How did it arise in modern Sicily?
Was it basically a bunch of thugs shaking down establishments and private persons, or something more akin to a semi-feudal structure with limited legitimacy?
How much was/is it embedded in Italian history and political culture?
Could it be seen as the response of a traditional society to modernity and industrialization, thus stressing values such as family relations and loyalty?
How did such a structure spread to other countries, particularly in the United States and what facilitated it?
Depends what you mean by "modern".
I mean after WW2 they arose because when America took Italy they let everyone out of prison and appointed mafiosi to government roles because they claimed to be anti-fascist resistance leaders without also being socialists.
>>492371
Basically allies used them against Italy and Germany, strengthening them when they were on their way to extinction. After the war everything was fucked and mafia filled in the void naturally all the way to the top.
>>492371
>How much was/is it embedded in Italian history and political culture?
Not that much outside of Sicily today, after the nineties and the murders of Falcone and Borsellino (the two most prominent anti-mafia magistrates) opposition to Cosa Nostra has become a matter of national conscience
The most powerful Italian mafia today is the 'ndragheta, which acts in the shadows and has in its pocket lots of politicians
Sicilian here.
Mafia has always existed in a form or another, the ritual of today's mafia, the affiliation, is still strong.
The neighborhoods controlled by mafia are still controlled by mafia. The economy of Sicily is controlled by mafia.
World culture has been significantly influenced by mafia codes and iconography.
I'm pretty sure >>492462 is Italian but not sicilian.
Mafia evolved into one of the greatest political powers. It is true that 'ndrangheta (Calabrese mafia) and Camorra (naples mafia) are today more powerful than Cosa Nostra.
But Cosa Nostra capitals are vital to Italy's and Europe well functioning.
With the migration from southern Italy to industrial North, Mafia has come to economic capitals like Milan, and even expanded into Europe (see the Duisburg massacre some years ago).
what >>492462 says about Anti-mafia is not totatlly true. Anti mafia is a movement created by the Italian State but it doesn't have a great appeal because, apart from hating mafia, Italian State isn't solving the dramatic problems of the South. So people here do not feel a strong bond to the State. Antimafia is for cops.
When they do the anniversary for the deaths of Falcone and Borsellino, Antimafia State controlled associations flood Palermo with students from all the parts of Italy. Without them, the celebrations would be a desert, because people of Sicily, even those who hate mafia, are tired of heroism rhetoric, which is totally useless if you don't support education, legal jobs and economic safety.
Southern Italy is backwards and Mafia is a cancer, but is one of the few things down here that can help you to earn something. the State is totally inexistent, or it exists only to arrest or tax you. Falcone and Borsellino died in vain (if you buy the 'martyrdom' meme the Antimafia is feeding us) . the situation is bleak
same Sicilian here to add some thing.
Mafia can control the elections in Sicily, where ther is not a great civic education to actually use elections for a real change.
Mafia's capitals from drugs, extortion etc are re invested in legal activities. Those legal activites give work to the few people in Sicily who managed to get a job and wasn't forced to emigrate.
>>492462 is right when he implies that COsa Nostra is no more doing massacres. In the 80's there were 100 mafia related murders per year in Palermo. Judges and cops were maimed on the street. This has come to an end, but not because Mafia was beaten, just because they understood that peace is better for business
>>492371
Exportation of citruses.
>>492371
The guys you posted are not representative of Cosa Nostra. Most of them come from Campania and while they are a "family" even in-show the New York families consider them to be plebs, they are not sicilian.
Cosa Nostra is the result of several processess. Sicily used to be pretty much a feudal state up very recently. Nobleman and guys owing a lot of land hired thugs to go and beat the peasants if they started shit agains the lords. From a mixture of them, standard criminals and tribalism came Cosa Nostra.
But what really made Cosa Nostra grew in Sicily (The americans were, at that point, far more powerful than the sicilians proper) was WWII and all the money coming from America, but mostly contacts and new partnerships between the two sides (Heroin smuggling from Palermo to Marseille to America)
>>492573
>>492585
>>492674
Say what you will about Mussolini, but at least he did something about those sporchi terroni di merda
>>492699
Aproposito, that wasn't meant to be an insult against Falcone or honest siciliani.
