Cosa Nostra

[ koh-zuh nohs-truh ]

noun

1. a secret association engaged in organized crime in the U.S., modeled after and affiliated with the Mafia.

Cosa Nostra

/ ˈkəʊsə ˈnɒstrə /

noun

1. the branch of the Mafia that operates in the US

Word History and Origins

Origin of Cosa Nostra¹

1960–65; < Italian: literally, our affair

Word History and Origins

Origin of Cosa Nostra¹

Italian, literally: our thing

Example Sentences

“He was living in hiding, not from law enforcement, but from La Cosa Nostra,” the lawyer told the court.

From The Daily Beast

Here is the best book I have read on the role of organized crime in southern Italy, John Dickie's Cosa Nostra.

From The Daily Beast

As John Dickie tells it in his riveting and convincing Cosa Nostra, Italy's Mafia problem is not a problem born of culture.

From The Daily Beast

Cosa Nostra is a history, not a treatise, and a gripping history at that.

From The Daily Beast

Wanting to learn more, I turned to John Dickie's Cosa Nostra, the most acclaimed of all English-language Mafia studies.

From The Daily Beast

So the best you can recall, Oswald didn't say that he had recently visited someone in the Cosa Nostra?

From Project Gutenberg