The Mafia in '40s America
For the benefit of those who may not remember my last post, I am writing a crime
novel set in New York during the Second World War.
One of my characters is a crime kingpin of Italian extraction, but he's not
Sicilian, he's Tuscan - his surname is de Medici - and deliberately so because
he sees himself as having a legacy to uphold, convinced that he is a descendant
of the de Medicis of Florence, who were rather powerful and influential in 15th
and 16th centuries (members of this family included at least two Popes and one
Queen of France, the formidable Catherine de Medici, wife of Henri II). I have
been informed that your typical Tuscan is very proud, and would never stoop to
pay tribute to a Boss of All Bosses. Therefore, I suspect that for this concept
to work, my crime boss would have to be non-Mafia, or at least the only Boss of
All Bosses he would acknowledge would be himself. Also, I understand that in
those days the Cosa Nostra only allowed Sicilians - and maybe Calabrians and
Neopolitans - to be Made Men, or at least that was not open to northern Italians
and non-Italians.
What I was primarily meaning to ask, though, was whether the phrases "Mafia" or
"Cosa Nostra" were in use in 1940s America. (I don't remember hearing either
once in the 1932 version of Scarface). This is so I can distinguish this
particular Boss as non-Cosa Nostra. Or should I simply re-write him as
Sicilian?
novel set in New York during the Second World War.
One of my characters is a crime kingpin of Italian extraction, but he's not
Sicilian, he's Tuscan - his surname is de Medici - and deliberately so because
he sees himself as having a legacy to uphold, convinced that he is a descendant
of the de Medicis of Florence, who were rather powerful and influential in 15th
and 16th centuries (members of this family included at least two Popes and one
Queen of France, the formidable Catherine de Medici, wife of Henri II). I have
been informed that your typical Tuscan is very proud, and would never stoop to
pay tribute to a Boss of All Bosses. Therefore, I suspect that for this concept
to work, my crime boss would have to be non-Mafia, or at least the only Boss of
All Bosses he would acknowledge would be himself. Also, I understand that in
those days the Cosa Nostra only allowed Sicilians - and maybe Calabrians and
Neopolitans - to be Made Men, or at least that was not open to northern Italians
and non-Italians.
What I was primarily meaning to ask, though, was whether the phrases "Mafia" or
"Cosa Nostra" were in use in 1940s America. (I don't remember hearing either
once in the 1932 version of Scarface). This is so I can distinguish this
particular Boss as non-Cosa Nostra. Or should I simply re-write him as
Sicilian?