For a long time the Mafia was considered an anti-modern phenomenon that would have come to an end with society's evolution. Contrary to this expectation, the Mafia proved to be far more resilient, so much so that it responded effectively to the challenge of globalization. Analyses about the Mafia are often based on two myths, namely the folkloristic one and the pyramidal one. In the first one, the role of secret and occasionally gruesome rituals with an archaic aura has been voyeuristically played up, whereas the second one views the Mafia as a centralized institution on a par with a state institution. This paper highlights, instead, how the Mafia has shown to be more modern than the State on account of its strategic use of personalized networks. The personalized and informal Mafia networks have proven to be far more efficient and well organized both in public mistrust societies, in which the Mafia finds its most favorable habitat to flourish, and in the vast context of globalization, where formal institutions have trouble establishing themselves and imposing their role due to structural reasons.