Glossary entry
Borgata
bor-GAH-tah
Definition
bor-GAH-tah
A family, in the organisational sense. One of the discrete units into which American Cosa Nostra is divided, each with its own boss, territory and membership roll.
“There were twenty-four borgatas recognised across the country at the peak, and five of them were in New York.”
The word is Italian for a district or a hamlet, and it carries the sense of a settled community rather than a gang.
That is the right connotation. A borgata is not a group of men who work together; it is a body with a membership, a succession and a claim to territory that outlives any of its members. Bosses die and the borgata continues, which is precisely what makes it harder to prosecute than a conspiracy.