The history of the mafia. Sicilian Mafia. Current state
Sicilian Mafia. ... What is it? Underworld brand? A theme for Hollywood movies? No, it is - sicilian reality which has been going on for many years. Let's talk about the history of the mafia.
The history of the emergence of the Sicilian mafia
Historical roots mafia need to look in 8-9 centuries... At that time, Sicily was a stronghold Byzantium in the Mediterranean, but the Arabs systematically and brutally tried to establish themselves on the island. The volunteer militia protected the fishermen and peasants of the island, they also paid in gratitude, some with money, and some with grain or fish. Arabs in 831 they captured, and by 965 the whole island.
And the Byzantine tradition of thanking the defenders remained, taking on more and more bizarre forms over time. They superimposed on the concept of honor that is characteristic of residents of gated communities: you must always be able to stand up for yourself and instantly react to any act of injustice or disrespect for yourself. This is the foundation of the mafia - the ability to respect others and the unconditional demand to respect yourself, the ability to be grateful and the ability to stand up for yourself and your family.
The beginning of the 12th century - the sunset of the Normans on the island. This is one of the many periods of anarchy. And every such period, the mafia will gain momentum. Papal governors, local barons, Arabs fought among themselves and plundered the country. The time is coming Vendicosi(the avengers). A mysterious sect of murderers and executioners, descended from the aristocratic families of Palermo, Beati paoli(blessed Pavla), people in black hoods that cover their faces. They help everyone who wants to take revenge for insults and injustice. Payment is taken by services or money. One of the first secret societies of the Middle Ages will last until the 18th century, and its heyday will fall on the hard times of the Inquisition.
From the beginning of the 16th century, the hardest period in the history of Sicily begins - the Spanish. Until 1713, the island was ruled by Spain and ruled by viceroys. It was then that it was formed as a model of life.
All state life is based on bribes. Sicily has been the granary of Europe since the days of the Roman Empire, the island's economy is completely dependent on agriculture. Barons, owners of huge land plots, latifundia, far away - in Naples. Estate managers have more and more powers and little or no control. At the same time, the peasants simply have a hard life. Half-starved on a fertile land, they work from morning to night in the crazy heat. The economy is conducted in the most ancient ways, without any modernization. Most of the population lives in the mountains, with practically no roads. And if you want to get out, it won't work out that way. With wild ideas about the world, imposed by the Catholic Church, and these are times of complete obscurantism and stupidity. And, as always and everywhere, there are dashing people who are not going to work, but who are engaged in robbery. Further, the scheme is simple: the manager hires tough guys in order to spur the peasants to work, punish the dissatisfied, and protect the estate from robberies.
A classic "divorce" scheme arises - to organize a nuisance in order to help solve it.
Over time, gaining strength and experience, the smartest of the guards understand that managers are an extra link in the scheme. Without the support of the guards, the figure of the steward loses its meaning. The population of the island is completely on the side of the guards. After all, they are their own, Sicilians, close and understandable, helping to solve any current issues. Dashing people rent the vast territory of their baron's latifundia directly. They pay for rent not so much with money as with their services. They take the main profit for themselves. Courageous, cruel, self-confident people, with excellent organizational skills, rely on the support of the baron. And where should he go, Baron? An offer has already been made to him, from which he cannot refuse. The church also did not stand aside. She was the largest landowner and gladly used their services, in turn, convincing the population of the need for obedience and patience.
The authorities at that time did not consider the mafia as a force worthy of attention. Therefore, many of the mafiosi, with the assistance of the clan aristocracy and the church, naturally for large bribes, bought themselves a baronial title. Thus, the money earned by extortion and robbery received official recognition. The money laundering scheme started working. And so, gradually, the guards of the latifundia turned more and more clearly into the figures that later became traditional. capo(capo) of the rural mafia. The capos maintained close ties with each other, creating a web of uncontrolled power with the only goal at that time - money.
Over the course of two hundred years, the consciousness of the Sicilians has changed more and more, the island became poorer, and omertà and a certain lifestyle and a certain type of people arose - mafioso.
History of the Sicilian Mafia
V 1865 year the Prefect of Palermo in his official report uses the term "" to refer to criminal groups. After that, it will already be used only in this sense.
