History of the Mafia

Early Period

Origins

Contrary to popular belief, the Sicilian Mafia actually originated some time during the mid 19th century, at around the same time as the emergence of the new Italian state. It is important to note that Italy did not actually become a sovereign country until this time, and it was the industrialisation and trade that this event brought about, which was the main driving force behind the development of the Sicilian mafia. The Sicilian mafia has always been at its strongest in the west of the island, and especially around the city of Palermo, its birthplace. Palermo was the centre of trade, commerce and politics for the island of Sicily, and so it makes sense that the mafia would have its base here, as opposed to the interior of the island which was backward and underdeveloped in economic terms. To be specific, the main source of wealth of the island was the large estates of lemon and orange groves that rise from the walls of Palermo up into the hills surrounding the city.

The mafia was initially involved in the protection of these estates: the landowners needed the mafia, and the mafia needed the landowners. Indeed, according to some sources, members of the ruling aristocracy were also members of the 'Sect' as the mafia was called in those days, Baron Turrisi Colonna among them, who wrote the first ever account of the organised criminality that was going on in Sicily during this time in 1864. At this time, he put the age of the 'Sect' at about 20 years old, or thereabouts. Colonna was well known as a political protector of members of the Sect and it is this kind of relationship with Government which has characterised the mafia in Sicily. In the early days of the Italian state there were two main power groups: the landowners and the politicians, who were often synonymous. However, on the sidelines lay the mafia, quietly infiltrating and corrupting wherever they went. It is hard to say for sure, but it is highly likely that the mafia initiated members of both other groups into its number.

It is as an instrument of local government that the mafia has always been useful to the powers in Rome. The mafia could often deliver all 40 or so states on the island to whichever political party it chose to support. It was during these formative years that the mafia inter-twined itself with all aspects of life in Sicily: commerce, trade, politics and law enforcement have all been tools of the mafia at some time or another. It is this early genesis of the mafia at a turbulent time during Italy's history which has so embedded it in the national consciousness, that up until relatively recently, the existence of a mafia in Sicily was long ignored or tolerated by the ruling classes of Italy. The systematic intimidation and organised criminality was explained away by implying that mafia was nothing more menacing than a peculiarly Sicilian form of self-confident pride, or 'rustic chivalry', or even the manly swagger of someone who knows how to look after his interests. Any explanation was used apart from the correct one which we know today: that by the late 19th century, the mafia had become a monopolist in the violence industry, a secrect society with its own initiation rites and trials which used corruption and intimidation to amass power and wealth through acting as the sole instrument of local government in Sicily.

"Mafia" was the name of a specific society in Sicily, yet the word itself has no pin-pointed historical birthplace. In the original Palermo dialect the word 'mafioso' once meant 'beautiful', 'bold' or 'self-confident'. Anyone who was worthy of being described as a mafioso therefore had a certain something, an attribute called 'mafia'. 'Cool' is about the closest modern English equivalent; a mafioso was osmeone who fancied himself. In fact it was the early Italian government which attached specific criminal connotations to the word and turned it into a subject of national debate. It was following the Prefect of Palermo, Filippo Gualterio's report to Rome in 1865, citing that 'the so-called Maffia or criminal associations' had become more daring, that the word rapidly entered general usage. Several similar organizations developed in parallel to the Mafia on mainland Italy, such as Ndrangheta in Calabria, Sacra corona unita in Apulia, and Camorra in Naples, however, the Sicilian mafia was always the most ruthless, violent and successful. See List of Mafia-like organizations.

Immigration to the United States

Sicilian immigrants brought the Mafia with them to the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century waves of migration. Newly arrived Italian immigrants often spoke no English and settled in the same districts of American cities as other Italians. Many Americans were suspicious and mistrustful of recent immigrants, especially those with a limited command of English. Some Italians felt that they could not rely on the often corrupt and prejudiced local law-enforcement officials for protection, and turned to the mafiosi instead.

The Moustache Petes

The first generation of mafiosi in America were later disparagingly referred to as "Moustache Petes" by the younger generation of gangsters.

The Castellammarese War

Main article: Castellammarese War

The Castellammarese War (1930-1931), so called because many of one side's participants were originally from Castellemmare del Golfo in Sicily, resulted when powerful Sicilian Mafioso Don Vito Cascio Ferro sent men to America with the mission of seizing control of the American Mafia, then known as "The Black Hand" (Italian: Manonera), from the established "mainlanders". Salvatore Maranzano, perhaps the only university-educated Mafioso, met with Joseph Bonanno, Joseph Profaci, and Stefano Magaddino, all from Castellemmare del Golfo, in New York and aligned themselves against the powerful Joe "The Boss" Masseria.

Tensions between the two factions began to escalate in 1928, but widespread violence did not break out until the spring of 1930. Masseria's side had an edge in numbers at first, but he was growing old and unable to effectively run his family. Lucky Luciano, Masseria's top lieutenant, was recruited by Maranzano, but he refused to join and was severely beaten, then hung up by his thumbs while tied to a tree in a remote section of Staten Island's South Shore and left to die. But Luciano survived and this tale is generally cited as the origin of his nickname "Lucky."

Luciano later reconciled with Maranzano, and the two had Masseria killed; in all about 60 mafiosi perished between the time the war began and Masseria's murder. Don Ferro had been arrested by Benito Mussolini's regime in 1929. Maranzano thus became the only "capo di tutti capi", or "boss of all the bosses", in the history of the Mafia.

Maranzano called a meeting of powerful Mafia figures. He appointed five mobsters as bosses of units which would later develop into the Five Families of the Commission, headed by Joseph Bonanno, Tom Gagliano, Lucky Luciano, Phil and Vincent Mangano, and Joseph Profaci. Unapproved killings of made men were abolished, and discussion of the Mafia with anyone not involved was forbidden under penalty of death. It is also believed that the term La Cosa Nostra, meaning This Thing Of Ours, was coined during this time.

Only a few months later, Maranzano grew suspicious of his newly-appointed family bosses and made a list of them and other top capos to be assassinated. Before he could carry out his plans, though, Luciano received word of his own impending assassination, and had Maranzano killed in his office.

According to legend, some 40-90 Maranzano supporters around the country were excuted by Luciano partisans at the same time in what has sometimes been referred to as the "Night of Sicilian Vespers." While the story of the "Vespers" was repeated and gained credence after mob informant Joe Valachi testified before Congress, Luciano himself always denied that such a purge occurred. Research shows that few, if any, mobsters killed in the immediate aftermath of the Maranzano assasination had any connection with the Luciano-Maranzano conflict.

The Five Families Era

Luciano renounced the title of "capo di tutti capi". He said there should be no "boss of bosses", but that ultimate power should reside in The Commission, the heads of the Five Families. But Luciano inevitably became the "Boss of the Bosses" as Lanskey said he would by forming The Commission, thus ultimately ascending to the title inadvertently.

FBI Investigations

The Bonanno family was infiltrated in the late 1970s by undercover FBI agent "Donnie Brasco", leading to 120 convictions and the near-extinction of the Bonanno faction. However, boss Joe Massino rebuilt the family, until his own conviction on numerous charges in July of 2004.