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99-470: Several Mafia bosses have come from Corleone, including Tommy Gagliano , Gaetano Reina , Jack Dragna , Giuseppe Morello , Michele Navarra , Luciano Leggio , Leoluca Bagarella , Salvatore Riina and Bernardo Provenzano . It is also the birthplace of several fictional characters in Mario Puzo 's 1969 novel The Godfather , including the eponymous Vito (Andolini) Corleone . The local mafia clan,

198-488: A "sect of thieves" that operated throughout Sicily. This "sect" was mostly rural, composed of cattle thieves, smugglers, wealthy farmers, and their guards. The sect made "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

297-508: A century later, Diego Gambetta concurred with Franchetti's analysis, arguing that the Mafia exists because the government does not provide adequate protection to merchants from property crime, fraud, and breaches of contract. Gambetta wrote that Sicily (in the early 1990s) had "no clear property rights legislation or administrative or financial codes of practice", and that its court system was "appalling" in its inefficiency. Gambetta recommended that

396-560: A certain line of conduct such as maintaining one's pride or even bullying in a given situation. On the other hand, the same word in Sicily can also indicate, not a special organization, but the combination of many small organizations, that pursue various goals, in the course of which its members almost always do things that are basically illegal and sometimes even criminal. Like Pitrè, some scholars viewed mafiosi as individuals behaving according to specific subcultural codes, but did not consider

495-457: 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. Franchetti argued that the Mafia would never disappear unless the very structure of the island's social institutions were to undergo a fundamental change. Over

594-531: A fine marble panel depicting the Baptism of Christ (also from this period). The Chiesa dell'Addolorata is from the 18th century, dedicated to the Basilian abbot and patron saint San Leoluca The Chiesa di Santa Rosalia , and the small Sant'Andrea (the latter two from the 17th century), all with important frescoes and paintings, are notable landmarks. The Santuario della Madonna del Rosario di Tagliavia ,

693-486: A fragile production system that made them quite vulnerable to sabotage. Likewise, cattle are very easy to steal. The Mafia was often more effective than the police at recovering stolen cattle; in the 1920s, it was noted that the Mafia's success rate at recovering stolen cattle was 95%, whereas the police managed only 10%. In 1864, Niccolò Turrisi Colonna , leader of the Palermo National Guard, wrote of

792-442: A juridical ordering that is parallel to that of the state – a kind of anti-state. The Mafia is all of these but none of these exclusively. Diego Gambetta characterizes mafiosi as "guarantors of trust". He says that Sicilian society has a general lack of trust among its people. This is true for other parts of southern Italy, which never experienced the same post-war economic growth that northern and central Italy enjoyed due in part to

891-444: A lack of cooperation and healthy competition among the locals. The Mafia may provide a sense of security to those who pay it for protection, but the Mafia actually increases the general amount of distrust in Sicilian society. Those who are under mafia protection have an incentive to cheat those who are not under protection. The Mafia fosters crime by making it safer for criminals to engage in illegal dealings with each other (criminals are

990-412: A large share of public and church land to private citizens. The result was a huge increase in the number of landowners – from 2,000 in 1812 to 20,000 by 1861. With this increase in property owners and commerce came more disputes that needed settling, contracts that needed enforcing, transactions that needed oversight, and properties that needed protecting. The barons released their private armies to let

1089-402: 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." It had special signals for members to recognize each other, offered protection services, scorned the law, and had a code of loyalty and non-interaction with the police known as umirtà ("code of silence"). Colonna warned in his report that

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1188-574: A mafioso rather than employing full-time guards. A mafioso in these regions could protect multiple small estates at once, which gave him great independence and leverage to charge high prices. The landowners in this region were also frequently absent and could not watch over their properties should the protector withdraw, further increasing his bargaining power. The early Mafia was deeply involved with citrus growers and cattle ranchers, as these industries were particularly vulnerable to thieves and vandals and thus badly needed protection. Citrus plantations had

1287-820: A mafioso." The Sicilian Mafia has used other names to describe itself throughout its history, such as "The Honored Society". Mafiosi are known among themselves as "men of honor" or "men of respect". Cosa Nostra should not be confused with other mafia-type organizations in Southern Italy, such as the 'Ndrangheta in Calabria , the Camorra in Campania , or the Sacra Corona Unita and Società foggiana in Apulia . In 1876, Leopoldo Franchetti described

1386-883: A religious building from the 19th century, is now a destination for pilgrims on Ascension Day . The CIDMA museum ( Centro Internazionale di Documentazione sulla Mafia e del Movimento Antimafia ) was inaugurated on 12 December 2000, in the presence of the highest authorities of the Republic, including the President of the Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi and the deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations Pino Arlacchi , on behalf of Secretary-General Kofi Annan . The CIDMA intends to pursue "Culture, Progress and Legality" as its objectives. CIDMA has several rooms for visitors: Room of

