The word 'mafia' is correct and usable in written English.
It is typically used to refer to a large organized criminal group. For example, you could say: "The local mafia was known for its influence in the city's politics."
The Osborne-Bernstein deal was like two mafia bosses carving up Apulia.
In 2013, the newly appointed head of Qeshm free trade zone spoke of "a vast loose financial mafia" that had been "looting the island's riches en masse".
Formerly known as Friends of the Italian Opera – after the codename for the mafia in Some Like It Hot – the theatre regularly stages classics by the likes of Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, Tennessee Williams and Alan Bennett, as well as inviting young writers to try out their works.
That's the last of my mafia books – then let's see next year".
Many villains have been blamed for Mumbai's descent into urban hell, from mafia dons to impoverished migrants, but for the past three decades the main culprit is the "politician-builder nexus".
Whether the mafia has kidnapped you and made you kill a man with a gun to win your freedom or if you've done quite badly in an exam, someone will say: "Let me get you a nice cup of tea".
One village chief in Thailand told me that his father had been murdered by the shrimp mafia because he'd opposed their cutting of mangroves.
In Japan they have a rich artistic history, but also a long association with the Yakuza, Japan's equivalent of the mafia, which means that some public areas (such as swimming baths) have a "no tattoo" policy which may be extended to foreigners.
They close their eyes to the mafia state within a state in Bulgaria," says Hinova.
The film, which finds Lautner's inexplicably buff yet baby-faced courier escape from the Chinese mafia into the sexy world of jumping off things on to other things, eventually made its debut on a pay-per-view channel in the US earlier this year.
"From beginning to end, the Yukos case has been an instance of unabashed plundering of a successful company by a mafia with links to the state".