In the 80s of the 19th century, the Italian wave began emigration to the USA... There are also Sicilians among the emigrants who work for the mafia. From numerous gangs and groups, a gigantic crime syndicate, combining Sicilian traditions and American entrepreneurship.
1903 year. One of the first to start the fight against the mafia was Joe Petrosino, a poor Italian immigrant who became a New York Police lieutenant and head of the anti-Black Hand division. The nascent Italian mafia in America had such a slightly theatrical name. The counterfeit dollars that filled New York at the time were printed in Sicily. More and more mafia fighters appeared, and those who appeared after brutal murders disappeared without a trace. Sicilian emigrants were constantly involved in the most notorious crimes in New York.
Joe Petrosino
1909 year. To identify these criminal connections, Petrosino decides to go to Palermo. Immediately upon arrival, Joe Petrosino receives an anonymous note with a request for a meeting and the address - Marine Square. Why did this clever and experienced policeman, who perfectly understood who he was dealing with, went alone to the meeting appointed for him by the informant? Most likely, he simply did not think that at eight in the evening, in a busy square in the very center of the city, two steps from the courthouse, something could happen to him. But Palermo is not New York, and it is dangerous to be here for people poking their noses into their own affairs. He will be killed four shots at close range, one of them in the face. It's like a signature - killed by men of honor... Information on the killers was awarded a reward equivalent to 40 thousand euros... But, of course, no one said anything. People at that time could not even imagine that it was possible to talk about the affairs of the mafia.
The names of the criminals will become known only after 105 years. In 2014, during the operation Apocalypse arrested 95 mafia members from various clans. Before the arrest, everyone was bugged for a long time. One of them, Domenico Palazzotto, boasted in a conversation with a friend that he was from a family with a long criminal tradition. One hundred and five years ago, his great-uncle, Paolo Palazzotto killed New York police officer Joe Petrosino on the orders of the capo of the mafia. The information was confirmed, and now this murder is considered solved.
Domenico Palazzotto
If you ask which state is the birthplace of the mafia from the first person they meet, then even an ignorant person will give the correct answer without much hesitation: Italy. This country can in fact be called the “flower garden” of the mafia, which has become one of the favorite topics in history and cinema textbooks.
This is not to say that the mafiosi have done something positive and outstanding, but many still admire the unsurpassed talent of the most famous criminals, most of whom, of course, have Italian roots.
Al ’Capone, of course, this name is" heard "not only in the sunniest country located on the Apennine Peninsula, but all over the world. The infamous gangster's name is probably the most recognizable. And it is not surprising: several films were made about Capone, the most popular of which was the picture "The Untouchables" of 1987 with Robert De Niro in the title role.
The story of the famous Mafia, who was born in Brooklyn in 1889 after his family migrated to the United States, begins in 1919 when he joined Johnny Toria. In 1925 he became the head of the Torii family and since then his "criminal" career has grown rapidly. Soon Capone was no longer afraid of anyone or anything: his people were engaged in gambling business, selling drugs and prostitution. He has earned a reputation for being honest, intelligent, but infinitely cruel.
One has only to remember the famous Valentine's Day massacre, when a group led by a gangster destroyed many mafia leaders.
When the police were lucky to detain a great criminal, they simply could not show him anything other than tax evasion. However, in the end, Al Capone still ended up in jail: he was in the famous prison Alcatraz, from where he came out seven years later with a fatal illness and soon died.
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Bernardo Provenzano
Bernardo Provenzano, a native of a small village located on, was simply destined to become one of the members of the group of the same name. Already in his youth, he fell into the Corleone clan, and after a couple of years he had already killed several people and turned out a lot of illegal transactions. For 10 years the name of Provenzano hung in the police stations at the "Wanted" stand, but the local carabinieri did not even try to find this dangerous criminal. Meanwhile, he continued to move up the career ladder and gain authority for himself. It was rumored that Provenzano controlled the entire illegal business in Palermo for some time, from selling drugs to prostitution. He was known for his intransigence and stubbornness, for which he received the nickname Bulldozer.
Many years later, the police managed to detain the criminal: a thin old man in ordinary jeans and a T-shirt appeared to their eyes. Provenzano will spend the rest of his days in prison.
