Cosa Nostra

This article is about a fictional representation of a real world subject.

Cosa Nostra
Nihongo	コーサ・ノストラ (Cosa Nostra) シチリア・マフィア (Sicilian Mafia)
Information
Organized Crime Syndicate	Sicilian Mafia
Boss	Sicilian Mafia Commission Don Monteverdi (Sicily) Ronnie the Jaws (Roanapur)
Former Boss	Verrocchio (Roanapur)
Members	Moretti Bikey Emilio Luciano Camillo Nico Narciso Amadio Feng Yifei (by association)
Criminal Activities	Murder, protection, drug trafficking, human trafficking, child exploitation, money laundering, match fixing
Allies	Camorra Albanian Mafia Liasion Council
Rivals	Hotel Moscow
First Appearance
Manga	Chapter 11: Bloodsport Fairy tale Part 1
Anime	Episode 03: Ring-Ding Ship Chase

Cosa Nostra (コーサ・ノストラ Kōsa Nosutora), also commonly called the Sicilian Mafia (シチリア・マフィア Shichiria Mafia) or sometimes the Italian Mafia (イタリアン・マフィア Itarian Mafia), is a large international group of Sicilian organized crime based in Palermo, Sicily. They have a branch in Roanapur which was formerly operated by Verrocchio and is currently operated by Ronnie the Jaws. Under Verrocchio's tenure, his branch was referred to as the Verrocchio Family (ヴェロッキオ・ファミリー Verokkio Famirī).

Leadership, conduct, and activities

The crime syndicate is led by a body of various families in Sicily informally known as the Cupola. In Palermo, one of Cosa Nostra's leaders is an unseen man named Don Monteverdi. In Roanapur, the Thai branch uses Visconti Food Service (also called Visconti Foods) as a front business and base in Thailand. The leaders of each branch must ultimately get approval from Palermo for any major actions or alliances. Among all ranks and branches, members are required to uphold the omertà, a Southern Italian code of silence and code of honor that forbids ratting out fellow members and emphasizes non-cooperation with the authorities and outsiders when being questioned about illegal activities.

Furthermore, Cosa Nostra is one of four crime syndicates that is a member of Roanapur's Council of liaison between the Italians, the Hong Kong Triad, Hotel Moscow, and the Colombian Cartel. Despite their primary base in Sicily, Cosa Nostra gangsters were initially referred to as Italians because they in general are Italian nationals. The Sicilian Mafia's criminal activities in Roanapur include murder, drug trafficking, protection, child exploitation, money laundering, and match fixing.

History

Chase for ring-ding ships

During his tenure, Verrocchio became angry at Balalaika and Hotel Moscow's rise in power throughout Roanapur. In the anime at the beginning, Verrocchio was briefly seen eating at a restaurant and asked if Dutch was affiliated with Hotel Moscow, with one of his men responding that the Lagoon Company were independent but would take jobs from anyone if they had the money.

Bloodsport Fairy tale

Around the time of the fall of Romania's communist government, two Romanian children, Hänsel and Gretel, had survived orphanhood in Romania but were transferred to orphanages in Sicily, where they were sold off to the mafia. Living under even greater misery, the twins were sexually abused and exploited to participate in snuff films created for pedophiles. Eventually, the Sicilian gangsters of Cosa Nostra got hold of the twins, and Verrocchio decided to bring them to Thailand to assassinate Balalaika. Once several members of Hotel Moscow were killed by the children, the respective leaders of Roanapur's various crime syndicates came together for a temporary truce in the Council to determine who was behind the murders to prevent revenge killings on the wrong party. Exchanging insults with Balalaika, Verrocchio claimed that one of his own men got killed and guessed that the murderer was an outsider who was not familiar with how Roanapur operated. He and Abrego ultimately denied involvement, so Mister Chang advised them to report anything to the Council. To Verrocchio's annoyance, Balalaika left the meeting and proclaimed that she was not friends with any of them and would kill the murderers and their families if applicable.

The next day after the meeting, Hänsel and Gretel had killed two more Russians, Private First Class Sakharov and Corporal Menshov, at the Caribbean Bar, frustrating the Italians since Verrocchio only wanted Balalaika dead. That night, Moretti and several men went to the twins' room to check on them, as they were provided a hiding place to the twins. Entering the room, Moretti was confused and disgusted at the twins' mutilation of Menshov's corpse, and Bikey vomited in the hallway upon seeing the horrid sight. Yelling at the children, Moretti anxiously reminded them that they hired the twins to kill Balalaika only and not play with corpses. He then demanded that they immediately leave the city after finishing the job, slamming the door afterward. In the hallway, Bikey's comrades helped him up while Moretti angrily wondered how they would rid of the corpse, commenting that not even a cleaner would do the job.