1485-475: A series of narrow streets in the district of San Giuliano visitors come to the front of a small church dedicated to Our Lady of the Two Fortresses. To the left of this church winds a path that leads between the poplars, willows, and elms to the falls. Seated on the ancient square blocks in the shade of mulberry, walnut and ash trees, visitors have an unimpeded view of the waterfall. The flow of the water in

1584-447: A series of reports between 1898 and 1900, Ermanno Sangiorgi, the police chief of Palermo, identified 670 mafiosi belonging to eight Mafia clans, which went through alternating phases of cooperation and conflict. The report mentioned initiation rituals and codes of conduct, as well as criminal activities that included counterfeiting, kidnappings for ransom, murder, robbery, and witness intimidation. The Mafia also maintained funds to support

1683-421: A small fraction of the Sicilian population could vote, so a single mafia boss could control a sizable 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. Given the highly fragmented and shaky Italian political system, cliques of Mafia-friendly politicians exerted a strong influence. In

1782-414: A smaller number of large estates so that there were fewer landowners, and their large estates often required its guardians to patrol it full-time. The owners of such estates needed to hire full-time guardians. By contrast, in the west, the estates tended to be smaller and thus did not require the total, round-the-clock attention of a guardian. It was cheaper for these estates to contract their protection to

1881-471: A successful campaign would strengthen him as the new leader, legitimizing and empowering his rule. He believed that such suppression would be a great propaganda coup for fascism , and it would also provide an excuse to suppress his political opponents on the island since many Sicilian politicians had Mafia links. As prime minister, Mussolini visited Sicily in May 1924 and passed through Piana dei Greci , where he

1980-703: A team of volunteers ( Picciotti , Sicilian for "boys"), led by Ferdinando Firmaturi , joined the march of Garibaldi in Palermo. The nineteenth century ended with the social action by Bernardino Verro , a leader of the social movement Fasci Siciliani . After founding the Fascio of Corleone on April 3, 1893, he founded the new Farm Lease that was entered into between farmers and agricultural Sicilian gabelloti in Congress on July 30, 1893, held in Corleone—so much so that

2079-433: Is a criminal society and criminal organization originating on the island of Sicily and dates back to the mid-19th century. It is an association of gangs which sell their protection and arbitration services under a common brand. The Mafia's core activities are protection racketeering , the arbitration of disputes between criminals, and the organizing and oversight of illegal agreements and transactions. The basic group

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2178-664: Is a good front for illegitimate operations. The First Mafia War was the first high-profile conflict between Mafia clans in post-war Italy (the Sicilian Mafia has a long history of violent rivalries). In 1962, mafia boss Cesare Manzella organized a drug shipment to the United States with the help of two Sicilian clans, the Grecos and the La Barberas. Manzella entrusted another boss, Calcedonio Di Pisa , to handle

2277-525: Is about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from today's town. The site of Pietralunga was occupied from the final Neolithic Period to the Bronze Age (the presence of a glass bell decorated in pointillé) while the site of The Old One has been inhabited since the Middle Ages (the presence of an imposing castle with towers has recently been identified). However, the biggest part of the settlement was built in

2376-610: Is an old bridge where the Frattina River streams between the limestone rocks. The erosive action of water has produced karst topography over time forming chasms, reels and small waterfalls where the abundant water first disappears and then reappears in the boulders and lush vegetation. Of considerable size are the "pots of the Giants", i.e. cylindrical and deep holes where the water takes on a swirling pattern. Old mulberry trees, oranges, pomegranates, and figs are living testimony of

2475-452: Is dedicated to General Dalla Chiesa. It contains photos of some of the main bosses of the Mafia placed side by side with those in the legal system who fought organized crime. Local guides also offer tours through the CIDMA. Along the road that connects Corleone with Ficuzza , following the old railway line connecting Palermo to San Carlo (a hamlet of Chiusa Sclafani ) (now the bike path),

2574-401: Is hard to trace because mafiosi are very secretive and do not keep historical records of their own. They have been known to spread deliberate lies about their past and sometimes come to believe in their own myths. The Mafia's genesis began in the 19th century as the product of Sicily's transition from feudalism to capitalism as well as its unification with mainland Italy . Under feudalism,

2673-477: Is known as a " family ", "clan", or cosca . Each family claims sovereignty over a territory, usually a town, village or neighborhood ( borgata ) of a larger city, in which it operates its rackets . Its members call themselves " men of honour ", although the public often refers to them as mafiosi . By the 20th century, wide-scale emigration from Sicily led to the formation of mafiosi style gangs in Australia,