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Albert Anastasia
Like many of his other colleagues, Albert Anastasia was born in sunny Italy (the city of Tropea,), but soon after birth he migrated with his parents to America. The first time he went to prison was in his youth when he killed a dockman in Brooklyn. He was sentenced to several years, but after some time the main witness in the case of Anastasia died under mysterious circumstances, and the criminal himself was released.
Albert Anastasia has earned fame as one of America's most ruthless assassins.
He was a member of Masseria's gang, but over time he went over to the side of his boss's competitors, and a couple of years later he was completely present at the murder of his former boss. After that, Anastasia became the head of the gang of highly professional murderers "Murder Inc.", the Gambino clan. Police say the group was involved in at least 400 deaths. The killer himself was killed by order of one of the American mafiosi.
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Despite the fact that Hollywood relentlessly uses images of the mafia, which have long become a cliche, there are still illegal groups in the world that control industry, smuggle, cybercrime and even shape the global economies of countries.
So where are they located and which ones are the most famous in the world?
Yakuza
This is not a myth, they exist and, by the way, were among the first who made significant efforts to help after the tsunami in Japan in 2011. Traditional areas of interest for the yakuza are clandestine gambling, prostitution, drug trafficking, arms and ammunition trade, racketeering, production or sale of counterfeit goods, car theft and smuggling. More sophisticated gangsters trade in financial fraud. Members of the group are distinguished by beautiful tattoos, which are usually hidden under their clothes.
Mungiki
This is one of the most aggressive sects in Kenya, which emerged in 1985 in the settlements of the Kikuyu people in the central part of the country. The Kikuyu gathered their own militia in order to protect the Masai lands from government militants who wanted to suppress the resistance of the rebellious tribe. The sect was essentially a street gang. Later, large detachments were formed in Nairobi, which engaged in racketeering of local transport companies carrying passengers around the city (taxi companies, car fleets). Then they switched to garbage collection and disposal. Each slum dweller was also obliged to pay a certain amount to the members of the sect, in exchange for a quiet life in their own shack.
Russian Mafia
It is officially the most feared organized crime group. Former FBI special agents call the Russian mafia "the most dangerous people on Earth." In the West, the term "Russian mafia" can mean any criminal organization, both Russian proper and from other post-Soviet states, or from an immigration environment in the far abroad. Some get hierarchical tattoos, often use military tactics, and carry out contract killings.
Hell's Angels
Considered an organized crime group in the United States. It is one of the world's largest motorcycle clubs (Hells Angels Motorcycle Club), which has an almost mythical history and branches all over the world. According to the legend, posted on the official website of the motorcycle club, during the Second World War, the American Air Force existed the 303rd Squadron of heavy bombers with the name "Hell's Angels". After the end of the war and the disbandment of the unit, the pilots were left without work. They believe that their homeland has betrayed them and left them to their fate. They had no choice but to go against their "cruel country, get on motorcycles, join motorcycle clubs and rebel." Along with legal activities (motorcycle salons, motorcycle repair shops, sale of goods with symbols), Hell's Angels are known for illegal activities (selling weapons, drugs, racketeering, controlling prostitution, and so on).
Sicilian Mafia: La Cosa Nostra
The organization began its activities in the second half of the 19th century, when the Sicilian and American mafia were the strongest. Initially, Cosa Nostra was involved in the protection (including the most brutal methods) of the owners of orange plantations and the nobles who owned large plots of land. By the beginning of the 20th century, it turned into an international criminal group, whose main activity was banditry. The organization has a clear hierarchical structure. Its members often resort to very ritual methods of revenge, and also have a number of complex rituals of initiating men into a group. They also have their own code of silence and secrecy.
Albanian mafia
There are 15 clans in Albania that control most of the Albanian organized crime. They keep drug trafficking under their control, are engaged in trafficking in people and weapons. They also coordinate the supply of large quantities of heroin to Europe.
Serbian mafia
Various criminal groups based in Serbia and Montenegro, composed of ethnic Serbs and Montenegrins. Their activities are quite diverse: drug trafficking, smuggling, racketeering, contract killings, gambling and information trading. Today, there are about 30-40 active criminal groups in Serbia.