When Balalaika allied with Mister Chang of the Hong Kong Triad to go to war with the twins, Verrocchio angrily tried to figure out what to do next since the twins were not sticking to the job. That night, he slammed his desk and pushed objects off the table, frantically claiming that he needed to make some progress by the time of the next cupola meeting between the crime families in Sicily. Nervously speaking up, Moretti tried to suggest getting rid of the twins, but Verrocchio beat him up in response, furiously remarking that he needed to finished what he started. During the tense emergency meeting as he continued beating up Moretti, the twins suddenly showed up, irking Verrocchio. Recalling that he ordered the twins never to come to his headquarters, Verrocchio then briefly froze as the twins proclaimed that they would have something else for "dinner." Terrified, Verrocchio and his men pulled out their pistols, but the twins drew their weapons quicker and slaughtered all of the Italians in the building. Acting quickly, the twins then stole all of the money in Verrocchio's office, using the money to trick local Thai orphans and attempting to make Revy and Eda look the other way since Hotel Moscow put a $50,000 bounty on their heads.

El Baile de la muerte / Roberta's Blood Trail

After Verrocchio's death, Ronnie the Jaws took command of the Roanapur branch of Cosa Nostra. Like Verrocchio, he takes orders and requires approval from bosses in Palermo. Ronnie is fond of devious methods of torture and frequently orders the torture of people whom he interrogates. In "El Baile de la muerte" when Roberta returned to Roanapur to carry out revenge on the U.S.A. soldiers who killed Diego Lovelace, Mister Chang ordered a Council summit at The Golden Swingin Night Club between Roanapur's mafias and invited Ronnie to attend the summit. At the meeting, Ronnie's friend Tommaso also accompanied him. That night, Ronnie joked that Balalaika was not civilized like the rest of the crime bosses, and the two insulted each other until Chang ordered them to settle down. Ronnie then proposed a solution to Roberta's presence that they should allow Roberta and the United States to settle the feud with a party, but this suggestion was immediately laughed off.

Balalaika was concerned and opposed the U.S. Army's presence due to their potential to crush Roanapur's drug trade, proclaiming that she could decimate the U.S. soldiers. Thinking that she was out of her mind, Ronnie advised against it since the U.S. government would be after them instead. Their arguing was interrupted by Chang warning everyone not to make a move until they could deduce the U.S. Army's motive for being in Roanapur. Remaining silent, Ronnie listened to Chang conclude that they needed to avoid stabbing each other in the back lest they destroy the crime syndicates and Roanapur itself. In the end, Cosa Nostra stayed neutral and let the other crime lords force Roberta and Grey Fox out of Roanapur.

The Wired Red Wild Card

Wanting to strengthen Cosa Nostra's power in Thailand, Ronnie proposed making an alliance with the newcomer Albanian Mafia since the latter group had access to the Golden Crescent, a principal area of illicit opium production in Central Asia. Additionally, the Albanians wanted to partner up with someone and steered toward the Russians or the Italians, so Ronnie seized the opportunity. As a gesture of goodwill, the Sicilian leader offered to launder the Albanian Mafia's gold supply ("Ali Dragua") on their behalf. Accordingly, Ronnie had the London banker Zamid Dhiyab launder the gold ingots, pleasing the Albanians. About six months into the money laundering deal, to the Sicilians' misfortune, Zamid had gone missing, leaving the laundered money drifting in a digital "washing machine" on the internet that no one but Zamid could access. At the same time, some Australian outsiders arrived in Roanapur and attempted to start a prostitution ring in the Italians' turf. Responding with swift force, Ronnie ordered his gangsters to intimidate the newcomer Australians and later the same night had the Australians killed. Consequently, the gangsters' corpses were hidden in a motel and rotted for two weeks until those in the motel saw maggots emerge from the area when the smell was initially thought to be feces. After Revy relayed the motel story to Rock and Dutch, Dutch reminded them that they had a shipment for Ronnie from some Tamil clients, and so Revy and Rock left to give Ronnie the shipyard number.

