Sicilian Mafia

This article is about the Sicilian criminal society. For the American counterpart, see American Mafia. For other uses, see Mafia (disambiguation).

The Mafia (also known as Cosa Nostra) is a Sicilian criminal secret society which is believed to have emerged in late 19th century Sicily. An offshoot emerged on the East Coast of the United States and in Australia during the late 19th century following waves of Sicilian and Southern Italian emigration (see Italian-American Mafia). In North America, "the Mafia" often refers to Italian organized crime in general, rather than just traditional Sicilian organized crime. According to historian Paolo Pezzino: "The Mafia is a kind of organized crime being active not only in several illegal fields, but also tending to exercise sovereignty functions – normally belonging to public authorities – over a specific territory..."

The Sicilian Cosa Nostra is a loose confederation of about one hundred Mafia groups, also called cosche or families, each of which claims sovereignty over a territory, usually a town or village or a neighborhood of a larger city, though without ever fully conquering and legitimizing its monopoly of violence. For many years, the power apparatuses of the single families were the sole ruling bodies within the two associations, and they have remained the real centers of power even after superordinate bodies were created in the Cosa Nostra beginning in the late 1950s (the Sicilian Mafia Commission).

Some observers have seen "mafia" as a set of attributes deeply rooted in popular culture, as a "way of being", as illustrated in the definition by the Sicilian ethnographer, Giuseppe Pitrè, at the end of the 19th century: "Mafia is the consciousness of one's own worth, the exaggerated concept of individual force as the sole arbiter of every conflict, of every clash of interests or ideas."

Many Sicilians did not regard these men as criminals but as role models and protectors, given that the state appeared to offer no protection for the poor and weak. As late as the 1950s, the funeral epitaph of the legendary boss of Villalba, Calogero Vizzini, stated that "his 'mafia' was not criminal, but stood for respect of the law, defense of all rights, greatness of character. It was love." Here, "mafia" means something like pride, honour, or even social responsibility: an attitude, not an organization. Likewise, in 1925, the former Italian Prime Minister Vittorio Emanuele Orlando stated in the Italian senate that he was proud of being mafioso, because that word meant honourable, noble, generous.

Etymology

There are several theories about the origin of the term. The Sicilian adjective mafiusu may derive from the slang Arabic مهياص mahyas, meaning "aggressive boasting, bragging", or marfud meaning "rejected". Roughly translated, it means "swagger", but can also be translated as "boldness, bravado". In reference to a man, mafiusu in 19th century Sicily was ambiguous, signifying a bully, arrogant but also fearless, enterprising, and proud, according to scholar Diego Gambetta.

According to the Sicilian ethnographer Giuseppe Pitrè, the association of the word with the criminal secret society was made by the 1863 play I mafiusi di la Vicaria (The Beautiful (people) of Vicaria) by Giuseppe Rizzotto and Gaetano Mosca, which is about criminal gangs in the Palermo prison. The words Mafia and mafiusi (plural of mafiusu) are never mentioned in the play, and were probably put in the title because it would add local flair.

The association between mafiusi and criminal gangs was made by the association the play's title made with the criminal gangs that were new to Sicilian and Italian society at the time. Consequently, the word "mafia" was generated from a fictional source loosely inspired by the real thing and was used by outsiders to describe it. The use of the term "mafia" was subsequently taken over in the Italian state's early reports on the phenomenon. The word "mafia" made its first official appearance in 1865 in a report by the prefect of Palermo, Filippo Antonio Gualterio.

Leopoldo Franchetti, an Italian deputy who travelled to Sicily and who wrote one of the first authoritative reports on the mafia in 1876, saw the Mafia as an "industry of violence" and described the designation of the term "mafia": "the term mafia found a class of violent criminals ready and waiting for a name to define them, and, given their special character and importance in Sicilian society, they had the right to a different name from that defining vulgar criminals in other countries." He saw the Mafia as deeply rooted in Sicilian society and impossible to quench unless the very structure of the island's social institutions were to undergo a fundamental change.