2772-912: Is located at 542 metres (1,778 ft) above sea level. The etymology of the name is uncertain, undergoing various modifications from the Ancient Greek Kouroullounè to the Siculo-Arabic Qurlayun of the Emirate of Sicily , from Latin Curilionum to the Norman Coraigliòn , from the Aragonese Conillon , Coniglione from which the Sicilian Cunigghiuni originated. The modern name originates from 1556. Another belief

2871-415: Is not a centralized organization. It is more of a federation of independent gangs who sell their services under a common brand. This cartel claims the exclusive right to sell extralegal protection services within their territories, and by their labels ( man of honor , mafioso , etc.), they distinguish themselves from common criminals whom they exclude from the protection market. Hence the term mafia found

2970-728: Is played by Al Pacino , whose real-life maternal grandparents were Corleonese. The adaptation of the town's name into the name of a criminal gang leader in The Godfather is, however, predated by Graham Greene 's 1938 novel Brighton Rock , which was made into a popular film in 1947. The leading character crosses the rival gang leader "Colleoni" in the English seaside town of Brighton. Sicilian Mafia The Sicilian Mafia or Cosa Nostra ( Italian: [ˈkɔːza ˈnɔstra, ˈkɔːsa -] , Sicilian: [ˈkɔːsa ˈnɔʂː(ɽ)a] ; "our thing" ), also referred to as simply Mafia ,

3069-481: Is that the name derives from an Arab fighter named Kurliyun (cf. Coeur Leon , "Lionheart"), who conquered it for the Aghlabids in 840. The territory of Corleone has been inhabited since prehistoric times. Recent research has identified several settlements distributed around two main areas: Pietralunga and The Old One ( La Vecchia ). This name refers to a mountain that rises to about 1,000 metres (3,300 ft), and

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3168-462: Is weak or absent creates a demand for private protection (which mafia-type organizations can supply) and opportunities for extortion (also by mafia-type organizations). A 2017 study in the Journal of Economic History links the emergence of the Sicilian Mafia also to the surging demand for oranges and lemons following the late 18th-century discovery that citrus fruits cured scurvy . A 2019 study in

3267-670: The Corleonesi , led the Mafia in the 1980s and 1990s, and were the most violent and ruthless group ever to take control of the organization. Corleone municipality has an area of 22,912 hectares (56,620 acres) with a population density of 49 inhabitants per square kilometer. It is located in an inland area of the mountain, in the valley between the Rocca di Maschi, the Castello Soprano and the Castello Sottano. Corleone

3366-531: The Review of Economic Studies linked Mafia activity to "the rise of socialist Peasant Fasci organizations. In an environment with weak state presence, this socialist threat triggered landowners, estate managers, and local politicians to turn to the Mafia to resist and combat peasant demands." In 1925, Benito Mussolini initiated a campaign to destroy the Mafia and assert Fascist control over Sicilian life. The Mafia threatened and undermined his power in Sicily, and

3465-405: The nobility owned most of the land and enforced the law through their private armies and manorial courts . After 1812, the feudal barons steadily sold off or rented their lands to private citizens. Primogeniture was abolished, land could no longer be seized to settle debts, and one fifth of the land became private property of the peasants. After Italy annexed Sicily in 1860, it redistributed

3564-416: The 1950s, a crackdown in the United States on drug trafficking led to the imprisonment of many American mafiosi. Cuba , a major hub for drug smuggling, was taken over by Fidel Castro and associated communists. In 1957 American mafia boss Joseph Bonanno returned to Sicily to franchise his heroin operations to the Sicilian clans. Anticipating rivalries for the lucrative American drug market, he negotiated

3663-495: The 1980s, leading social scientists like Henner Hess  [ de ] and Anton Blok that conducted the first field studies on the phenomenon between the 1960s and the early 1980s, saw the Mafia as merely a form of behaviour and power, downplaying its organisational aspects. Their thinking was shaped by sicilianismo , a late 19th-century movement opposed to the indiscriminate criminalization of all Sicilians by Italian law enforcement and public opinion, promoted in particular by

3762-399: The 4th-century French bishop Saint Martin of Tours , started in the late 14th century. Its appearance today has been influenced by numerous changes and renovations. The interior has a nave and aisles divided into various chapels containing artwork, including a wooden statue representing San Filippo d'Agira from the 17th century, a 16th-century statue representing San Biagio ( Saint Blaise ) and

3861-580: The Bourbons in the surrounding cities until he was arrested and then shot in Mezzojuso on December 20, 1856. On May 27, 1860, the city was the scene of a fierce battle between followers of Giuseppe Garibaldi , led by Colonel Vincenzo Giordano Orsini , and the bulk of the Bourbon army led by General Von Meckel, which had been diverted from Palermo via a ploy hatched by the same Garibaldi. On that occasion,