At Visconti Foods, Ronnie was on a phone call with his boss in Palermo while Luciano was discussing an alliance with two Albanian gangsters, Mustafa and Çubronik, in the back room concerning the missing gold. Rock and Revy soon arrived, with the latter asking Emilio where Tommaso was. Telling them to wait downstairs since Ronnie was busy, Emilio answered that Tommaso was merely Ronnie's personal friend and a member of the Camorra. Against his wishes, Revy entered Ronnie's office unannounced, angering him. Emilio clarified that he tried to stop her, but Ronnie explained that he was still on a phone call with his boss. When Ronnie showed no concern about the shipment, Revy jokingly threatened to give it to someone else, prompting a frustrated Ronnie to threaten her in turn. They were then interrupted by Mustafa and Çubronik, who iterated to Luciano that they would ally with Hotel Moscow instead if the Italians did not recover the gold in due time. As Revy laughed at Luciano speaking about a private conversation so loudly, Mustafa quietly informed Çubronik that Revy appeared to be Chinese, making him draw his pistol. Annoyed by the standoff between Çubronik and Revy, Ronnie threatened to torture them both using dynamite if they did not de-escalate. After the two sheathed their pistols and left, Ronnie told Rock to go to the downstairs manager to receive their payment, also threatening him with torture if he discussed what happened in his presence.

Later the coming night, Ronnie was at the docks interrogating Sammy, a British police detective and informant, to inquire about money on a laundering account hidden by Zamid Dhiyab, whose death they found out from Scotland Yard's investigation. Ronnie's subordinate Camillo told him that they had no way to recover the account, so Ronnie had Sammy's feet stuck in cement and tossed into the water to drown after the interrogation. Preparing to leave, Ronnie also reminded his men that Don Monteverdi was on edge. Annoyed by Sammy's pleas for help, Ronnie ordered Nico to drown him faster while he ordered Camillo to continue his search. When Rock and Feng Yifei gained hold of email exchanges between the PLA and the Sigurimi along with intel from Eda and Rico, they found out about the alliance and money laundering between the Italians and Albanians using the Bank of Trade and Commerce of Europe (BTCE) under Zamid's laundry account.

Feng successfully accessed Zamid's account and bank records, so Rock proposed that they would use the money from Zamid's account as leverage when talking with the Italians. Subsequently, Revy, Rock and Feng went to Ronnie's office, where Ronnie initially wanted to torture the information out of them. Although Narciso and Amadio were prepared to follow Ronnie's torture order, they hesitated when Feng and Rock spoke up. In particular, Rock grabbed Ronnie's attention about bringing the account back online to continue the laundering, offering Ronnie the account in exchange for Feng's safety from the PLA. Surprised at the pursuers being the Chinese government, the Sicilians furiously retorted that it was too dangerous. Smacking his foot onto his desk, Ronnie sternly warned his men not to interrupt him because he was thinking. Hearing Rock out, he said that he wanted more than just the account, and Rock replied that he could give him an internal document confirming the covert actions between the Albanians and the Chinese against European businesses. Ronnie agreed, warning Feng that any lie she told would result in her death. Still suspicious, he also grabbed her by the head and told her that she needed to show some respect to the group for their protection, so she verbally agreed. Sufficiently pleased, Ronnie declared that Feng was now the Sicilian Mafia's amica (friend) and could try Visconti Food Service's delicious food and drink downstairs anytime for free.

L'homme sombre

In Roanapur, Le Majeur and her group murdered several Black men associated with the various mafias. In one incident, a Black fight promoter who had fixed a Muay Thai match between Somsak and Kittikhun was enraged that Majeur had volunteered to fight the champion boxer and knocked him out. Pulling the Frenchwoman aside, he was surprised that she wanted to question him instead, and she and her friends interrogated and eventually killed him but got no information. Concerned about the killings, Chang hosted a Council meeting at The Golden Swingin Night Club, inviting Balalaika and Ronnie to attend. When Chang mentioned that the group was five women all wearing black suits, Ronnie wondered if Chang was involved due to his penchant for black suits, but the Triad leader reminded him that he lost men too. Ronnie responded that it was easy to replace lackeys if it means tipping the scales of power in favor of him, and Balalaika commented that Chang did not operate that way, criticizing Ronnie's short-sightedness. Still having concerns, Ronnie then asked if the people responsible were Gustavo's men since he was not present at the meeting. Briefing them on the recent history, Chang informed Balalaika and Ronnie that the Colombian and Nuevo Laredo cartels were busy fighting each other for territory in addition to dealing with the drug war waged by the United States in Latin America and thus too busy to be associated with the recent killings.

