What does "family" mean in the context of the Mafia?

[holly]

My class was joking about this one kid being so bad that the Mafia would come and make a hit on him just to make him shut up. It made me think of the Mafia more thoroughly, which I never have before, and I randomly realized that though I knew I'd heard mafia "families" talked about before I never knew quite what that meant. Is it just like a group of people in the same mafia? Like, all on the same team? Because I severely doubt it means the boss, his wife and his kids <_<