3960-689: The Criminal Chamber of the Court of Palermo, are a testimony to the work of magistrates like Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino who paid with their lives for their commitment to the fight against the Mafia. Among the folders there are the confessions of the famous pentito ("repentant") Tommaso Buscetta to Judge Falcone. In the Room of the Messages, visitors may see the photos of the well-known, Sicilian photographer Letizia Battaglia who had

4059-522: The Folders of the Maxi Trial ( Italian : Maxiprocesso di Palermo ), the Room of the Messages, the Room of Pain and the final room dedicated to Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa , an Italian general who campaigned against terrorism and was assassinated by the Mafia. The first room contains Maxi-Trial documents which marked a milestone in the fight against Cosa Nostra . The documents, given to Corleone by

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4158-519: The Italian government's brutal and clumsy attempts to crush crime only made the problem worse by alienating the populace. An 1865 dispatch from the prefect of Palermo to Rome first officially described the phenomenon as a "Mafia". An 1876 police report provides the earliest known description of the familiar initiation ritual . Mafiosi meddled in politics early on, bullying voters into voting for candidates they favored. At this period in history, only

4257-401: The Mafia a formal organisation. Judicial investigations by Falcone and scientific research in the 1980s provided solid proof of the existence of well-structured Mafia groups with entrepreneurial characteristics. Pino Arlacchi , in his seminal 1983 study La mafia imprenditrice (Mafia Business), summarised the dominant way of looking at the mafia up to that point by writing, “Social research into

4356-487: The Mafia as the Fascist press proclaimed, but his campaign was very successful at suppressing it. There was nearly no mafia left after the war. The Sicilian families had been shut down by the prefect Mori. Sicily's murder rate sharply declined. Landowners were able to raise the legal rents on their lands, sometimes as much as ten-thousandfold. In 1943, nearly half a million Allied troops invaded Sicily. Crime soared in

4455-495: The Mafia business, but neglected the cultural symbols and codes by which the Mafia legitimized its existence and by which it rooted itself into Sicilian society. According to Lupo, there are several lines of interpretation, often blended to some extent, to define the Mafia: it has been viewed as a mirror of traditional Sicilian society; as an enterprise or type of criminal industry; as a more or less centralized secret society; and as

4554-475: The Mafia in 1992, had objected to the conflation of the term "Mafia" with organized crime in general: While there was a time when people were reluctant to pronounce the word "Mafia" ... nowadays people have gone so far in the opposite direction that it has become an overused term ... I am no longer willing to accept the habit of speaking of the Mafia in descriptive and all-inclusive terms that make it possible to stack up phenomena that are indeed related to

4653-409: The Mafia is often erroneously seen as similar to other non-Sicilian organized criminal associations. These two paradigms missed essential aspects of the Mafia that became clear when investigators were confronted with the testimonies of Mafia turncoats, like those of Buscetta to Judge Falcone at the Maxi Trial . The economic approach to explain the Mafia did illustrate the development and operations of

4752-404: The Mafia were forced to pay protection money . Many buildings were illegally constructed before the city's planning was finalized. Mafiosi scared off anyone who dared to question the illegal building. The result of this unregulated building was the demolition of many historic buildings and the erection of apartment blocks, many of which were not up to standard. Mafia organizations entirely control

4851-498: The Mafia's most important clients because they can't get protection from the legal system). And since mafiosi charge fees for their services, they increase transaction costs, which in turn leads to a higher cost of living for average Sicilians. Introduced in 1982 by Pio La Torre , article 416-bis of the Italian Penal Code defines a Mafia-type association ( associazione di tipo mafioso ) as one where "those belonging to

4950-470: The Muslims of Corleone as a reason for his inability to send a large crusader army to Jerusalem. To this day the rock formation Castello Soprano , has a Saracen lookout tower on top of it. While the town's other rock formation, Castello Sottano , did not preserve its own Saracen fortification, it is still also known as Castello di Saraceni . Nearly a century later, in 1180, it was enfeoffed (deeded) to

5049-713: The North African Aghlabids during the Muslim conquest of Sicily . It was during the Muslim occupation that it gained economic, military and strategic importance. In 1080 the city was conquered by the Normans, and in 1095 it was annexed to the Diocese of Palermo . Even in the 1170s it was recorded that over 80% of the population of the area was Muslim and that many bore Arabo-Islamic names derived from Greek. There

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5148-435: The Sicilian Mafia as an "industry of violence". In 1993, the Italian sociologist Diego Gambetta described it as a cartel of private protection firms. He further characterized mafiosi as "guarantors of trust", and that Sicilian people tend to be distrustful of each other and therefore routinely seek mafia protection in their business dealings. The central activity of the Mafia is the arbitration of disputes between criminals and

