Mafia License Key
Cripin Plascencia
"Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the organized crime groups from Italy. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of disputes between criminals as well as the organization and enforcement of illicit agreements between criminals through the use of threat or violence.[1] Mafias often engage in secondary activities such as gambling, loan sharking, drug-trafficking, prostitution, and fraud.
The term "mafia" was originally applied to the Sicilian Mafia. Since then, the term has expanded to encompass other organizations of similar methods and purpose, e.g., "the Russian Mafia" or "the Japanese Mafia". The term was coined by the press and is informal; the criminal organizations themselves have their own names (e.g. the Sicilian Mafia and the related Italian-American Mafia refer to their organizations as "Cosa Nostra"; the "Japanese Mafia" calls itself "Ninkyō dantai" but is more commonly known as "Yakuza" by the public; "Russian Mafia" groups often call themselves "Bratva".)
When used alone and without any qualifier, "Mafia" or "the Mafia" typically refers to either the Sicilian Mafia or the Italian-American Mafia and sometimes Italian organized crime in general (e.g., Camorra, 'Ndrangheta, etc.).
Today the 'Ndrangheta, originating in the Southern Italian region of Calabria, is widely considered the richest and most powerful mafia in the world.[2][3] The 'Ndrangheta has been around for as long as the better-known Sicilian Cosa Nostra, but was only recently designated as a Mafia-type association in 2010 under Article 416 bis of the Italian penal code.[4][5] Italy's highest court of last resort, the Supreme Court of Cassation, had ruled similarly on 30 March 2010.[6]
The public's association of the word with the criminal secret society was perhaps inspired by the 1863 play I mafiusi di la Vicaria ("The Mafiosi of the Vicaria") by Giuseppe Rizzotto and Gaspare Mosca.[18] The words mafia and mafiusi are never mentioned in the play. The play is about a Palermo prison gang with traits similar to the Mafia: a boss, an initiation ritual, and talk of "umirt" (omert or code of silence) and "pizzu" (a codeword for extortion money).[19] The play had great success throughout Italy. Soon after, the use of the term "mafia" began appearing in the Italian state's early reports on the phenomenon. The word made its first official appearance in 1865 in a report by the prefect of Palermo Filippo Antonio Gualterio [it].[20]
The term "Mafia" was never officially used by Sicilian mafiosi, who prefer to refer to their organization as "Cosa Nostra". Nevertheless, it is typically by comparison to the groups and families that comprise the Sicilian Mafia that other criminal groups are given the label. Giovanni Falcone, an anti-Mafia judge murdered by the Sicilian Mafia in 1992, objected to the conflation of the term "Mafia" with organized crime in general:
While there was a time when people were reluctant to pronounce the word "Mafia" ... nowadays people have gone so far in the opposite direction that it has become an overused term ... I am no longer willing to accept the habit of speaking of the Mafia in descriptive and all-inclusive terms that make it possible to stack up phenomena that are indeed related to the field of organized crime but that have little or nothing in common with the Mafia.[21]
Scholars such as Diego Gambetta and Leopoldo Franchetti have characterized the Sicilian Mafia as a cartel of private protection firms whose primary business is protection racketeering: they use their fearsome reputation for violence to deter people from swindling, robbing, or competing with those who pay them for protection. For many businessmen in Sicily, they provide an essential service when they cannot rely on the police and judiciary to enforce their contracts and protect their properties from thieves (this is often because they are engaged in black market deals).[22]
The [Sicilian] mafia's principal activities are settling disputes among other criminals, protecting them against each other's cheating, and organizing and overseeing illicit agreements, often involving many agents, such as illicit cartel agreements in otherwise legal industries.
Scholars have observed that many other societies around the world have criminal organizations of their own that provide the same sort of protection service. For instance, in Russia after the collapse of communism, the state security system had all but collapsed, forcing businessmen to hire criminal gangs to enforce their contracts and protect their properties from thieves. These gangs are popularly called "the Russian Mafia" by foreigners, but they prefer to go by the term krysha.
With the [Russian] state in collapse and the security forces overwhelmed and unable to police contract law, ... cooperating with the criminal culture was the only option. ... most businessmen had to find themselves a reliable krysha under the leadership of an effective vor.