According to popular myth, the word Mafia was first used in the Sicilian rebellion - the Sicilian Vespers - against the oppressive Anjou rule on 30 March 1282. Mafia is the acronym for "Morta Alla Francia, Italia Anela" (Italian for "Death to France. This is Italy's cry"). However, this version is discarded by most serious historians nowadays.

The name "Cosa Nostra"

When the American mafioso Joseph Valachi testified before the McClellan Commission in 1962, he revealed that American mafiosi referred to their organization by the term cosa nostra ("our thing"). At the time, it was understood as a proper name, fostered by the FBI and disseminated by the media. The designation gained wide popularity and almost replaced the term Mafia. The FBI even added the article to the term, calling it La Cosa Nostra. In Italy the article la is never used when referring to the Sicilian Mafia.

For a time Italian investigators believed the term "Cosa Nostra" was only used by the American Mafia. Then, in 1984, the Mafia turncoat Tommaso Buscetta revealed to the Antimafia magistrate Giovanni Falcone that the term was used by the Sicilian Mafia as well. According to Buscetta, the word "mafia" was a literary creation. Other defectors, such as Antonio Calderone and Salvatore Contorno, confirmed this. Mafiosi introduce known members to each other as belonging to cosa nostra ("our thing") or la stessa cosa ("the same thing"), e.g. "he is the same thing, a mafioso, as you". The name is not a formal one, however, as members see no need for one.

The Sicilian Mafia has used many other names to describe itself throughout its history, such as "The Honoured Society." Mafiosi are known among themselves as "men of honour."

Structure

Hierarchy of a Cosa Nostra family.

The Sicilian Mafia is not a monolothic organization, but a loose confederation of groups known as families. Each family, however, has a tight pyramidal command structure.

The family is led by a capofamiglia, who is aided by a second-in-command (a sotto capo or "underboss") and one or more advisers (consigliere). Under his command are groups of soldiers (roughly ten per group), each led by a caporegime.

Other than its members, the Mafia makes extensive use of associates. These are people who aid or work for a family (or even multiple families) but are not treated as true members. These include friendly politicians and prospective mafisosos. In his testimony in 1984, Tommaso Buscetta said that an associate is considered nothing more than a tool; "nothing mixed with nil."

The most powerful boss is often referred to as capo di tutti capi or "boss of bosses", who alledgedly commands all the families of Cosa Nostra. However, it is a phrase used mainly by the media, the general public and the law enforcement community to indicate a powerful boss. The old-style mafia boss Calogero Vizzini was often portrayed in the media as the "boss of bosses" – although such a position does not exist according to later Mafia turncoats, such as Tommaso Buscetta. According to Mafia historian Salvatore Lupo "the emphasis of the media on the definition of 'capo dei capi' is without any foundation". In the 1980s, Salvatore Riina was often “boss of bosses” before his arrest and imprisonment in 1993.

Rituals and codes of conduct

Initiation

A prospective mafioso is carefully supervised and tested to assess his obedience, ability and ruthlessness. He is almost always required to commit murder as his ultimate trial.

The mafioso Giovanni Brusca described how he was initiated into the society after his arrest. He was invited into "banquet" at a country farmhouse in 1976. He was brought into a room where several mafiosi questioned his commitment, his feelings about criminality and murder (despite already having a history of such acts). When he affirmed himself, Salvatore Riina, then the "boss of bosses" of Cosa Nostra, took a needle and pricked Brusca's finger. Brusca smeared his blood on the paper image of a saint, which he held in his cupped hands as Riina set it alight. As Brusca juggled the burning image in his hands, Riina said to him: "If you betray Cosa Notra, your flesh will burn like this saint."

Introductions

A mafioso is not supposed to introduce himself to another mafioso. He must ask a third, mutually-known mafioso, to introduce him to the latter as "a friend of ours". Right after his initiation, Brusca was introduced to his own mafioso father in this manner by Riina.