5247-429: The Sicilian ethnographer Giuseppe Pitrè . According to the sicilianisti , the term 'mafia' simply embodied an attitude, a mentality deeply rooted in the island's popular culture; an expression of the local traditional society's fundamental rejection of the foreign invaders who had ruled Sicily for centuries. "Mafia" was a "way of being", according to a definition by Pitrè: Mafia is the consciousness of one's own worth,

5346-543: The United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, and South America. These diaspora-based outfits replicated the traditions and methods of their Sicilian ancestors to varying extents. The word mafia originated in Sicily. The Sicilian noun mafiusu (in Italian: mafioso ) roughly translates to mean " swagger ", but can also be translated as "boldness, bravado ". In reference to a man, mafiusu in 19th-century Sicily

5445-525: The archaic and classical period. "A few materials relating to the Hellenistic period found at the site have supported the identification of the ancient town situated on the Old One with the ancient town of Schera, cited by Cicero , Cluverio and Ptolemy , although the archaeological remains on which this theory is based are still too unstable. (D'Angelo - Spatafora). In 840, Corleone was conquered by

5544-449: The association exploit the potential for intimidation which their membership gives them, and the compliance and omertà which membership entails and which lead to the committing of crimes, the direct or indirect assumption of management or control of financial activities, concessions, permissions, enterprises and public services for the purpose of deriving profit or wrongful advantages for themselves or others". The genesis of Cosa Nostra

5643-401: The building sector in Palermo – the quarries where aggregates are mined, site clearance firms, cement plants, metal depots for the construction industry, wholesalers for sanitary fixtures, and so on. During the 1950s, the Mafia continued its deep penetration of the construction and cement industries. The cement business was appealing because it allows high levels of local economic involvement and

5742-793: The catalyst for Mussolini's war on the Mafia. Mussolini firmly established his power in January 1925; he appointed Cesare Mori as the Prefect of Palermo in October 1925 and granted him special powers to fight the Mafia. Mori formed a small army of policemen, carabinieri and militiamen, which went from town to town rounding up suspects. To force suspects to surrender, they would take their families hostage, sell off their property, or publicly slaughter their livestock. By 1928, more than 11,000 suspects were arrested. Confessions were sometimes extracted through beatings and torture. Some mafiosi who had been on

5841-551: The cinematic release of The Godfather Part II , young Vito, shy and unable to speak English, cannot respond when asked for his proper name, and is given the surname Corleone by an immigration official at Ellis Island . Throughout the film series , various members of the Corleone family visit the town. In the films, the towns of Savoca and Forza d'Agrò were used as locations for those scenes set in Corleone. Michael Corleone

5940-814: The city began to assume the title of "peasant capital". Corleone contributed to World War I with 105 deaths and numerous injuries on the field. After World War II , a peasant movement occupied vacant lands, led by trade unionist Placido Rizzotto , who was killed by the Mafia. In 1943, the Duke of Aosta created the title of Count of Corleone, awarded to Arturo Faini for his valour during the Italian occupation of Ethiopia . Since World War II , Corleone has become notorious for being home to several dangerous bandits and mobsters (including: Michele Navarra , Luciano Leggio , Bernardo Provenzano , Salvatore Riina and his brothers-in-law Calogero and Leoluca Bagarella ) who became

6039-461: The city was sold to the jurist Joseph Sgarlata, who then accepted the redemption upon payment. Remarkable demographic growth was reported in the 15th and 16th centuries, following the arrival of several religious orders. Corleone contributed to the events of the Unification of Italy through Francesco Bentivegna who, after participating in the riots of 1848, captained an insurrection against

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6138-451: The courage to go on site to capture tragic photographs of Mafia murders. She was able to capture significant details that made her shots documents detailing the murder methods used by the Mafia in the 1970s–1980s. The different positions of the bodies allow visitors to reconstruct the Mafia's strategy. The Room of Pain houses a permanent exhibition of Shobha, Letizia Battaglia's daughter, who followed in her mother's footsteps, taking photos of

6237-472: The crevices of the rock shelter are pigeons, jackdaws, and birds of prey such as kestrels and the peregrine falcon. Tours take visitors up to the top of the gorge where the Frattina River continues to flow, in a more gentle manner, down to the Belice. Within the territory of Corleone, a short walk from the historic center of the city, is the "Natural Park of the cascade of the two fortresses." After going through

6336-418: The dismay, helplessness, and despair felt by those who have lost someone at the hands of the Mafia. In the room there are also photos of Letizia Battaglia documenting Mafia crimes. This approach allows visitors to understand the cause-effect relationships that exist between the crimes and the consequences they produce in the lives of affected families and the entire community. The room Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa

