Famous Irish mafia families

Answer 1

LANDSTROM

OLEARY'S

MCDANALD

There's not much organised crime in Ireland and "Mafia"'s an Italian word.

Improvement on this answer by Zez:

While there may not be much organized crime in Ireland, there were several Irish "families" in organized crime in the US and other countries.

For example: Frank Wallace and the Gustin Gang from Boston

James "buddy" McLean and his "Winter Hill Gang"

Charlestown Mob in Boston, led by brothers Bernard and Edward "Punchy" McLaughlin

And more.

Also, the word "Mafia" is not specifically an Italian word. It first appeared in the Sicilian dictionary in 1865. The word is of uncertain origin, but is believed by many Sicilian linguists and historians to have come from the Arabic term "mu afah" which means (roughly) "to gain inviolability (or strength)"

It is also widely believed that the word may take it's root from the Italian word mafioso (sometimes used by Sicilians and spelled as mafiusi). The word "mafioso" meaning a man who is brave or bold.

The term mafia has been a misnomer for centuries, commonly misused to describe organized crime families.

By the way, I'm Italian. And yes, I am aware that Sicilian is a sub-dialect of Italian, but it's as different from Italian as Spanish is from Italian. If you doubt it, put a Sicilian and and an Italian in a room together. If they don't fight from bad blood, we'll fight from misunderstanding.