La Mafia was founded in 1980 in Houston, Tx. Vocalist Oscar De La Rosa & producer/keyboardist/accordionist Armando Lichtenberger Jr. have created an original style that has survived various changes in the music industry. As the 80s faded away and ushered in the '90s, La Mafia, already with over a dozen Tejano Music Awards under their belt, originated a new Tejano style later to become a Tejano standard. La Mafia combined a pop-style beat to the popular Mexican-style cumbia and achieved success never before seen in the Tejano industry, becoming the first Tejano artist to sell over one million albums with "Estás Tocando Fuego" in 1992. With extensive touring with this new cumbia beat throughout Mexico & Latin America from as early as 1988 (the practice of Mexican-American artists performing in Mexico on a large scale was unheard of before La Mafia) , they eventually opened the doors for such artists as Selena, Emilio Navaira and Grupo Mazz. Electronic instruments and synthesizers increasingly dominated the sound, and Tejano music increasingly appealed to bilingual country and rock fans.
The band consists of Tim Ruiz on bass, David de la Garza on keyboards and background vocals, Joe Gonzales on drums and Viktor Pacheco on Guitar in 2007. The band has won 2 Grammys & 2 Latin Grammys several Premio Lo Nuestro and was most recently nominated in 2009 for a Latin Grammy for the most recent album "Eternamente Romanticos"
Since 1993, La Mafia has recorded each of its hits at its own Urbana Recording Studios, including the million-selling albums "Estas Tocando Fuego" and "Ahora y Siempre". The band has recorded 37 albums and CDs, not including dozens of compilation and greatest hits releases.