6435-408: The emergence of the Sicilian Mafia to the resource curse . Early Mafia activity was strongly linked to Sicilian municipalities abundant in sulfur , Sicily's most valuable export commodity. The combination of a weak state and a lootable natural resource made the sulfur-rich parts of Sicily vulnerable to the emergence of mafia-type organizations. A valuable natural resource in areas where law enforcement

6534-766: The establishment of a Sicilian Mafia Commission to mediate disputes. The post-war period saw a huge building boom in Palermo. Allied bombing in World War II had left more than 14,000 people homeless, and migrants were pouring in from the countryside, so there was a huge demand for new homes. Much of this construction was subsidized by public money. In 1956, two Mafia-connected officials, Vito Ciancimino and Salvatore Lima , took control of Palermo's Office of Public Works. Between 1959 and 1963, about 80 percent of building permits were given to just five people, none of whom represented major construction firms; they were likely Mafia frontmen. Construction companies unconnected with

6633-472: The exaggerated concept of individual force as the sole arbiter of every conflict, of every clash of interests or ideas. Other scholars such as Gaetano Mosca say: ...with the word Mafia, the Sicilians intend to express two things, two social phenomena, that can be analyzed in separate ways even though they are closely related. The Mafia, or rather the essence of the Mafia, is a way of thinking that requires

6732-558: The families of imprisoned members and pay defense lawyers. In an attempt to annihilate the Mafia, Italian troops arrested 64 people of Palermo in February 1898. The trial began in May 1901, but after one month, only 32 defendants were found guilty of starting a criminal association and, taking into account the time already spent in prison, many were released the next day. A 2015 study in The Economic Journal attributed

6831-606: The field of organised crime but that have little or nothing in common with the Mafia. According to Mafia turncoats ( pentiti ), the real name of the Mafia is "Cosa Nostra" ("Our Thing"). Italian American mafioso Joseph Valachi testified before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the U.S. Senate Committee on Government Operations in 1963 (at what are known as the Valachi hearings ). He revealed that American mafiosi referred to their organization by

6930-444: The first Mafia clans. In countryside towns that lacked formal constabulary, local elites responded to banditry by recruiting young men into "companies-at-arms" to hunt down thieves and negotiate the return of stolen property, in exchange for a pardon for the thieves and a fee from the victims. These companies-at-arms were often made up of former bandits and criminals, usually the most skilled and violent of them. This saved communities

7029-429: The government liberalize the drug market and abolish price-fixing of cigarettes so as to move these commodities out of the black market; to increase transparency in public contracting so that there can be no rigging, which mafiosi usually arbitrate; and redesign the voting process to make it harder to buy votes. Fixing these problems would reduce the demand for mafioso intervention in political and economic affairs. Until

7128-548: The heroin. When the shipment arrived in the United States, however, the American buyers claimed that some heroin was missing, and paid Di Pisa a commensurately lower sum. Di Pisa accused the Americans of defrauding him, while the La Barberas accused Di Pisa of embezzling the missing heroin. The Sicilian Mafia Commission sided with Di Pisa, and the La Barberas were outraged. The La Barberas murdered Di Pisa and Manzella, triggering

7227-410: The interim. Compounding these problems was banditry. Rising food prices, the loss of public and church lands, and the loss of feudal commons pushed many desperate peasants to steal. In the face of rising crime, booming commerce, and unreliable law enforcement, property owners and merchants turned to extralegal arbitrators and protectors. These extralegal protectors eventually organized themselves into

7326-575: The losing end of Mafia feuds voluntarily cooperated with prosecutors, perhaps as a way of obtaining protection and revenge. Charges of Mafia association were typically leveled at poor peasants and gabellotti (farm leaseholders), but were avoided when dealing with major landowners. Many were tried en masse . More than 1,200 were convicted and imprisoned, and many others were internally exiled without trial. Mori's campaign ended in June 1929 when Mussolini recalled him to Rome. He did not permanently crush

7425-660: The marauding bandits into their ranks. The changing economic landscape of Sicily shifted the Mafia's power base from rural to urban areas. The Minister of Agriculture – a communist – pushed for reforms in which peasants were to get larger shares of produce, be allowed to form cooperatives and take over badly used land, and remove the system by which leaseholders (known as " gabellotti ") could rent land from landowners for their own short-term use. Owners of especially large estates were to be forced to sell off some of their land. The Mafia had connections to many landowners and murdered many socialist reformers. The most notorious attack

7524-666: The migration of the inhabitants from the Po Valley continued until the beginning of the Sicilian Vespers in 1282. Another Camerana, named Boniface, distinguished himself in the revolution of the Sicilian Vespers . He led the insurrection against the Angevins with three thousand people from Corleone, in alliance with the city of Palermo . In recognition, the Senate of Palermo called Corleone soror mea (my sister). During

