by Angelo Santino » Sun Feb 12, 2023 6:41 am
scagghiuni wrote: ↑Fri Feb 10, 2023 4:02 am
Antiliar wrote: ↑Fri Feb 10, 2023 1:07 am
In 1838, Pietro Cala Ulloa, a judge in Trapani, wrote a report to the minister of Justice of the Bourbonic Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in Naples. In this document, he refers to partiti, sects which operate as “governments within the government.” Most historians take this as a reference to the Mafia. Italian historian Paolo Pezzino believes it started after 1830. I found evidence that I'm not at liberty to share that it was between 1810 and 1830, but I haven't seen anything to bring it back to the 1790s. I think it started after the British occupation of Sicily ended.
the problem is that before 1860s the word "mafia" was not used to indicate the criminal organization so it is difficult to identify it exactly
This is true. This is like trying to trace back the big bang and what helps us is that as much as the mafia has changed it has also stayed the same. It is regionally based and organized, it acts as a criminal freemasonry that protects and assists its members economically, it is rooted in influencing local markets. Its ranks are less like an army and more akin to a localized government, a system of representation. I know I know Consigliere, but I still see more commonalities with western agriculture communities at the time, within 10 farms one would be chosen to represent them- a capo de decina.
From 1807 to 1815, Sicily was controlled by the British, as shortlived as their control was they did move Sicily from a feudal system to a capitalist one- land could now be purchased. They apparently had a lasting impression as Sicily wanted to adopt a British-style constitution in sharp contrast to the the rest of southern Italy which opted for a French one, something the Carbonari/eria was pushing for. There are some early mafia associations which reference some Freemason terminology but its hard to take that further. We don't know what if any, how influential the Freemasons were from 1807-15 British occupied Sicily.
This is the biosphere that the mafia was created in. From earliest records it appears to have extended from lower to middle class which makes me believe that banditry was only one side of it. Important and economically powerful local families had family members affiliated with it. I don't know if it was a coalition of local power families wanting to control the economy or their black sheep members who sought to. We may never know.
[quote=scagghiuni post_id=251677 time=1676026946 user_id=138]
[quote=Antiliar post_id=251665 time=1676016456 user_id=77]
In 1838, Pietro Cala Ulloa, a judge in Trapani, wrote a report to the minister of Justice of the Bourbonic Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in Naples. In this document, he refers to partiti, sects which operate as “governments within the government.” Most historians take this as a reference to the Mafia. Italian historian Paolo Pezzino believes it started after 1830. I found evidence that I'm not at liberty to share that it was between 1810 and 1830, but I haven't seen anything to bring it back to the 1790s. I think it started after the British occupation of Sicily ended.
[/quote]
the problem is that before 1860s the word "mafia" was not used to indicate the criminal organization so it is difficult to identify it exactly
[/quote]
This is true. This is like trying to trace back the big bang and what helps us is that as much as the mafia has changed it has also stayed the same. It is regionally based and organized, it acts as a criminal freemasonry that protects and assists its members economically, it is rooted in influencing local markets. Its ranks are less like an army and more akin to a localized government, a system of representation. I know I know Consigliere, but I still see more commonalities with western agriculture communities at the time, within 10 farms one would be chosen to represent them- a capo de decina.
From 1807 to 1815, Sicily was controlled by the British, as shortlived as their control was they did move Sicily from a feudal system to a capitalist one- land could now be purchased. They apparently had a lasting impression as Sicily wanted to adopt a British-style constitution in sharp contrast to the the rest of southern Italy which opted for a French one, something the Carbonari/eria was pushing for. There are some early mafia associations which reference some Freemason terminology but its hard to take that further. We don't know what if any, how influential the Freemasons were from 1807-15 British occupied Sicily.
This is the biosphere that the mafia was created in. From earliest records it appears to have extended from lower to middle class which makes me believe that banditry was only one side of it. Important and economically powerful local families had family members affiliated with it. I don't know if it was a coalition of local power families wanting to control the economy or their black sheep members who sought to. We may never know.