>>492599
olio olivio
>>492699
> Implying il prefetto di ferro was a fascist
He was working under the fascist government, ok, but all he wanted was justice, he didn't really care about politics. Actually, during his carreer he pursued a lot of fascists too for their violence.
>>492720
*Oliva
I always wonder why here in Argentina we didn't get the mafia despite half of our country being italian
>>492722
How is life with la mafia siciliana anyway? Do small businesses still have to pay tribute? What about those African immigrants who sell shit on the beach? Do they have to pay? Also I heard the gomorrah movie got made into a tv show? Any good? (You might not care though because now I think about it, that was set in napoli).
>>492736
Uh, Pinochet?
>>492775
What? Wrong country big guy
>>492599
the absence of the State and the desire of power. Also, to be able to be respected and powerful and, most important, to feed your family.
>>492674
>Cosa Nostra is the result of several processess. Sicily used to be pretty much a feudal state up very recently. Nobleman and guys owing a lot of land hired thugs to go and beat the peasants if they started shit agains the lords. From a mixture of them, standard criminals and tribalism came Cosa Nostra.
But what really made Cosa Nostra grew in Sicily (The americans were, at that point, far more powerful than the sicilians proper) was WWII and all the money coming from America, but mostly contacts and new partnerships between the two sides (Heroin smuggling from Palermo to Marseille to America)
this is pretty correct. 'Gabelloti' was the name of XIV-XVII thugs that worked for rich guys.
The Americans surely helped the Mafia.
What is very important in postwar Mafia is that it was the strongest anti communist force. Peasant were occupying noblemen (read: feudal) lands and the Mafia was used to kill the Peasants Movement and to kill communists: the most notable example was the Portella della Ginestra massacre. Communists were the major victim of Mafia, there are a lot of movie about it, maybe the most famous is I Cento Passi.
>>492699
This is COMPLETELY inaccurate. Mussolini was a DISASTER for Sicily. Mafia wasn't eliminated, he just arrested as many as he could, and those who weren't arrested in fact joined the Fascist Party. Mussolini spent all his energies and capitals for the colonies in Africa and little to anything in Sicily. Sicily had a great number of international entrepreneurs working in different field (chemicals, trade, agriculture etc) and Mussolini expelled them.
Mussolini was a nightmare for Sicily.
Prefetto Mori was just a publicity stunt for the Fascist Regime. (1/2)
>>493492
Mussolini was a journalist, he knew that beating Mafia was the only thing he could get from Sicily.
But if you read the most reliable historian on the subject (Salvatore Lupo above all) you will notice the the number of police operations against mafiosi was ENORMOUSLY greater during the '80s with Falcone and Borsellino than during Prefetto Mori reign.
This means that Falcone and Borsellino were a lot more tough versus Cosa Nostra. They even used methods mutuated from the (Inquisitory, in my opinion) antiterrorism laws adopted in Italy during the '70s. They did mass trials for 400 accused, giving no possibility for the lawyers to actually read all the accusations.
But it was war. True war against mafia. Not like the fake fascist war against mafia.
The effort of Falcone and co. to eradicate Mafia has not succeeded.
>>492765
small business pays tribute; African and Bangladesh vendors have the authorization of the mafia.
In Italy there was an economic boom during the 50s to the 80s. Mafia grew heavily. Now they accept foreign money so they are doing deals with Albanian, Nigerian and Chinese mafia evene here in Sicily.
I was recently in Sicily. I saw a lot of shops selling tshirts with the face of marlon brando and "il padrino sono io" written on it.
I wonder what the mafiosi think of that.
>>493605
probably not much as long as the shopkeepers pay up and shut up
>>493621
yes
Mafia it's a brand. people love Mafia movies, tv shows, and its culture.
violence fascinates the audience.
