The mafia and the devil: What they have in common

Abstract

The Mafia and the Devil are both found to be the creation and product of a belief in a mythological system. Often, the attendant mythologies are creations of journalists, governmental investigation committees, law enforcementofficials, not based on fact and serve as scapegoats whose true incidence of criminality belies the attention they receive from those who create the myth and a public who would rather stigmatize others than themselves. © 1993, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.