“黑手党”是广为接受的译法 ， 但其中涉及的一些历史和翻译问题给这三个字画上了问号 。
Mafia与“黑手”的关联很可能是一些黑手党成员在勒索信落款处画黑手的标志：
Several mafiosi exploited this fact, and found opportunities for their traditional occupations, they began to extort fellow Italians who had a certain amount of money...This was done anonymously by delivering threatening letters demanding money,the letters were signed with a crudely drawn Black Hand symbol.

文章插图
（http://mafiatoday.com/mafia-families-gangs-gangsters/mafia-gangs-early-20th-century/the-black-hand/）
1910年一封Black Hand勒索信的落款 。（图片来源：http://www.chicagocop.com/history/specialized-units/black-hand-squad/）
然而 ， Mafia并不等同于Black Hand 。根据“维基百科”网站：
Black Hand (Italian: Mano Nera) was a type of Italian and Italian-American extortion racket. It was a method of extortion, not a criminal organization as such, though gangsters of Camorra and the Mafia practiced it.
可见 ， Black Hand只是一种敲诈手段 ， 并非一个犯罪组织 ， 尽管Camorra（克莫拉 ， 类似黑手党的秘密社团）与Mafia的成员也会从事这种行为 。
下面的文字更详细地介绍了Mafia与Black Hand的区别：
Some members of the Mafia gang were arrested in connection with extortion, kidnapping and bomb throwing, all typical Black Hand crimes. These incidents, however, were minor extensions of their much larger criminal activities. An argument that cannot be applied to most Black Hand offenders.
The trail left by the crime wave draws a picture of an unorganized body, with no central leadership or hierarchical structure. Practiced by individuals, small groups of criminals and sometimes more established larger gangs, they all worked without need of knowledge of other Black Handers.
（https://www.gangrule.com/gangs/the-black-hand）
概括来说 ， 黑手党的犯罪活动的内容大于Black Hand犯罪 ， 与黑手党不同 ， Black Hand犯罪人员缺乏组织和层级结构 ， 多为个人或从属于小型组织 。
两者的区别还不仅限于此 。
根据《大不列颠百科全书》网站：
Black Hand, Italian Mano Nera, any of several extortion rackets run by immigrant Sicilian and Italian gangsters in the Italian communities of New York City, Chicago, New Orleans, Kansas City, and other U.S. cities from about 1890 to 1920. It consisted of sending threatening notes to local merchants and other well-to-do persons—notes printed with black hands, daggers, or other menacing symbols and extorting money on pain of death or destruction of property. The Black Hand declined with the entry of Prohibition and big-moneyed bootlegging.
（https://www.britannica.com/topic/Black-Hand-American-criminal-organization）
首先 ， 《大不列颠百科全书》网站对Black Hand的介绍全文都没有提及Mafia 。其次 ， 从这段文字可知 ， Black Hand分子存在于美国一些城市的意大利社区 ， 活跃时期为1890到1920年 。与中世纪后期发源于意大利西西里的Mafia相比 ， Black Hand在时间和空间上的范围都有较大差异 。
“达拉斯新闻”网站对The Black Hand一书的书评中也提到Talty没有充分说明Black Hand与Mafia在规模和存续时间上的区别：
Talty is not as clear as he could be at times in distinguishing the Black Hand, for the most part an organization that victimized Italian-Americans, and the Mafia, a much larger-scale criminal organization that had already existed for centuries in Sicily.
（https://www.dallasnews.com/arts/books/2017/09/06/black-hand-ruled-new-york-real-life-untouchables-tale）

• 狗尾草的叶子形状和蒲公英的叶子形状是什么 蒲公英治疣几天能下去
• 含有毒性很高的污染物和高危致癌物二噁英 螃蟹的营养价值与危害
• 专家说多喝蒲公英茶能抗癌 蒲公英能治乳腺癌吗
• 从A到Z开头的英语爱情句子 代表爱情的英文
• 蒲公英跟蒲公英茶有什么区别 蒲公英根茶的功效与作用
• 蒲公英高血压能喝吗 蒲公英茶可以降血压吗
• 桑拿房英文缩写 汗蒸房用英语怎么说
• 发胶有哪些危害
• 可为什么有的养生专家却英年早逝 身体养生的十大好处
• 叶剑英纪念馆建于哪一年