APH: 2010 - Mafia

No, Mafia and south Italy aren't the same thing... They're sworn enemies fighting a neverending battle...

Warning:
In the fandom there's the silly belief that Mafia= 'the dark and cool side of Italy'. Sorry, I don't share this opinion. As far as I'm involved they're two very different things (feel free to disagree, I don't care). Therefore this representation of Mafia contains an original character ruining Romano's land and Romano trying to stop him. If you can't stand this, this fanart isn't for you but really, if you want to depict a cool Italy, try depicting the one that fight Mafia. There's no Italy that's cooler.

Notes:
The Mafia character was created as a cameo for my retelling of the Vespro Siciliano in which was represented in his protomafia form. Here he's in his adult and much more dangerous form.

Extra note:
For who's interested to know...

History:
Mafia is a word that is actually used to indicate organized crime. Originally it referred only to the Sicilian organized crime (real name Cosa Nostra) but, as of now, it's also used to refer to all the organized criminal associations in the world (Russian Mafia, Japanese Mafia, Chinese Mafia...). However, according to Giovanni Falcone, the Antimafia judge who was killed by the Mafia, as of now people is abusing of the term "Mafia".
"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."
Nobody knows for sure from where the world Mafia come from. Some assume from the Arabic mahyas (مهياص), meaning "aggressive boasting, bragging", or marfud (مرفوض) meaning "rejected", some say it's an acronym connected to the Vespro Siciliano, 'Morte Ai Francesi Invasori Assassini' (Death to the Frenchmen who’re invaders and assassins), or 'Morte Alla Francia Italia Anela' (Italy longs for the death of France), or that this is what the mother of the girl molested by Drouet screamed ("Ma 'ffia" which should mean 'my daughter'), giving start to the Vespro Siciliano. Some others say it' an acronym that had birth muc later, during the Risorgimento, 'Mazzini Autorizza Furti Incendi Avvelenamenti' (Mazzini allows stealing, burning, poisoning). According to the history expert Santi Correnti the term is rather recent instead, and might come from the Tuscan dialectal world 'maffia' which mean 'to show off'.
The term however becomes 'official' in 1863, when it's used by Giuseppe Rizzotto and Gaetano Mosca for "I mafiusi de la Vicaria", a theatrical work.
According to a Mafia myth, Mafia would be derived by the Spanish Garduña. They also spread this theory one of their old folk songs, 'Ndrangheta, Camurra E Mafia' (which actually doesn’t mention the Garduña, just that their Founding Fathers were Spanish…).
Also according to the book 'La camorra. Origini, usi, costumi e riti dell'annorata soggietà' by Ferdinando Russo and Ernesto Serao Neapolitan Mafia, the Camorra, and Garduña have the same code of rules.
However some theories say that Garduña never existed so the myth could be wrong... take it as you prefer, I'm not going to go ask Mafia why it likes to tell around he has Spanish origins.
Since each criminal organization has it's own story and I'm definitely not an expert in them, I'm not going to try and write a 'collective story' for Italian Mafia or World Mafia. If you're interested feel free to look up at it yourself.