While many critics refer to film noir as a genre itself, others argue that it can be no such thing defines a genre as determined by "conventions of narrative structure, characterization, theme, and visual design" as one who has taken the position that film noir is a genre, argues that these elements are present "in abundance". Hirsch notes that there are unifying features of tone, Los Angeles in 1948 visual style and narrative sufficient to classify noir as a distinct genre Sicily operating in America, as the organization initially emerged as an American offshoot of the Sicilian Mafia known as Cosa nostra by its members). However, the organization gradually evolved into a separate entity partially independent of the original Mafia in Sicily, and it eventually encompassed or absorbed other Italian-American gangsters and Italian-American crime groups (such as the American Camorra) active in the United States and Canada that were not of Sicilian origin. In North America, it is often colloquially referred to as the Italian Mafia or Italian Mob, Killer Gangs