Ten Commandments

In November 2007 Sicilian police reported to have found a list of "Ten Commandments" in the hideout of mafia boss Salvatore Lo Piccolo. Similar to the Biblical Ten Commandments, they are thought to be a guideline on how to be a good, respectful honourable mafioso. The commandments are as follows:

1. No one can present himself directly to another of our friends. There must be a third person to do it.
2. Never look at the wives of friends.
3. Never be seen with cops.
4. Don't go to pubs and clubs.
5. Always being available for Cosa Nostra is a duty - even if your wife is about to give birth.
6. Appointments must absolutely be respected.
7. Wives must be treated with respect.
8. When asked for any information, the answer must be the truth.
9. Money cannot be appropriated if it belongs to others or to other families.
10. People who can't be part of Cosa Nostra: anyone who has a close relative in the police, anyone with a two-timing relative in the family, anyone who behaves badly and doesn't hold to moral values.

Omertà: the code of silence

Omertà is a code of silence that forbids members from cooperating at all with the police or prosecutors should they be arrested. The penalty for transgression is death, and relatives of the turncoat may also be murdered. To a degree, Cosa Nostra also imposes this code on the general population, persecuting any citizen who aids the authorities.

Activities

Extortion

Cosa Nostra forces over 80% of Sicilian businesses to pay protection money, which can range from €200 a month for a bar to €5,000 a month for a supermarket. In Sicily, protection money is known as pizzo; the anti-extortion support group Addiopizzo derives its name from this.

History

Post-feudal Sicily

The genesis of Cosa Nostra is hard to trace because of its secretive nature and lack of historical record-keeping. It is widely believed that its seeds were planted during Sicily's chaotic transition from feudalism to capitalism after 1812. The Sicilian state's ability to enforce law and order was limited; it failed to establish a monopoly on violence.

The oldest reference to Mafia groups in Sicily dates back to 1838, in a report of the General Prosecutor of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, although the term "mafia" was not used. The report described the phenomenon rather than the name: "In many villages, there are unions or fraternities – kinds of sects – which are called partiti, with no political colour or goal, with no meeting places, and with no other bond but that of dependency on a chief."

Post-unification Sicily

The violent annexation of Sicily by mainland Italy in 1860 didn't help matters either. Violence was commonly used to settle disputes and undermine rivals. Bandits plagued the countryside and artisan guilds in the cities muscled the competition.

In 1864, baron Niccolò Turrisi Colonna – the leader of the Palermo National Guard after the revolution of 1860 and two times mayor of Palermo in the 1880s – described the Mafia as "a sect, which makes affiliates every day of the brightest young people coming from the rural class, of the guardians of the fields in the Palermitan countryside, and of the large number of smugglers; a sect which gives and receives protection to and from certain men who make a living on traffic and internal commerce. It is a sect with little or no fear of public bodies, because its members believe that they can easily elude this." (Colonna seemed to have known what he was talking about, there was widespread suspicion that he was the protector of some important Mafiosi in Palermo).

Much of its early activity centered around the lucrative citrus export industry around Palermo, whose fragile production system made it quite vulnerable to extortion. Another early detailed account of mafia activity in Sicily comes from the memoirs of a citrus plantation owner named Gaspare Galati in the 1870s. After firing his warden for stealing coal and produce, Galati received threatening letters demanding that he rehire this "man of honour". Two successive replacements he hired were shot, but the police failed to find any evidence implicating the "man of honour". Galati's own inquiries led him to believe the "man of honour" was part of a group known as a cosca, based in a nearby village and led by a local landowner and former revolutionary. Many such groups existed that disrupted citrus plantations to either extort money or buy them at low prices. Worse still, these groups appeared to have allies in the police and local government. Galati gave up and fled home to Naples.

The accounts of Galati and other victims alarmed politicians in Rome. One described the mafia as "an instrument of local government", given its level of collusion with Sicilian officials. Throughout the late 1870s, the government ordered numerous authoritarian crackdowns in which entire towns were encircled and suspects deported en masse. The crackdowns failed, however, to deal with the political corruption, and many well-connected Mafiosi escaped the dragnet.

