The Mafia owed its origins and drew its members from the many small private armies, or mafie, that were hired by absentee landlords to protect their landed estates from bandits in the lawless conditions that prevailed over much of Sicily through the centuries.
माफ़िया अपने उद्‌गम का श्रेय उन अनेक छोटी - छोटी निजी सेनाओं, या माफ़ी को देता है जिनसे वे अपने सदस्य इकट्ठा करते थे ।