Montreal Mafia Rizzuto
The Rizzuto is a crime family primarily based in Montreal but running the provinces of Quebec and Ontario. They once had a merger with their families in New York, which eventually led to the mafia wars in Montreal in the late 70s. Rizzuto owns hundreds of millions of dollars of real estate in various countries. They own hotels, restaurants, bars, nightclubs, construction, food, service and trade companies. In Italy, they own firms producing furniture and Italian delicacies.
Mexican drug cartels
Mexican drug cartels have existed for several decades; since the 1970s, some government agencies in Mexico have been supporting their activities. Mexican drug cartels have intensified since the collapse in the 1990s of the Colombian drug cartels - Medellinsky and. It is currently the main foreign supplier of cannabis, cocaine and methamphetamine, and Mexican drug cartels dominate the wholesale illicit drug market.
Mara Salvatrucha
In slang, it means "brigade of Salvadoran stray ants" and is often abbreviated to MS-13. This gang is based mostly in Central America and is based in Los Angeles (although they operate in other parts of North America and Mexico). According to various estimates, the number of this brutal crime syndicate ranges from 50 to 300 thousand people. Mara Salvatrucha is involved in many types of criminal business, including drug trafficking, weapons and human trafficking, robbery, racketeering, contract killings, kidnapping for ransom, car theft, money laundering and fraud. A distinctive feature of the gang members are tattoos all over the body, including on the face and the inside of the lips. They not only show a person's belonging to a gang, but also tell with their details about his criminal biography, influence and status in the community.
Colombian drug cartels
"Cosa Nostra" - these words made every inhabitant of the sunny island tremble. Whole family clans were involved in criminal mafia gangs. Sicily, this blooming garden, was grown on rivers of blood. The Sicilian mafia stretched out its tentacles throughout Italy, and even the American godfathers had to reckon with it.
Returning from the south of Italy, I shared my impressions with one of my acquaintances. When I said that I could not get to Sicily, I heard in response: "Well, for the best, because the mafia is there!"
Unfortunately, the sad glory of the island washed by the waters of three seas is such that its name conjures up not delightful landscapes and unique cultural monuments, not age-old traditions of the people, but a mysterious criminal organization that entangled, like a spider's web, all spheres of society. Famous films contributed to this idea of the "crime syndicate": about the commissar Cattani, who fell in an unequal battle with the "octopus", or about the "godfather" Don Corleone, who moved to America from the same Sicily. In addition, the echoes of high-profile trials of mafia leaders in the 80s and 90s have reached us, when the fight against organized crime in Italy reached its climax. However, no success of the authorities and the police in this endeavor can change the postulate that is rooted in the minds of society: "The Mafia is immortal." Is it really?
It is generally accepted that the mafia is a rather complex ramified criminal organization with its own harsh laws and traditions, the history of which goes back to the Middle Ages. In those distant times, in the underground galleries of Palermo, people, armed with swords and pikes, hid their faces under their hoods - members of the mysterious religious sect "Beati Paoli". The very name "mafia" appeared in the 17th century. The word is supposed to be based on an Arabic root meaning "protection"; there are also other interpretations of it - "refuge", "poverty", "secret murder", "witch" ... In the 19th century, the mafia was a brotherhood that protected "unfortunate Sicilians from foreign exploiter" time of the Bourbons. The struggle ended with a revolution in I860, but the peasants, instead of the former oppressors, found new ones in the person of their compatriots. Moreover, the latter managed to introduce into the life of Sicilian society the attitudes and code of conduct that had developed in the depths of a secret terrorist organization. Criminal orientation quickly became the cornerstone of the "brotherhood", corruption, which it allegedly fought against, was in fact the basis of its existence, mutual assistance turned into mutual responsibility.
Skillfully using the distrust of the official government, traditional for the population of the region, the mafia formed an alternative government, practically replacing the state where it could act more effectively, for example, in such a field as justice. The mafia undertook to solve any problems of the peasant, and - at first glance - for free. And the poor turned to her for protection that the state could not provide them. The peasants did not think that someday it would be their turn to render services to their patron. As a result, each village has its own mafia clan, which administered its own court. And the widespread myth of a secret, centralized and ramified organization with a thousand-year history greatly contributed to the strengthening of the authority of such clans as its "local subdivisions".