In his analysis of the Sicilian Mafia, Gambetta provided the following hypothetical scenario to illustrate the Mafia's function in the Sicilian economy. Suppose a grocer wants to buy meat from a butcher without paying sales tax to the government. Because this is a black market deal, neither party can take the other to court if the other cheats. The grocer is afraid that the butcher will sell him rotten meat. The butcher is afraid that the grocer will not pay him. If the butcher and the grocer cannot get over their mistrust and refuse to trade, they would both miss out on an opportunity for profit. Their solution is to ask the local mafioso to oversee the transaction, in exchange for a fee proportional to the value of the transaction but below the legal tax. If the butcher cheats the grocer by selling rotten meat, the mafioso will punish the butcher. If the grocer cheats the butcher by not paying on time and in full, the mafioso will punish the grocer. Punishment might take the form of a violent assault or vandalism against property. The grocer and the butcher both fear the mafioso, so each honors their side of the bargain. All three parties profit.
Introduced by Pio La Torre, article 416-bis of the Italian Penal Code defines a Mafia-type association (Italian: associazione di tipo mafioso) as one where "those belonging to the association exploit the potential for intimidation which their membership gives them, and the compliance and omert which membership entails and which lead to the committing of crimes, the direct or indirect assumption of management or control of financial activities, concessions, permissions, enterprises and public services for the purpose of deriving profit or wrongful advantages for themselves or others."[24][25]
This is how to play mafia, a fun and energetic party game. The guide on How to Play Mafia (currently the only Mafia guide on Instructables besides this one) is actually a more physical variation of the game. This guide will show you:
Hello everybody! I want to thank everybody for using this guide as a foundation for their mafia games. The last time I updated this guide was in 2018, but I unfortunately have been busy with school and work. This meant that it was difficult for me to reply to comments and questions. I thank the community for filling that role for me. I recently graduated college, and have actually found a job in teaching. I am aware that the grammar and instructions could have been more precise, so I might plan to rewrite this guide. Hopefully it is easier to follow and readable. See y'all in the future.
Hello again everyone! It's been a crazy year, but I have taken the time to rewrite this guide. My focus was on grammar, clarity, and conciseness since there was a lot of information. I plan to release the rewritten guide by the end of Summer 2023 once I'm done with the school year. Thanks again for all your support, especially those who have been responding to comments on my behalf. See y'all soon!
Before we get to the rules, things will be easier to explain through the setup. There are two setups, which are really whether or not you have cards.
To begin setup, follow the below instructions:
You need at least 4 people to play, although it is more fun with 8 or more.
1 person, not included in the 4 of the minimum group will be the mayor, who directs the game as it goes, and has control over the powers in the group.
For every 4 people, there is one mafia. Example: if there are 8 people in your game, there are now two mafia
In a round there are also doctors and sheriffs, which we will later discuss under circumstances, but for now we'll have one of each.
For this tutorial, we'll be playing with a group of 8, including 2 mafia, 1 doctor and 1 sheriff, meaning that 4 will be civilians
Setup #1:
This is with a deck of cards.
Aces are your Mafia
Queens are your doctors and
Kings are your Sheriffs
All other cards (2 thru J) are civilians
In our case, prepare two aces, 1 Q, 1 K and 4 other cards besides the listed.
The mayor will hand each player a card face down to each player. These cards will not be revealed to other players during the game.
Setup #2:
This is without cards.
Instead, we'll be using taps, so it is up to the mayor to remember how many people he picked and which character he assigned.
Everybody will close their eyes and the mayor will walk around to assign roles.
If the mayor taps you once, you are mafia.
Twice is doctor
Three times is sheriff
And if you don't get tapped you're a civilian
(More simple setup; the mayor should make sure not to choose extra characters or mistakenly bump into other players)
Now that we have the setup out of our way, it is now time to explain the rules.
Roles (basic and later explained through gameplay):
Mayor- is not an actual player in the game but rather the narrator; he has complete power over the group except the power to veto votes. He/she will assign the roles, tell when each role to wake up and sleep, create a story and sanction votes. It's this person's job to keep the game grounded and to keep the players reasonable. The mayor must remain unbiased throughout the game.
Mafia-Will kill other players and try to convince other players who the mafia is without revealing themselves
Doctor-can save himself (look under "Circumstances") and can save others
Sheriff-points at any other player and the mayor can either nod or shake their head of the person is mafia or not; uses his or her power to sway public opinion
Civilian- the most basic role, who votes and tries to figure out the mafias and vote them off
Obviously you don't want to reveal your roles of you have an important one but rather convince others you are a civilian.
Rules:
Mayor has the right to silence the group or restart the game completely.
Mafia can only choose one target per round (2 mafia vote on 1 target)
Revealing your card (if you are playing with cards) is cheating.
Opening your eyes when it is not permitted is cheating.