“Initially, the villains were the Russians, but after the first draft the villains became the Mafia,[4] which had become topical following the Apalachin Meeting. Finally the villains became the terrorist organisation SPECTRE.”
Wikipedia.com
Yes, but according to the “Battle for Bond” Ian Fleming was obsessed with the Mafia according to Ian’s friend Ernest Cuneo. In fact the novel Thunderball has the nuclear weapons being stolen by Giusseppe Petuchi who assign to Italy’s NATO contigent.