7623-459: The new diocese of Monreale . In this period, Corleone was largely repopulated by Ghibellines from Alessandria (modern Piedmont), Brescia and elsewhere— "Lombards" led by Oddone de Camerana. The migrations were encouraged by Emperor Frederick II of Sicily , to strengthen his position against the Guelphs . In 1249, however, he revoked the privilege and gave the city to the royal property, though

7722-497: The organization and the enforcement of illicit agreements through the use of violence. The Mafia does not serve the general public as the police do, but only specific clients who pay them for protection. The mafia's principal activities are settling disputes among other criminals, protecting them against each other's cheating, and organizing and overseeing illicit agreements, often involving many agents, such as illicit cartel agreements in otherwise legal industries. The Sicilian Mafia

7821-479: The prominent Rocca Busambra . It borders the municipalities of Bisacquino , Campofelice di Fitalia , Campofiorito , Contessa Entellina , Chiusa Sclafani , Godrano , Mezzojuso , Monreale , Palazzo Adriano , Prizzi and Roccamena . Its only hamlet ( Frazione ) is the village of Ficuzza , an enclave in the municipal territory of Monreale. Work on the Chiesa Madre ("Mother Church"), dedicated to

7920-443: The protagonists of a violent and bloody mafia power struggle. The mayor of Palermo, Vito Ciancimino , was also born in Corleone and linked to the Corleone clan. Located in the southwestern area of its province, the municipality of Corleone has an area of 229.46 square kilometers (88.60 sq mi) and is located in a basin in a mountainous inland area, approximately 600 metres (2,000 feet) above sea level, 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) south of

8019-446: The question of the mafia has probably now reached the point where we can say that the mafia, as the term is commonly understood, does not exist”. Arlacchi contested that view, and stressed the economical aspects of the Mafia as a criminal organization. The Mafia was seen as an enterprise, and its economic activities became the focus of academic analyses. However, by ignoring the cultural aspects, according to historian Salvatore Lupo ,

8118-415: The reign of Frederick IV of Sicily, called The Simple, the city successfully rebelled against the crown but was recaptured in 1355. Corleone was besieged from Ventimiglia in 1358. During the reign of the four vicars, Corleone became the property of the powerful Chiaramonte family, but in 1391 was donated by Mary Queen of Sicily to Berardo Queralt, canon of Lerida, but he never took possession. Instead, it

8217-437: The river has formed a large pool among rocks through its erosive action. The canyon contains eroded, yellow-green glauconitic rocks occupied by vegetation. The name of the town was used as the adopted surname of the title character in Mario Puzo 's book and Francis Ford Coppola 's film The Godfather . In the novel, Vito Andolini emigrates from the village of Corleone and adopts his birthplace's name as his own surname. In

8316-410: The site where a mill once stood. In the section where the slope is gentler, clear water pools have formed allowing visitors to bathe surrounded by bracken, maidenhair ferns, willows and elms, in the company of tortoise, fish, and colorful dragonflies. The walls that enclose the slopes are clad in rock plants of great botanical interest such as wood spurge, cabbage mountain, the carnation, and capers. Among

8415-447: The state take over the job of enforcing the law, but the new authorities were not up to the task, largely due to clashes between official law and local customs. Lack of manpower was also a problem; there were often fewer than 350 active policemen for the entire island. Some towns did not have any permanent police force, and were only visited every few months by some troops to collect malcontents, leaving criminals to operate with impunity in

8514-571: The term cosa nostra ("our thing" or "this thing of ours" or simply "our cause" / "our interest"). At the time, Cosa Nostra was understood as a proper name, fostered by the FBI and disseminated by the media. The FBI added the article la to the term, calling it La Cosa Nostra (in Italy, the article la is not used when referring to Cosa Nostra ). In 1984, Mafia turncoat Tommaso Buscetta revealed to anti-mafia Italian magistrate Giovanni Falcone that

8613-404: The term was used by the Sicilian Mafia, as well. Buscetta dismissed the word "mafia" as a mere literary creation. Other defectors, such as Antonino Calderone and Salvatore Contorno , confirmed the use of Cosa Nostra by members. Mafiosi introduce known members to each other as belonging to cosa nostra ("our thing") or la stessa cosa ("the same thing"), meaning "he is the same thing as you –

8712-607: The title of Animosa Civitas (brave city). However, in 1440 Corleone was sold to Federico Ventimiglia for 19,000 florins. This concession was revoked in May 1447 by King Alfonso, to be resold in the same year to a certain John of Bologna . In 1452 the city was finally granted to attorney James Pilaya. In 1516, Corleone joined the revolutionary movements of Palermo against the Viceroy Moncada . The revolt of Corleone, led by Fabio La Porta, received popular support as its purpose

