H Mafia biography, H Mafia discography
"Questions and answers about travel in Sicily.""History, ethnology, the Sicilian language, genealogy and more.""Getting around Best of Sicily."It is not an abstract concept, or a state of mind, or a literary term...In recent years, it has deliberately murdered judges, priests and children.You probably won't see it if you visit Sicily.You probably won't see many of its effects, either, unless you look very closely.For more information on the Mafia in Sicily, we suggest the sites of Via Libera and Narco Mafie.L'Altra Sicilia deals with social issues and occasionally reports on things such as political corruption and misappropriation of EC funds.In the Beginning
Banditry and murder had been fairly commonplace since the Middle Ages.The
Mafia has existed as a loose network of local criminals only since the early
years of the nineteenth century.From
humble rustic origins not unlike those of Japan's Yakuza, and with its own
equally fanciful rites and mythology, the Mafia developed largely as a result of
Sicilian social conditions.Mafia existed as a
hierarchical organization until the latter decades of the eighteenth century.Even the origin of the word mafia is debated, but it certainly wasn't used
to refer to organized crime until the nineteenth century.Until the eighteenth century, many Sicilian nobles actually resided on their
country estates.Under these
circumstances, Sicily's aristocratic absentee landlords often entrusted
administration of their rural estates to managers called gabelloti.The gabelloti were not
aristocrats in the true sense, but far worse than this fact were the methods they
used to intimidate the poor peasants into working the estates for poor wages.The nobility may not have actually created the Mafia, but it unwittingly
permitted the development of social conditions that facilitated its macabre
growth.The duel, for example, gave way to
the vendetta, but both were known among Sicilian feuding families in times
past.Garibaldi certainly had the support of Mafia bands during his invasion of
Sicily in 1860, though they were not a decisive factor in his victory.The King refused his subjects'
offer.Mafia history has been
discounted as whimsical.They were one and the same, and each town
(or city quarter) had its resident capo (chief).The surrender, without even token
resistance, of thousands of Italian troops at Pantelleria, shortly before the main
attack on Sicily, made it clear that most Italian recruits were unwilling to risk
their lives for a lost cause.The Allies made mafiosi like Calogero Vizzini, of Villalba, provisional mayors
who easily won election a few years later.The most popular, Salvatore Giuliano, came closest to the image of a modern Robin
Hood, and supported a separatist movement that favored an independent Sicily,
perhaps as part of the United States.Men like Giuliano were not mafiosi.Genco Russo,
Michele Greco and Luciano Leggio, though clever in certain respects, were
essentially vulgar by nature.By the 1970s, even women and children were not spared in the carnage.The Sicilian faction
was still more ruthless than its American counterpart, often resorting to the
murder of judges and other public officials whose activities they considered
inconvenient.Why are the newer districts of Palermo full of ugly buildings but lacking in green parks and efficient parking areas?Because the urban planning was undertaken by criminals.The Italian government has extensive investigative dossiers on the activities of both men, now deceased.The Mafia even controlled the local beef market.The Catholic Church has not always helped matters.In the 1960s, however, a Cardinal Archbishop of Palermo issued a statement that the Mafia has never existed, and that author Giuseppe di Lampedusa and social activist Danilo Dolci had defamed Sicilians by implying that, among other things, most Sicilians were secretive by nature, and that the Mafia does indeed exist.Labor unions presume that employers will seek to exploit employees whenever possible.Entire economic sectors (hotels, transportation, banking, construction) are controlled by Mafiosi.In a land without a tangible industrial base, public monies are the Mafia's main target.Most politicians (whether liberal or conservative) can be bought, and the same holds true for managers of most larger banks and utilities.Public contracts are assigned (actually sold) in exchange for bribes and kickbacks.Everybody expects a substantial kickback, from the politician who gets you a public advertising or construction project to the event organizer who gets your musical group a gig in the local music festival.In such a climate, the pizzo (protection money) and narcotics trades are little more than a side show.This doesn't always mean that somebody is a mafioso per se, just that he behaves like one.Bribery and kickbacks (the Italian word is bustarella for the envelope, busta, in which the money is paid) are normal in Sicily.Billions of dollars poured into the Sicilian economy by the World Bank, the United States, the European Commission and the central Italian government have ended up in the hands of corrupt politicians, consultants and others who, in most instances, were connected to the Mafia in some way.In other words, the families have become legitimate.It's no secret that the criminal justice system does not function very well in Italy.Sicily, few of which result in little more than untaxed wealth for the projects' managers.Indeed, the phenomenon has spawned an entire industry as politicians and their friends scramble to propose projects with grossly inflated budgets.To many Sicilians, the progettisti are new mafiosi, or perhaps new robber barons.Considering the vast investments involved, the tangible results are precious few, apart from expensive vacation homes for the project administrators themselves.It's a long way from stealing cattle in Corleone.It is worth mentioning, however, that outside Italy, the Mafia and its progeny have been the object of every form of fame that modern society carries in its sophisticated cinematic arsenal.Monaco
implicitly associating mafiosi with royalty).Perhaps understandably, the same folks identify with more positive aspects of Italian society, such as the Renaissance, which, like organised crime, actually involved very few Italians.The Leopard, In the Name of the
Rose or Cinema Paradiso?At least some sociologists criticize it as a ridiculous depiction of something that hardly even exists but millions of viewers find it entertaining.Crime and Punishment
The 1980s saw greater international collaboration in Mafia cases, especially
between the Italian and American governments.Italy (the Mafia in Sicily, the
Camorra in Naples, etc.Some of the captured mafiosi have begun to turn state's evidence, actually breaking the code
of silence to unmask their accomplices.The most famous of these pentiti
is Tommaso Buscetta.Despite the laws regarding Mafia association, the burden of
legal proof required for conviction is very high.Some of Sicily's more prominent politicians would have us believe that the Mafia is nearly extinct.Perhaps those who promote such a fantasy are themselves involved with bribes or kickbacks.The Long Reach of the International Sicilian
Mafia (New York and London 1990).Its extensive bibliography provides a
wealth of material for anybody interested in reading further on this
topic.Ad("dclk234", "160", "600", getTilePosition(), "zvue.Feel free to post links, within your comment, to your own similar or related Putfile content, e.
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