>>493605
old school mafiosi probably don't like it. newer generation mafiosi are dumb rich kids and probably love it.
one of the last traditional bosses, Bernardo Provenzano, was arrested in a ruined farm eating cheap vegetables and cheese and reading a bible. Today's young mafiosi have facebook accounts....
>>492736
but you have, in the government.
>>492736
Didn't you mostly get northerners? Unlike the US who got southerners?
>>492736
Existing Argentinian organized crime is too strong.
Isn't the mafia from Calabria the richest organized crime group in the world or something like that?
>>495404
They don't take censuses of this sort of thing, but beginning in the 70s, the N'drangheta put all of their cash into drugs, and took over cocaine and heroin imports into Western Europe.
So yeah, they're probably into a lot of money.
They're all thugs. Scum.
>>492674
Pretty sure Neapolitans and Calabrians say "our thing" just like the Sicilians.
>>492573
>. the State is totally inexistent, or it exists only to arrest or tax you
lel, attestations and taxes are the sole things that any republic can do.
=>mafiosi and republicans are equally degenerate.
>>495424
>N'drangheta
what is the translation of this ?
>>495285
As for the "cracking down" part:
- religious processions bowing down in front of bosses' mansions all over the place, publicly showing in who and in what they really believe in, for example:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/cowardly-priests-paid-mafia-boss-respect-in-church-parade-9590319.html
- an invitation to the boss's son's batptism was found on all the billboards around Catania, openly mocking the State:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/11878342/Sicily-uproar-after-parents-boast-of-Cosa-Nostra-baptism.html
One of the biggest Hollywood movie-like exploit of organized crime in Italy was having the most powerful 'ndrangheta bosses, pic related, having a meeting and dinner @ Milan, 31 October 2009.
The kicker is the place where they met. It's the headquarters of an association for elderly recreational activites, named after.. wait for it... 'Falcone and Borsellino.'
Forget celebrity judges, it's all about individual arrests and operations making the news here.
As usual, the State is strong against the weak, and weak against the strong, as Italians say. It usually preaches a mantra about "legality", not paying up, etc. which is of course ineffective when the bosses are better at giving jobs to the average Joe than the opposition.
The bottom line is that organized crime is frequently better... 'organized' than those that are supposed to fight it.
For all intents and purposes, it is a (rogue) state within a State.
>>496069
The etymology of 'ndrangheta is lost.
The interpretation with the greatest consensus says it comes from the Greek ἀνδραγαθία andragathía for "heroism" and manly "virtue" or ἀνδράγαϑος andragathos, compound words of ἀνήρ, anēr (gen. andros), i.e. man and ἀγαθός, agathos, i.e. good, brave, meaning a courageous man. In many areas of Calabria the verb 'ndranghitiari, from the Greek verb andragathizesthai, means "to engage in a defiant and valiant attitude".
>>492573
>the State is totally inexistent, or it exists only to arrest or tax you.
It's almost like politicians are a good mirror of the people who voted them.
>The Godfather
please read it
>>496721
of course. nobody says we are oppressed. we are the cause of our own oppression.
But the State isn't helping.
You think that police, military and jail are the way to beat the mafia?
I don't think so. You know that the State is giving less funds to southern UNiversities and more to Northern Universities? You know that major political parties relies on mafiosi to win elections here? You know that the State pays with a delay og months if not years, while Mafia pays rapidly and in cash?
You don't know what it's like to be forced to emigrate in order to live a decent life.
>>495285
Mafia crackdowns have a long history..
The War on Mafia is like the War on Terror or the War on Drugs.. you can't just beat a concept.
Falcone and Borsellino were the harshest. But the people after them are still tough: even during Berlusconi's reign (who is said to have strong link to powerful Mafiosi) a lot of mafiosi got arrested. Police operations here are like one per month. The State gives to Sicilian police a lot of money.
But arrests ARE NOT the way to eradicate mafia. You do it with education and giving job opportunities.
Police operations are just a way an authoritarian State try to control the population. When a Mafioso go to jail, another 10 try to take his place.
>>496804
>When a Mafioso go to jail, another 10 try to take his place.
Not to mention that there have been mafia bosses that continue to manage their empire while in prison.