8811-409: The trouble of training their own policemen, but it may have made the companies-at-arms more inclined to collude with their former brethren rather than destroy them. Scholars such as Salvatore Lupo have identified these groups as "proto-Mafia". The Mafia was (and still is) a largely western Sicilian phenomenon. There was little Mafia activity in the eastern half of Sicily. This did not mean that there

8910-829: The upheaval and chaos. Many inmates escaped from prisons, banditry returned, and the black market thrived. During the first six months of Allied occupation, party politics were banned in Sicily. Most institutions were destroyed, with the exception of the police and carabinieri, and the American occupiers had to build a new order from scratch. As Fascist mayors were deposed, the Allied Military Government of Occupied Territories (AMGOT) simply appointed replacements. Many turned out to be mafiosi, such as Calogero Vizzini and Giuseppe Genco Russo . They could easily present themselves as political dissidents, and their anti-communist position gave them additional credibility. Mafia bosses reformed their clans, absorbing some of

9009-407: The use of the term "mafia" began appearing in the Italian state's early reports on the group. The word was first documented in 1865 in a report by the prefect of Filippo Antonio Gualterio  [ it ] . The term mafia has become a generic term for any organized criminal network with similar structure, methods, and interests. But Giovanni Falcone , the anti-Mafia judge who was murdered by

9108-635: The word include: The public's association of the word with the criminal secret society was perhaps inspired by the 1863 play " I mafiusi di la Vicaria  [ it ] " ("The Mafiosi of the Vicaria") by Giuseppe Rizzotto and Gaspare Mosca. The words mafia and mafiusi are never mentioned in the play. The drama is about a Palermo prison gang with traits similar to the Mafia: a boss, an initiation ritual, and talk of umirtà ( omertà or code of silence) and " pizzu " (a codeword for extortion money). The play had great success throughout Italy. Soon after,

9207-412: Was also a mosque , called Masgid al-Barid, within the town. Following the large-scale anti-Muslim attacks by Lombard settlers in eastern Sicily in 1161 led by future King of Sicily, Tancred , the town became a refuge for many fleeing Muslims. In 1208, a Muslim uprising succeeded in retaking the town from Christian rule. In 1222, while speaking with the pope, Frederick II of Sicily cited the need to fight

9306-484: Was ambiguous, signifying a bully, arrogant but also fearless, enterprising and proud, according to scholar Diego Gambetta . In reference to a woman, however, the feminine-form, "mafiusa" , means a beautiful or attractive female. The Sicilian word mafie refers to the caves near Trapani and Marsala , which were often used as hiding places for refugees and criminals. Sicily was once an Islamic emirate , therefore mafia might have Arabic roots. Possible Arabic roots of

9405-405: Was little violence; the most violent conflicts over land took place in the east, but they did not involve mafiosi. In the east, the ruling elites were more cohesive and active during the transition from feudalism to capitalism. They maintained their large stables of enforcers and were able to absorb or suppress any emerging violent groups. Furthermore, the land in the east was generally divided into

9504-522: Was occupied by Nicholas Peralta, vicar William's son, but King Martin the Younger returned it to the royal property, confirming its privileges in 1397 and giving it some tax relief. In March 1434, King Alfonso the Magnanimous went to Corleone and conceded some tolls to the city with the aim of restoring the walls and to meet other needs, promising also the inalienability of the city to which he gave

9603-502: Was received by mayor/Mafia boss Francesco Cuccia . At some point, Cuccia expressed surprise at Mussolini's police escort and whispered in his ear: "You are with me, you are under my protection. What do you need all these cops for?". After Mussolini rejected Cuccia's offer of protection, the sindaco felt that he had been slighted and instructed the townsfolk not to attend the duce ' s speech. Mussolini felt humiliated and outraged. Cuccia's careless remark has passed into history as

9702-462: Was the Portella della Ginestra massacre , when 11 people were killed and 33 wounded during May Day celebrations on May 1, 1947. The bloodbath was perpetrated by bandit Salvatore Giuliano , who was possibly backed by local Mafia bosses. In the end, though, they were unable to stop the process, and many landowners chose to sell their land to mafiosi, who offered more money than the government. In

9801-576: Was the request for tax relief. However, the revolt was violently repressed by the viceroy's troops led by the Vicar General Gerardo Bonanno. Towards the end of the same century, social conditions in the city worsened further because of the plague of 1575–77 and the famine of 1592. On June 3, 1625, Corleone was sold, with other cities, to some Genoese merchants from whom Corleone redeemed itself upon payment of 15,200 florins. The terms of sale were, however, very serious. In 1648,

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