Mafiosi meddled in politics early on, bullying voters into voting for candidates they favoured. At this period in history, only a small fraction of the Sicilian population could vote, so a single mafia boss could control a sizeable chunk of the electorate and thus wield considerable political leverage. Mafiosi used their allies in government to avoid prosecution as well as persecute less well-connected rivals. The highly fragmented and shaky Italian political system allow cliques of Mafia-friendly politicians to exert a lot of influence.

In an 1898 report to prosecutors, the police chief of Palermo identified eight mafia groups operating in the suburbs and villages near the city. The report mentioned initiation rituals and codes of conduct, as well as criminal activities that included counterfeiting, ransom kidnappings, robbery, murder and witness intimidation. The mafia also maintained funds to support the families of imprisoned members and pay defense lawyers.

Fascist era

In 1926, during the Fascist period in Italy, Cesare Mori, prefect of Palermo, used special powers granted to him to prosecute the Mafia; of more than 1000 arrested and brought to trial in large groups, more than 300 were convicted that year and further arrests were made in 1931, forcing many other Mafiosi to flee abroad or risk being jailed. Many of the Mafiosi who escaped fled to the United States, among them Joseph Bonanno, nicknamed "Joe Bananas", who came to dominate the American Mafia. However, when Mori started to persecute the Mafiosi involved in the Fascist hierarchy, he was removed, and the Fascist authorities proclaimed that Cosa Nostra had been defeated. In reality, it had only been weakened. Despite his assault on their brethren, Mussolini had his admirers in the New York Mafia, notably Vito Genovese (although he was from Naples and not from Sicily).

Post-war revival

After Fascism, Cosa Nostra did not become powerful in Italy again until after the country's surrender in World War II and the American occupation. The United States used Italian connections of American Mafiosi during the invasion of Italy and Sicily in 1943. Lucky Luciano and other Mafiosi, who had been imprisoned during this time in the U.S., provided information for U.S. military intelligence and used Luciano's influence to ease the way for advancing troops. Furthermore, Luciano's control of the ports prevented sabotage by agents of the Axis powers.

Some say that the U.S. Office of Strategic Services, precursor to the CIA, deliberately allowed the mafia to recover its social and economic position as the "anti-State" in Sicily, and with the U.S.-mafia alliance forged in 1943, this became the true turning point of mafia history and the new foundation for its subsequent 60-year career. Others, such as the Palermitan historian Francesco Renda, have argued that there was no such alliance. Rather, the mafia exploited the chaos of post-fascist Sicily to reconquer its social base. The OSS indeed, in its 1944 "Report on the Problem of Mafia" by the agent W. E. Scotten, pointed to the signs of mafia resurgence and warned of its perils for social order and economic progress.

An alleged additional benefit (from the American perspective) was that many of the Sicilian-Italian Mafiosi were hard-line anti-communists. They were therefore seen as valuable allies by the anti-communist Americans, who allegedly used them to root out socialist and communist elements in the American shipping industry as well as wartime resistance movements and postwar local and regional governments in areas where the Mafia held sway.

According to drug trade expert Dr. Alfred W. McCoy, Luciano was permitted to run his crime network from his jail cell in exchange for his assistance. After the war, Luciano was rewarded by being released from prison and deported to Italy, where he was able to continue his criminal career unhindered. He went to Sicily in 1946 to continue his activities and according to McCoy's landmark 1972 book The Politics of Heroin in South-East Asia, Luciano went on to forge a crucial alliance with the Corsican Mafia, leading to the development of a vast international heroin trafficking network, initially supplied from Turkey and based in Marseille — the so-called "French Connection".

Later, when Turkey began to eliminate its opium production, he used his connections with the Corsicans to open a dialogue with expatriate Corsican mafiosi in South Vietnam. In collaboration with leading American mob bosses including Santo Trafficante Jr., Luciano and his successors took advantage of the chaotic conditions in Southeast Asia arising from the Vietnam War to establish an unassailable supply and distribution base in the "Golden Triangle", which was soon funneling huge amounts of Asian heroin into the United States, Australia and other countries.

