The escaped Mafioso would usually return to crime in america. they started getting involved in bootlegging and eventually joined the mafia again in america whee they adopted some Italian traditions like omerta ,the code of secrecy toward outsiders, was a separate entity than the italan mafia

Salvitore Maranzano vs Giuseppe Masseria. these two fought for control over new york. All the gangsters in new york were affected by this and had to take sides. Giuseppe was basically the crime king of new York before the war he controlled the first largest gang in america and didn't want anybody to take that from him. Salvatore was a newcomer from Sicily who came with his own family. he wanted to be on top in america and the only one in his way was Giuseppe. Giuseppe had a special group called "The young Turks" the leader was Lucky Luciano. Luciano was not liking how this war was turning out so he betrayed his boss and had him killed. Salvatore then crowned himself the boss of bosses but this was short lived it turned out luciano was on his own side and killed him to!

Boss- complete authority gets cut of all jobs
Underboss- vice-boss
Capo- commanded ten or so soldiers
Soldiers-recently inducted members of the family
Associates-People who worked with the family but weren't members


Also each family had a consiguloarie who acted as an advisor

To join the Mafia you had to have Italian blood. The person had to do an initiation rituals such as pricking blood or burning a patron saints photo. Another requirement for some not all was that you needed experience killing someone

After the prohibition the mafia needed to find a better way of getting income. Luckily they had moved on from alcohol to pretty much everything else. They were loan sharks they sold illegal drugs illegal gambling any crime you could find the mafia were in on it. They even started getting into real businesses like restaurants and construction company. They made so much money whenever they got into trouble they could easily bribe their way out off it even paying off an entire jury!

The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt organization act of 1970 is what finally stopped the Mafia from growing and severely weekend it. This act allowed prosecuters to go after The mafia more easily allowing them to procecute people who gave the order of someones death. This made it so the bosses of the family could be prosicuted and sent to jail. This acted also made the mafia scared and pressured which made them sell out there former friends in exchange for witness protection. The mafia now is a shadow of its former day and most likely will never be as strong as it once was.