It is probably not a coincidence, though, that only 11 years (1838) after Tocqueville wrote his account, we read for the first time in an official report of the existence of a thing called the mafia (Hess 1986: 114); and, what is more, we read of it as an already established social force.

XREF: Links Tocqueville's observations on Sicily to the first documented mention of the mafia in 1838, suggesting the organization predated its naming.

Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking…, loc. 2129