Sinti in the context of "Organized crime groups in Italy"

Romani culture encompasses the regional cultures of the Romani people. These cultures have developed through complex histories of interaction with their surrounding populations, and have been influenced by their time spent under various reigns and empires, notably the Byzantine and Ottoman empires.

Romani people constitute the largest ethnic minority in Europe. They are believed to have resided in the Balkans since the 9th century, with their subsequent migration to other parts of the continent beginning in the 15th century. The Romani people in Europe may belong to various subgroups such as the Boyash, Kalderash, Kalé, Kaale, Lăutari, Lovari, Manouche, Xoraxane (term) Romanichal, Romanisael, Romungro, Ruska, Sinti and Vlax. Despite a history of persecution in the continent, they have maintained their distinct culture. There is also a significant Romani population in the Americas, stemming from later migrations from Europe.

Sinte Romani (also known as Sintitikes, Manuš) is the variety of Romani spoken by the Sinti people in Germany, France, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, some parts of Northern Italy and other adjacent regions. Sinte Romani is characterized by significant German influence and is not mutually intelligible with other forms of Romani. The language is written in the Latin script.

There are a number of traditionally itinerant or travelling groups in Europe.

The origins of the indigenous itinerant groups are not always clear. The largest of these groups is the Romani people (also known as Roma or Gypsies, with the latter being increasingly taken as derogatory). They left India around 1,500 years ago, entering Europe around 1,000 years ago via the Balkans. They include the Sinti people, the second largest group. Travellers, assumed to have begun travelling from necessity during the early modern period, are unrelated to the Romani, and are assumed not to be ethnically distinct from their source population. However, recent DNA testing has shown that the Irish Travellers are of Irish origin but are genetically distinct from their settled counterparts due to social isolation, and more groups are being studied. The third largest group in Europe is the Yenish, an indigenous Germanic group.

The Kalderash are a subgroup of the Romani people. They were traditionally coppersmiths and metal workers and speak a number of Romani dialects grouped together under the term Kalderash Romani, a sub-group of Vlax Romani.

The Kalderash of the Balkans and Central Europe, in addition to the Gitanos and Manouche/Sinti, are seen as one of the three main confederations (Romani: natsiya) of Romani people in Europe by certain ethnographers. The Kalderash are recognized as the most numerous confederation of the three. Each main confederation is further split up into two or more subgroups (Romani: vitsa) based on a combination of factors such as occupation, ancestry, or territorial origin. Although originally referring to a specific vitsa of traditional coppersmiths, the name Kalderash is now applied to several Vlax-Speaking Roma groups. Because of this, significant differences in speech and culture can be seen in Western and Eastern Kalderash populations; as evidenced in the differences between the eastern Kalderash of Russia and the western Kalderash of Serbia. Certain scholars have suggested a connection between occupational Romani subgroups and the Caste System of India; with the Kalderash being described as an ancestral stock of the Lohar caste.

The Manouche (/məˈnuːʃ/ mə-NOOSH) are a Romani subgroup who have lived in France and Switzerland since at least the 18th century. The term Manouche is the self-ascribed name of the French Sinti.

Criminal organizations have been prevalent in Italy, especially in the southern part of the country, for centuries and have affected the social and economic life of many Italian regions. There are multiple major native mafia-like organizations that are heavily active in Italy. The most powerful of these organizations are the Camorra from Campania, the 'Ndrangheta from Calabria and the Cosa Nostra from Sicily.

In addition to these three long-established organizations, there are also other significantly active organized crime syndicates in Italy that were founded in the 20th century: the Sacra Corona Unita, the Società foggiana, and the Bari crime groups from Apulia; the Stidda from Sicily; and the Sinti crime groups, such as the Casamonica, the Spada and the Fasciani clan from Lazio.

The Romani Holocaust was the genocide of European Roma and Sinti people during World War II. Beginning in 1933, Nazi Germany systematically persecuted the European Roma, Sinti and other peoples pejoratively labeled "Gypsy" through forcible internment and compulsory sterilization. German authorities summarily and arbitrarily subjected Romani people to incarceration, forced labor, deportation and mass murder in concentration and extermination camps.

Under Adolf Hitler, a supplementary decree to the Nuremberg Laws was issued on 26 November 1935, classifying the Romani people (or Roma) as "enemies of the race-based state", thereby placing them in the same category as the Jews. Thus, the fate of the Sinti and Roma in Europe paralleled that of the Jews in the Holocaust. Historians estimate that between 250,000 and 500,000 Romani and Sinti were killed by Nazi Germans and their collaborators.

The inverted black triangle (German: schwarzer Winkel) was an identification badge used in Nazi concentration camps to mark prisoners designated asozial  (de) ("a(nti-)social") and arbeitsscheu ("work-shy"). The Roma and Sinti people were considered asocial and tagged with the black triangle. The designation also included disabled individuals, alcoholics, beggars, homeless people, nomads, and prostitutes (though male sex workers were marked with the pink triangle), as well as violators of laws prohibiting sexual relations between Aryans and Jews. Queer women and transgender people from the female sex were also deemed to be anti-social, including lesbians and others deemed as nonconformists.