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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
organized crime \organized crime\ n. Groups of persons organized for illegal purposes, such as bootlegging, conducting illegal gambling, loansharking, extortion, etc.; -- a general term encompassing most forms of criminal groups, but especially those that are consolidated into ''families'' more or less recognizing each other's different regions of operation; sometimes considered synonymous with the {mafia} or the {syndicate}. [PJC]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Maffia \Maf"fi*a\, Mafia \Ma"fi*a\, noun [It. maffia.]
1. A secret society which organized in Sicily as a political organization, but is now widespread among Italians, and is used to further or protect private interests, reputedly by illegal methods; called also the {Sicilian Mafia}. [WordNet sense 2] [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
2. A group of loosely associated of criminal organizations in the United States, some having ties to the Sicilian Mafia, and organized in ''families''; the term is applied to the entire group of organizations, or to any one local group. Also, loosely, organized groups of criminals anywhere, as the Russian mafia. [WordNet sense 1]
Syn: syndicate, mob, Cosa Nostra, La Cosa Nostra, organized crime. [WordNet 1.6 + PJC]
3. Any tightly knit group of trusted associates having strong control or influence in some area; as, Kennedy and his Irish Mafia. [informal] [WordNet sense 3] [PJC]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Mafia \Maf"i*a\, Mafioso \Ma'fi*o"so\, noun see {maffia}, {maffioso}. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Syndicate \Syn"di*cate\, noun [Cf. F. syndicat, LL. syndicatus.]
1. The office or jurisdiction of a syndic; a council, or body of syndics. --Bp. Burnet.
2. An association of persons officially authorized to undertake some duty or to negotiate some business; also, an association of persons who combine to carry out, on their own account, a financial or industrial project; as, a syndicate of bankers formed to take up and dispose of an entire issue of government bonds.
3. A more or less organized association of criminals controlling some aspects of criminal activity, in a specific area or country-wide; -- used loosely as a synonym for {organized crime} or the {mafia}. [PJC]
4. (Journalism) a commercial organization that purchases various journalistic items, such as articles, columns, or comic strips, from their individual creators, and resells them to newspapers or other periodicals for simultaneous publication over a wide area. [PJC]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
Mafia
noun
1: a crime syndicate in the United States; organized in families; believed to have important relations to the Sicilian Mafia [syn: {Maffia}, {Cosa Nostra}]
2: a secret terrorist group in Sicily; originally opposed tyranny but evolved into a criminal organization in the middle of the 19th century [syn: {Maffia}, {Sicilian Mafia}]
3: any tightly knit group of trusted associates [syn: {maffia}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
28 Moby Thesaurus words for "Mafia": Black Hand, Cosa Nostra, black market, bootlegging, gambling, gangdom, gangland, gray market, illegal commerce, illegal operations, illegitimate business, illicit business, loan-sharking, moonshining, narcotics traffic, organized crime, prostitution, protection racket, racket, shady dealings, the Mafia, the mob, the rackets, the syndicate, the underworld, traffic in women, usury, white slavery
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |