History of the Mafia

Early Period

Origins

Contrary to popular legend, 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.

Early Political Activities

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 secret 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.

The Origin of the word 'Mafia'

"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 someone 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 Mafia 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.