Palermo Airport bears the names Falcone and Borsellino, which have become legendary in today's Italy. Prosecutor Giovanni Falcone and his successor Paolo Borsellino worked like no other to cleanse Sicily of the mafia. Falcone became the prototype for the famous Commissioner of Catania.
1861 - an important milestone in the history of the mafia - it became a real political force. Relying on the poor population of Sicily, the organization managed to nominate its candidates to the Italian parliament. By buying or intimidating other deputies, the mafia gained the opportunity to largely control the political situation in the country, and the mafiosi, still relying on grassroots criminal structures, turned into respectable members of society, claiming a place in its upper class. Researchers compare the Italian society of that time with “a puff pastry, in which the connections between the layers were carried out not by official representatives, but by informal ones, ie. by soldiers of the mafia. " Moreover, without denying the criminal nature of such a state structure, many of them recognize it as quite rational. In the book by Norman Lewis, for example, you can read that in the "mafia" Palermo, a housewife could easily forget her purse on the bar table, because the next day she would certainly find it in the same place.
The Palermo authorities have developed a program to combat the mafia, which they called the "Sicilian cart". The Sicilian cart is two-wheeled. One wheel - repression: police, courts, special services. Another wheel is culture: theater, religion, school.
Nevertheless, the new, "legal" mafia could not save the south of Italy from the terrible impoverishment, as a result of which between 1872 and the First World War, about 1.5 million Sicilians emigrated, mainly to America. "Prohibition" served as fertile ground for illegal business and the accumulation of capital, the former members of the brotherhood united again and successfully recreated their usual way of life on a foreign land - this is how Cosa Nostra was born (originally this name was used to refer to the American mafia, although now so often called the Sicilian).
In Italy, the mafia continued to be a state within a state until the Nazis came to power in 1922. Like any dictator, Benito Mussolini could not come to terms with the existence of any alternative power structures, even informal and perverse ones. In 1925, Mussolini deprives the mafia of its main instrument of political influence by canceling the elections, and then decides to finally bring the organization objectionable to the regime to its knees and sends a special prefect, Cesare Mori, to Sicily, endowing him with unlimited powers. Thousands of people have been thrown into prisons without sufficient evidence; Sometimes entire cities were sieged to capture the godfathers, but Mori's tough tactics bore fruit - many mafiosi were imprisoned or killed, and in 1927, not without reason, the victory over organized crime was declared. In fact, the fascist party itself began to play the role of the mafia as a guarantor of public order in Sicily and an intermediary between the government and the peasants.
The most "mafia" Sicilian sweet is cannoli, wafer rolls with sweet filling. They eat these all the time at The Godfather. Another Sicilian dessert is cassata, an almond-based pastry. And the tourist town of Erice specializes in vegetables and fruits made from colored marzipan.
Those influential mafiosi who managed to escape Mori's persecution found refuge in the United States. However, even here the free life of Cosa Nostra was disrupted: first, by the abolition of Prohibition in 1933, which dealt a blow to the mafia's business, and then by quite successful, although not always legal, actions of the state against the most odious figures of the criminal organization. For example, the infamous Al Capone was jailed for 11 years for tax evasion, and another "America's greatest gangster," John Dillinger, was simply shot and killed by federal agents as he walked out of a movie theater. However, the end of World War II was approaching, and the Allies found it tempting to use the authority of the heads of organized crime in the seizure of Sicily. The "boss of the bosses" of the last Lucky Luciano, who was sentenced to 35 years in prison by the US court, acted as an intermediary between the Sicilian and American mafias. Replacing this punishment with expulsion to Rome was, apparently, a good incentive for him - Luciano agreed with his Italian "colleagues" to assist the allies in the landing in Sicily, and the inhabitants of the island met the British and American troops as liberators.
However, there has not yet been a case when society did not have to pay for the services of the mafia. Almost brought to her knees, she suddenly had the opportunity to be reborn in a new capacity. The Dons who distinguished themselves in the fight against the fascists were appointed mayors in the main cities of Sicily, at the expense of the Italian army, the mafia managed to replenish its arsenal, a thousand mafiosi who helped the allied forces were amnestied under a peace treaty. The Sicilian mafia strengthened its position at home, strengthened ties with its American "sister" and, moreover, significantly expanded its possessions - both territorially (penetrating into the previously untouched Milan and Naples) and in the sphere of its criminal business. Since the late 1950s, the heads of the Sicilian organization have become the main suppliers of heroin to America.
