Cosa Nostra hit men John Scalise and Albert Anselmi ; both men were effective killers and are frequently mentioned as possibilities for two of the shooters.

The picture of both assassinated judges became an iconic symbol of the struggle against Cosa Nostra.

Cosa Nostra.

The book introduced Italian criminal terms like consiglieri, caporegime, Cosa Nostra, and omertà to an English-speaking audience.

In July 2003, the Italian prosecutors concluded that the Mafia acted not only in its own interests, but also to ensure that Calvi could not blackmail " politico-institutional figures and of freemasonry, the P2 lodge, and the Institute of Religious Works with whom he had invested substantial sums of money, some of it from Cosa Nostra and Italian public corporations ".

According to the indictment, the five ordered Calvi's murder to prevent the banker " from using blackmail power against his political and institutional sponsors from the world of Masonry, belonging to the P2 lodge, or to the Institute for Religious Works ( the Vatican Bank ) with whom he had managed investments and financing with conspicuous sums of money, some of it coming from Cosa Nostra and public agencies ".

Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia, Palgrave Macmillan, 2004 ( ISBN 1403966966 )

; The Magliozzi Crime Family: The undisputed heads of the local Cosa Nostra, the Magliozzi family seems to be the purest example of " true " Mafia lifestyle.

It enabled Falcone to argue that Cosa Nostra was a unified hierarchical structure ruled by a Commission and that its leaders -– who normally would not dirty their hands with criminal acts –- could be held responsible for criminal activities that were committed to benefit the organization.

On November 16, 1992, Buscetta testified before the Antimafia Commission presided by Luciano Violante about the links between Cosa Nostra and Salvo Lima and Giulio Andreotti.

" Salvo Lima was, in fact, the politician to whom Cosa Nostra turned most often to resolve problems for the organisation whose solution lay in Rome ," Buscetta testified.

:" It is not Cosa Nostra that contacts the politician ; instead a member of the Cosa Nostra says, that president is mine ( è cosa mia ), and if you need a favor, you must go through me.

In other words, the Cosa Nostra figure maintains a sort of monopoly on that politician.

Cosa Nostra.

According to Buscetta, Mattei was killed at the request of the American Cosa Nostra because his policies had damaged important American interests in the Middle East.

Gaetano Iannì, another pentito, declared that a special agreement had been achieved between the Cosa Nostra and " some foreigners " for the elimination of Mattei, which was organized by Giuseppe Di Cristina.

Perhaps the best known criminal gangs are the Italian Cosa Nostra, commonly known as the Mafia.

* Because Arizona is a " neutral " state for the Mafia and with Kingman's proximity to Las Vegas, members and associates of various La Cosa Nostra organizations, including Chicago and New York, have reportedly made Kingman their home over the years, as well as other areas of Mohave County.

Despite being the boss of a small crime family, Bufalino was a significant influence in the national Cosa Nostra criminal organization.

Constantino Paul " Big Paul " Castellano ( pronounced cass-TAY-lah-noh ) ( June 26, 1915 – December 16, 1985 ), also known as " The Howard Hughes of the Mob " and " Big Paulie " ( or " PC " to his family ), succeeded Carlo Gambino as head of the Gambino crime family, then the nation's largest Cosa Nostra family.

He was helped by Meyer Lansky's offshore gaming houses in Cuba and the Bahamas, a lucrative business for the Cosa Nostra.

Several major bosses from the Jewish Syndicate were at the conference to discuss joint La Cosa Nostra-Jewish Syndicate business.

According to conference rules, the Jewish delegates could not vote on Cosa Nostra rules or policies ; however, the Jewish crime bosses were allowed input on any joint business ventures, such as the Flamingo Hotel.

* Santo " Louie Santos " Trafficante Jr., Tampa Family caporegime, moved to Havana in 1946 to oversee La Cosa Nostra and Tampa Family casino and business interests, future Tampa Family boss.

