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the paypal mafia is core alumni of early paypal, not paypal the software or the employees of today.

I get that but does it help their point or is it just a good excuses to use the term mafia?

it’s common (however charged or derisive) vernacular.

the name stuck. most people can’t name more than 2-3 people in the “PayPal mafia” but they know the term “PayPal mafia.”

i wouldn’t slight the author for using the terminology of the wikipedia page

we all know the group the term refers to, calling them anything else would be confusing. welcome to the club.