Next, Chang remarked that the motive of the killings seemed to be about targeting a Black man not associated with the mafias, to which Ronnie replied that payback would still be needed since their men got killed. Chang agreed, proposing that they spread rumor about the killings to use as bait to lure the murderers out. Sneering at the suggestion, Ronnie proposed that he could just send out a hit-squad to make revenge quick. Although acknowledging it was an option, Chang disagreed since sending out their goons would scare away tourists from Thailand's red-light districts, which would greatly decrease money being made for the mafias. Concluding the meeting, Chang advised Ronnie to be patient and wait for the foreign group's presence. Feng continued to work for Cosa Nostra under Ronnie, explaining to Rock that he was actually quite an organized and understanding boss.

Later after Le Majeur's group was killed, she as the sole survivor was brought to another Council meeting hosted by Chang with a bag over her head. When the bag was lifted to reveal her face, Ronnie asked if it was a joke since he perceived her as an ordinary girl. Chang stated that they still needed to figure out what to do with Majeur. Thinking aloud, Ronnie suggested that they just kill her since it would be quick & she did cause them trouble, but Rock interrupted by defending Majeur as a potentially important asset. Chang told Balalaika that she could decide Majeur's fate since most of the men killed by Les Cinq Doigts belonged to Hotel Moscow, and Balalaika initially remarked that she agreed with Ronnie's reasoning to execute Majeur. When Balalaika allowed Majeur to be a lapdog for Hotel Moscow, Ronnie was vocally skeptical since she sold out her fellow Frenchwomen, meaning that she might sellout her mafia handlers in the future. Revy vouched for Majeur and even agreed to take her in with the Lagoon Company, which Balalaika allowed to Ronnie's dismay.

Where the Chips Fall

When Balalaika opened a luxurious new casino on Yatchalaya Street, she sent an invitation to Ronnie the Jaws, who declined to attend the opening night event. In contrast, Ronnie's captains and lieutenants went to the vibrant unveiling. According to Mister Chang, Ronnie was not the social type and did not attend fancy parties.

El réquiem de los Desalmados

When Chang hosted a meeting to discuss the appointment of the Nuevo Laredo Cartel to the Council, Ronnie attended the meeting and listened to Fernando Lobos express his gratitude for being invited. Soon, Lobos's associate Gris el Tigres arrived and rhetorically asked if Balalaika was indeed the woman he was looking for. Sneering at him, Ronnie sternly asked what other woman he could possibly be talking about. The Italian leader then witnessed the meeting become more tense when Gris affirmed his intentions to crush Hotel Moscow despite his respect for them. Irked, Ronnie rhetorically asked him to repeat what he just said. Restating that Hotel Moscow's willingness to talk was not enough to settle their feud, Gris emphasized that he would not budge on forgiving what Hotel Moscow and the Guadalajara Cartel did to his syndicate, Los Eses, in Cananea. Surprised that he was adamant to kill Balalaika's associate Vasily Krivchenko, Ronnie retorted that he had some nerve to pick a fight with them, joking that not even God could help him.

The Mexican insulted him as a "dago," to which the Italian said that such an insult did not offend him, calling Gris a "spic" in turn. As the bosses argued about the point of continuing the bloodshed, Rock was permitted by Mister Chang to speak up about his idea for a compromise. Hearing his proposition that in exchange for sparing Krivchenko's life, Hotel Moscow would give up its portion of territory to the Nuevo Laredo Cartel which they took from the Colombian Cartel, Ronnie expressed his support of the move. However, Balalaika refused to accept the plan, and Gris asserted his desire to kill Krivchenko. Feeling tense, Ronnie warned him that he could not do as he pleased in Roanapur, but Gris stated that their statuses of power did not concern him. After Gris left and proclaimed that he would fight any mafia who got in his way, Ronnie exited the nightclub and ordered his men to tighten security at Visconti Foods in preparation for a potential gang war.

Additionally, Ronnie had his men hire hitmen from Bren the Black Death's murder business as extra backup. Although not yet having a plan to retaliate, he did plan on doing so. As the Cosa Nostra gangsters were panicking at their headquarters, Feng received a call from Rock, who requested her help to gather information on Los Eses, though she admitted that she only discovered what she could already find. She advised him to seek help from the Rip-Off Church, which he did. Nonetheless, Rock asked her to come to the Yellow Flag at 8:00 that day, to which she agreed. At the bar, she relayed to the Lagoon Company and Eda the historical background and concurrent status of the Nuevo Laredo Cartel in Mexico, as well as the U.S. DEA's role in weaking the rival Colombian Cartel. Upon learning of Gris's motivations to protect his poor hometown, Rock came up with a plan to deescalate the gang rivalry in Roanapur. Feng volunteered to research mining laws in Mexico so that Rock could find a way to have Gris's town keep the profits.