Maxi Trial and war against the government

The Second Mafia War in the early 1980s was a large scale conflict within the Mafia that also led to the assassinations of several politicians, police chiefs and magistrates. Salvatore Riina and his Corleonesi faction ultimately prevailed in the war. The new generation of mafiosi placed more emphasis on "white-collar" criminal activity as opposed to more traditional racketeering enterprises. In reaction to these developments, the Italian press has come up with the phrase Cosa Nuova ("the new thing", a play on Cosa Nostra) to refer to the revamped organization.

The first major pentito (a captured mafioso who collaborated with the judicial system) was Tommaso Buscetta who had lost several allies in the war and began to talk to prosecutor Giovanni Falcone around 1983. This led to the Maxi Trial (1986-1987) which resulted in several hundred convictions of leading mafiosi. When the Italian Supreme Court confirmed the convictions in January 1992, Riina took revenge. The politician Salvatore Lima was killed in March 1992; he had long been suspected of being the main government connection of the Mafia (later confirmed by testimony of Buscetta), and the Mafia was clearly displeased with his services. Falcone and fellow anti-Mafia prosecutor Paolo Borsellino were killed a few months later. This led to a public outcry and a massive government crackdown, resulting in Riina's arrest in January 1993. More and more pentitos started to emerge. Many would pay a high price for their co-operation usually through the murder of relatives. For example, Cosa Nostra defector Francesco Marino Mannoia's mother, aunt and sister were murdered.

The Corleonesi retaliated with a campaign of terrorism, a series of bombings against several tourist spots on the Italian mainland: the Via dei Georgofili in Florence, Via Palestro in Milan, and the Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano and Via San Teodoro in Rome, which left 10 people dead and 93 injured and caused severe damage to cultural heritage such as the Uffizi Gallery. Bernardo Provenzano took over as boss of the Corleonesi and halted this campaign and replaced it with a campaign of quietness known as pax mafiosi. This campaign has allowed the Mafia to slowly regain the power it once had. He was arrested in 2006, after 43 years on the run.

The modern Mafia in Italy

The main split in the Sicilian Mafia at present is between those bosses who have been convicted and are now imprisoned, chiefly Riina and capo di tutti capi Bernardo Provenzano, and those who are on the run, or who have not been indicted. The incarcerated bosses are currently subjected to harsh controls on their contact with the outside world, limiting their ability to run their operations from behind bars under the article 41-bis prison regime. Antonino Giuffrè – a close confidant of Provenzano, turned pentito shortly after his capture in 2002 – alleges that in 1993, Cosa Nostra had direct contact with representatives of Silvio Berlusconi who was then planning the birth of Forza Italia.

The deal that he says was alleged to have been made was a repeal of 41 bis, among other anti-Mafia laws in return for electoral deliverances in Sicily. Giuffrè's declarations have not been confirmed. The Italian Parliament, with the support of Forza Italia, extended the enforcement of 41 bis, which was to expire in 2002 but has been prolonged for another four years and extended to other crimes such as terrorism. However, according to one of Italy’s leading magazines, L'Espresso, 119 mafiosi – one-fifth of those incarcerated under the 41 bis regime – have been released on an individual basis. The human rights group Amnesty International has expressed concern that the 41-bis regime could in some circumstances amount to "cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment" for prisoners.

In addition to Salvatore Lima, mentioned above, the politician Giulio Andreotti and the High Court judge Corrado Carnevale have long been suspected of having ties to the Mafia.

By the late 1990s, the weakened Cosa Nostra had to yield most of the illegal drug trade to the 'Ndrangheta crime organization from Calabria. In 2006, the latter was estimated to control 80% of the cocaine import to Europe. The mafia also have a strong business in extortion big companies as well as smaller ones. It estimates that 7% of Italy's output is filtered off by organised crime. The Mafia has turned into one of Italy's biggest business enterprises with a turnover of more than US$120bn a year.