The beginning of this was laid by the same Lucky Luciano, who, by the way, lived to a ripe old age and died of a heart attack almost during a meeting with an American director who was going to shoot a film about his life. The efforts of his followers were aimed at both the drug trade and the establishment of links between the mafia and politicians. How much they have succeeded in this over the past decades can be judged by the report of the Italian Anti-Mafia Commission: “Numerous interconnections have formed between mafiosi, businessmen and individual politicians, which have led to the fact that government bodies have found themselves in an extremely humiliated position .. The mafia often resorted to threats or direct physical liquidation of people, even intervening in political issues, since the fate of the entire business, the income of the mafia and the influence of its individual representatives depended on them.
Thus, the impression was created that nothing threatened the well-being of the mafia. But this is not entirely true - the danger lay within the organization itself. The structural structure of the mafia is well known: at the top of the pyramid there is a head (capo), near which there is always an adviser (consigliere), the heads of divisions (caporegime), who manage ordinary performers (picchotti), are directly subordinate to the head. In the Sicilian mafia, its unit cells (koski) are made up of blood relatives. Kosks under the leadership of one don are united into a consortium (family), and all consorteries together make up the mafia. However, the romantic version of an organization united by common goals becomes nothing more than a myth when it comes to big money.
The ritual of initiation into the Sicilian mafia is that the newcomer's finger is wounded and his blood is shed on the icon. He takes the icon in his hand and they light it. The beginner must endure the pain until it burns out. At the same time, he must say: "Let my flesh burn like this saint if I break the rules of the mafia."
Each consortium has its own interests, often very different from those of the rest of the mafia. Sometimes the heads of families manage to agree among themselves on the division of spheres of influence, but this does not always happen, and then society becomes a witness to bloody wars between mafia clans, as it was, for example, in the early 80s. The government's anti-mafia campaign was a response to the drug trade that led to this terrible massacre, and the mafia, in turn, instituted terror, the victims of which were dignitaries, politicians and law enforcement officers. In particular, in 1982, General Della Chiza was killed, who began to unearth the mafia's scams in the construction industry and became interested in the question of who is protecting it in the government. Ten years later, the main mafioso Tommaso Buscetta, who was arrested in Brazil, said that the clan of Giulio Andreotti, who served as prime minister seven times, ordered the death of Della Chiza. Buscetta is also the author of the so-called "Buscetta theorem", according to which the mafia is a single organization based on a strict hierarchy, with its own laws and specific comprehensive plans. This "theorem" was firmly believed by the anti-mafia fighter Judge Giovanni Falcone, who back in the 80s conducted a series of investigations, as a result of which hundreds of mafiosi were brought to trial.
After Buscetta's arrest, Falcone, relying on his testimony, was able to start several "high-profile cases" against them. The judge vowed to devote his whole life to fighting the "curse of Sicily", was convinced that "the mafia has a beginning and an end," and strove to get to its leaders. Falcone created something like an anti-mafia committee, whose successes were so obvious that the committee was ... disbanded by the authorities, dissatisfied with his authority and fame, and possibly fearing revelations. The slandered, lonely Falcone left Palermo, and in May 1992, together with his wife, fell victim to a terrorist attack. However, the murder of Giovanni Falcone and another judge who fought against the mafia - Paolo Borselino - forced the Italian public to wake up. The Mafia has largely lost its former support of the population. The law of "Omerta", which surrounded the organization with a veil of silence, was violated, and a lot of "peniti" (repented), i.e. of the defectors who abandoned the mafia activities, testified, which made it possible to send dozens of important Dons to jail. However, the old generation of gangsters, forced to retreat into the shadows, was replaced by a young one, ready to fight both the legitimate authorities and their predecessors ...
So, the fight against organized crime, which was waged with varying degrees of success throughout the 20th century, continues to this day. Mafia sometimes "changes its skin", while always maintaining its essence of a criminal terrorist organization. It is invulnerable as long as the official institutions of power remain ineffective, and the officials remain corrupt and selfish. In fact, the mafia is a hypertrophied reflection of the vices of the whole society, and until society has found the courage to fight its own vices, the mafia can still be called immortal.