In May 1989, Rudolf's sons Armin and Gerd Dassler agreed to sell their 72 percent stake in Puma to Swiss business Cosa Liebermann SA.

Trafficante, Jr. had been sent by his father, Tampa godfather Santo Trafficante, Sr. ( a man who always wanted to make it big in Cuba ) to oversee La Cosa Nostra and Tampa Family casino and business interests there.

He conducted and spoke about Cosa Nostra business as he was being driven around New York City by his driver and Lucchese family capo Salvatore Avellino.

Local and federal law enforcement increased their surveillance of Cosa Nostra members, stopping them to take photographs and ask questions.

With Buchalter's death, Albert " Lord High Executioner " Anastasia, a made man, of the Cosa Nostra took over " Murder, Inc ." As a reaction to government informants in Murder, Inc., the New York crime families started using their own members and associates, who were more easily controlled, to commit murders.

On reproductions of the map of Juan de la Cosa, who was with Columbus, Guanahani looks to some researchers like a string of small islands.

The position of Cosa is distinct, rising some 113 metres above sea level and is sited 140 km northwest of Rome on the Tyrrhenian Sea coast, on a hill near the small town of Ansedonia.

* Cosa Meara Company of Irish Dance, an Irish dance college network

With the end of the Castellammarese War in 1931, Reles ' and Maione's gangs developed into a network of contract killers that became known as Murder, Inc .. Albert Anastasia, a patron of Capone's restaurant, persuaded the two gang leaders that they could make a lot of money by working together for the Cosa Nostra.

It is traditionally associated with Cosa Nostra, the Italian organized crime group dominant in Sicily for their use of it in vendettas, defense — such as its use against Mussolini's army when he decided to break up the Sicilian mafioso network — and hunting.

Antonino Giuffrè – a close confidant of Provenzano, turned pentito shortly after his capture in 2002 – alleges that in 1993 Cosa Nostra had direct contact with representatives of Silvio Berlusconi who was then planning the birth of Forza Italia.

Antonino Giuffrè – a close confidant of Provenzano, turned pentito shortly after his capture in April 2002 – alleges that in 1993, Cosa Nostra had direct contact with representatives of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi while he was planning the birth of Forza Italia.

In 1921, at the age of 19, he became a " made man " and was inducted into Cosa Nostra.

Despite his father's attempts to dissuade him, Gravano, like many of his Ramper colleagues, drifted into the Cosa Nostra.

By the end of 1931, Luciano had eliminated this top position and re-organized the Italian mafia into " La Cosa Nostra ", or " This Thing of Ours ".

Since the 1920s, La Cosa Nostra had been involved in drug importation ( heroin, cocaine, and marijuana ) into North America.

By the late 1950s the Sicilians and Americans organized a joint U. S. and Sicilian La Cosa Nostra narcotics operation that would eventually grow into one of the largest global narcotics operation ever.

Bonanno's and Magaddino's crime families in New York and Buffalo opened up Montreal and Toronto in the 1950s as satellite groups or individual operations connected with the famous " French Connection ", but eventually the satellite groups would grow into their own powerful crime families and control massive narcotics distribution networks that still operate even today, all of the narcotics networks mentioned help destroy the myth that Charlie Luciano and La Cosa Nostra were against narcotics.

When the Spanish court found soon afterwards that the Portuguese had made several incursions into the newly discovered country, Queen Isabella sent Juan de la Cosa at the head of a delegation to Portugal to protest this incursion.

After having settled an old border dispute between Alonso de Ojeda and Diego de Nicuesa, they went with Francisco Pizarro into de Ojeda's territory and landed at Cartagena against the warnings of de la Cosa, who proposed they disembark on the more peaceful coast of the Gulf of Uraba.

He wrote the book My Life in the Mafia, although he was never inducted into La Cosa Nostra.

The verdict effectively cleared Dell ’ Utri and Italian prime minister Berlusconi over allegations his entry into politics was backed by Cosa Nostra and a terrorist bombing campaign.