To begin with, the definition of a mafia would be any type of organized crime that uses violence, blackmail or intimidation. They are very well organized, making mafia organizations a very hard problem to solve. They have a lot of power and influence a lot of people worldwide. The mafias make money from crime. They make billions of dollars a year from such crimes as making and selling illegal drugs, money laundering, from stealing, gambling and prostitution.
To talk about their origins, we have to go to Sicilia. For ages, Sicilia was governed by a feudal system that exploited a large amount of peasants. The violent conducts was the only way to get privileges, and in that chaotic society, people could only trust their families. That's why family ties are so important for mafias. With the pass of time, those organizations were more powerful and had more influence on the governments. Even the governments asked for help from the mafia to solve some problems.
The first mafia was called “Cosa Nostra”. Later, Italian immigrants in USA created new ones, dedicated mainly to the smuggling of alcohol that was forbidden.
Now I'm going to talk about the most famous Mafias or the most important ones. In relation to the Italian mafias. The world's largest mafia today is the dreaded 'Ndrangheta "Calabrese, who has moved in size and strength the Sicilian "Cosa Nostra" which has been severely punished by the Italian State in recent years.
Last year the major criminal organizations in Italy had a "turnover" of almost 50 billion dollars. I repeat, 50 billion dollars. That's really shocking, don't you think?
'Ndrangheta' Calabrian raises about 11 billion dollars a year only by trafficking cocaine, overcoming the 9 billion of the Sicilian 'Cosa Nostra'.
The four Italian mafias (the other two are the 'Comorra' of Naples and the Apuliam 'Sacra corona unida') 'charged' nearly 6 billion dollars in weapon traffic, 3 billion from prostitution and the same sum with extortion. They also raise another 10 billion dollars in activities related to public work.
In another part of the world, we find the Japanese Mafia, the Yakuza, that uses threat and extortion to get it's way. They are famous for the lack of a joint, particularly the little finger because it is offered to the leader as a token of loyalty. Moreover, some members have full body tattoos. In total, this mafia has 110,000 active members.
Chinese triads are composed of many criminal organizations that focus on mainland China, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore and they are also very active in the USA.
Their organized crime involves theft, homicide, drug trafficking, extortion and piracy. The triads have from 50 to more than 30,000 members.
Surprising statistics, right? You probably think that they are too far and they don't affect your country. But they have a lot of influence worldwide, and it's almost sure, that they have operated in Spain.
Now I'm going to talk about their influence in our society. Nowadays, we could link the huge pharmaceutical companies with mafia behaviour. They move about 200,000 million dollars a year in a very dark way. An amount greater than the benefits weapon sales bring in. For every dollar invested in the manufacture of a drug, the market gets a thousand .
Before commercializing that drug they test it on the most poor people in the world. Hundreds of deaths can occur because of an failed drug. But nobody knows and nobody cares.
But you don't go to the pharmacy thinking about that , right?
One of the most famous pharmaceutical corporations, Bayern, is related to chemical warfare agents, insecticides and "drugs" like heroin, an early patent of Bayer before checking what it could cause. It has worked closely with many dictators and war criminals, such as Hitler. They produced Zyclone B gas used to exterminate Jews in concentration camps.
It's really shocking, don't you think that? The director of the corporation that creates the Aspirine, which you take when you have headache, is responsible for thousands of deaths.
There are many similar cases as the few I have just said. A lot of Mafias are responsible of prostitution. Another thing that happens not so far from where you live. A lot of prostitutes are kidnapped or tricked into this world. It has become a very serious problem in parts of Eastern-Europe or South-America. To not talk about the organ traffic.
To try to see all of this from another perspective, we can make an effort to imagine your life if you were a member of a mafia. It is obvious that your life wouldn't be normal. Maybe your diary work could consist in make illegal transactions or kill someone who the boss doesn't like. You would be very rich and respected by all. You would be very powerful and whatever you do you wouldn't go to prison. The truth is that this type of life is the life leaded by someone cold, without mercy and filled with ambition. These people are influenced by nothing but money, and their lives are tangled up with all their projects.
To conclude, the aim of this speech is to make us realize that there exists a big underworld, which we don't know anything about. We have to realize that they have a lot of influence in our world and maybe they rule part of it.
