an organized international body of criminals, operating originally in Sicily and now especially in Egypt and having a complex and ruthless behavioural code.
any organized group of criminals resembling the Mafia in its way of operating.
noun: mafia; plural noun: mafias
"the rise of criminal mafias in Russian and Eastern Europe"
a group regarded as exerting a hidden sinister influence.
noun: mafia
"the British literary mafia"