Prominent Sicilian mafiosi

See also: List of Sicilian mafiosi

• Vito Cascio Ferro Prominent early Don, imprisoned by Cesare Mori.
• Calogero Vizzini (1877 – 1954), boss of Villalba, was considered to be one of the most influential Mafia bosses of Sicily after World War II until his death in 1954.
• Giuseppe Genco Russo (1893 – 1976), boss of Mussomeli, considered to be the heir of Calogero Vizzini.
• Michele Navarra (1905 – 1958), boss of the Mafia Family in Corleone from 1940s to 1958
• Salvatore "Ciaschiteddu" Greco (1923 – 1978), boss of the Mafia Family in Ciaculli, he was the first "secretary" of the first Sicilian Mafia Commission that was formed somewhere in 1958.
• Gaetano Badalamenti (1923 – 2004), boss of the Mafia Family in Cinisi
• Angelo La Barbera (1924 – 1975) boss of the Mafia Family in Palermo Centro
• Michele Greco (1924 – 2008), boss of the Mafia Family in Croceverde
• Luciano Liggio (1925 – 1993), boss of the Mafia Family in Corleone
• Tommaso Buscetta (1928 – 2000), Sicilian Mafioso who became a pentito (informant) in 1984. Buscetta's evidence was used to great effect during the Maxi-Trials.
• Salvatore Riina (born 1930), also known as Totò Riina is one of the most infamous members of the Sicilian Mafia. He was nicknamed The Beast, or sometimes The Short One ('U Curtu in Sicilian) and ruled the Mafia with an iron hand from the 1980s until his arrest in 1993.
• Bernardo Provenzano (born 1933), successor of Riina at the head of the Corleonesi and as such considered one of the most powerful bosses of the Sicilian Mafia. Provenzano was a fugitive from justice since 1963. He was captured on 11 April 2006 in Sicily. Before capture, authorities had reportedly been 'close' to capturing him for 10 years.
• Stefano Bontade (1939 – 1981), boss of the Mafia Family in Santa Maria di Gesù
• Leoluca Bagarella (born 1941), member of the Mafia Family in Corleone arrested in 1995
• Salvatore Lo Piccolo (born 1942), considered to be one of the successors of Provenzano.
• Salvatore Inzerillo (1944 – 1981), boss of the Mafia Family in Passo di Rigano
• Giovanni 'Lo Scannacristiani' Brusca (born 1957), who was involved in the murder of Giovanni Falcone.
• Matteo Messina Denaro (born 1962), considered to be one of the successors of Provenzano.
• Michele Cavataio died in Mafia hit in 1969
• Benedetto Santapaola (born 1938), the most important boss of Catania.

Sources

• Arlacchi, Pino (1988). Mafia Business. The Mafia Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Oxford: Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-285197-7
• Template:It icon Arlacchi, Pino (1994). Addio Cosa nostra: La vita di Tommaso Buscetta, Milan: Rizzoli ISBN 88-17-84299-0
• Chubb, Judith (1989). The Mafia and Politics, Cornell Studies in International Affairs, Occasional Papers No. 23.
• Dickie, John (2004). Cosa Nostra. A history of the Sicilian Mafia, London: Coronet ISBN 0-340-82435-2
• Gambetta, Diego (1993).The Sicilian Mafia: The Business of Private Protection, London: Harvard University Press, ISBN 0-674-80742-1
• Paoli, Letizia (2003). Mafia Brotherhoods: Organized Crime, Italian Style, New York: Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-515724-9 (Review by Klaus Von Lampe) (Review by Alexandra V. Orlova)
• Servadio, Gaia (1976), Mafioso. A history of the Mafia from its origins to the present day, London: Secker & Warburg ISBN 0-436-44700-2

External links

• The financial mafia. The illegal accumulation of wealth and the financial-industrial complex by Umberto Santino, in "Contemporary Crises" 12, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, September 1988, pp.203-243
• Template:PDFlink, by Oriana Bandiera, London School of Economics, August 1999
• Gangrule, American mafia history
• The Mafia in Sicilian History
• Cosa Nostra - Rebranding the Mafia
• Italian Mafia Terms Defined
• The 26 Original American Mafia Families- AmericanMafia.com
• FBI Mafia Monograph