B. wrote: ↑Thu Feb 27, 2020 10:20 am
I'm not of the opinion that the DeCavalcantes formed in the 1920s. Mafia-connected families from Ribera were living in Elizabeth in the first years of the 1900s and some could have been there earlier. Many important Riberesi were also living in Manhattan and gradually moved to Elizabeth. Phil Amari moved to Elizabeth in the 1920s, so it's possible that's when the leadership set up there but I don't think that signified the start of the family. Coincidentally that's around the period that Pasquale Lolordo and Phil Bacino left NYC for Chicago.
The 1920s are when we see an Agrigento element become more influential in Chicago via Merlo and Lolordo, so would be interesting if the Rockford group's Aragonesi gained greater traction around that same period.
I hear you and I agree. But its hard to document anything official prior to 1928. We can say likely, probably and make comparisons to the mafia world around them. Similar to Philadelphia and the whole 1880's thing, we confirmed there were members north of Philly since the 1870's however they have almost no connections to the bloodlines/factions that arrived between 1900 and 1910 and put in place what exists today. We can narrow the window.
I'm sending you something I just compiled. Perhaps we should do something similar with Ribera in the USA.
This was reported to the FBI by Italian authorities in the mid-late 1950s, so the situations being described above are likely from earlier in the 1950s.
I am doubtful multiple mafia families were operating in these Agrigento villages. The separate mafia "gangs" were most likely factions of the same organization in conflict with each other, similar to how early mafia activity in certain US cities is mistaken as separate Sicilian "gangs" vying for power (i.e. Detroit, St. Louis) when in reality they were factions of the same mafia group.
The unique names for factions in Favara might seem strange but it fits a pattern. In early St. Louis, one of the Sicilian mafia factions fighting for power were called the "Green Ones", and some of the other factions had their own names (i.e. "Pillow Gang"). "Green Ones" has a similar feel to it as Favara's "Vine Leaves" and "Flat Tails". In Gentile's account of the Castellammarese War, we have Maranzano's faction called the "Fuoriusciti" (which translates to something like "political exiles") and he also refers to the warring factions as Sciacchitani and Castellammarese, though these groups included more than just mafiosi from the named villages.
In this collaborative 1950s report, Italian authorities also described the mafia as initially a rural phenomenon and drew from examples in Agrigento to explain the rural mafia. They said that rural mafia groups tended to be smaller (twelve to fifteen members) and were less structured, drawing more from the absolute power of their "chief" opposed to the more complicated politics and structure within the Palermo mafia. They said, too, that these smaller rural families tended to be more autonomous, handling their affairs independent of the wider mafia. With this in mind, examples of Agrigento mafia families being in conflict tend to be internal matters, like the Favara example, the alleged Aragona conflict, or violent conflicts within specific Agrigento mandamenti in the 1970s and 80s.
Given that authorities were aware of these differences between the rural and urban mafia families and used Agrigento villages to illustrate how the rural mafia works, stressing their autonomy and simpler politics (and strength through ruthlessness), it might tell us something about why these Agrigento factions fit into the US the way they did. We have a few examples of US families with large Agrigentesi factions falling under a Palermitano leader while maintaining their autonomy. It may very well be that their political disinterest came from the way the Agrigento villages operated in Sicily.
I think you're onto something. I'm trying to find if I can acquire more info on these cases from 1870. I believe Mafia Brotherhoods by Letiza Paoli goes into it. It's a great book.
I wonder what it says about people from AG going at the LoMontes in the 1910's at D'Aquila's favor. It never made sense to me when Gentile stated that after the murder of the Lo Monte's D'Aquila acquired the area. Maybe the AG got involved because they had something to gain, they were south E-80 down to E-39 and also Little Italy.
Maybe this is why Mangano had a sostituto for this faction (which probably consisted of subfactions). Be interesting to see if we could gather info on the early Gambino AG's and trace their hometowns and see if there's any patterns in their divisions of affiliation within the Gambinos.
B. wrote: ↑Fri Feb 28, 2020 3:50 pm
This was reported to the FBI by Italian authorities in the mid-late 1950s, so the situations being described above are likely from earlier in the 1950s.
I am doubtful multiple mafia families were operating in these Agrigento villages. The separate mafia "gangs" were most likely factions of the same organization in conflict with each other, similar to how early mafia activity in certain US cities is mistaken as separate Sicilian "gangs" vying for power (i.e. Detroit, St. Louis) when in reality they were factions of the same mafia group.
yeah, they are cosa nostra factions, 'flat tails' is still a nickname of the members of cosa nostra in some towns in the province of agrigento
B. wrote: ↑Fri Feb 28, 2020 3:50 pm
This was reported to the FBI by Italian authorities in the mid-late 1950s, so the situations being described above are likely from earlier in the 1950s.
I am doubtful multiple mafia families were operating in these Agrigento villages. The separate mafia "gangs" were most likely factions of the same organization in conflict with each other, similar to how early mafia activity in certain US cities is mistaken as separate Sicilian "gangs" vying for power (i.e. Detroit, St. Louis) when in reality they were factions of the same mafia group.
yeah, they are cosa nostra factions, 'flat tails' is still a nickname of the members of cosa nostra in some towns in the province of agrigento
Is this where stidda fell in? What are your thoughts on that?
B. wrote: ↑Fri Feb 28, 2020 3:50 pm
This was reported to the FBI by Italian authorities in the mid-late 1950s, so the situations being described above are likely from earlier in the 1950s.
I am doubtful multiple mafia families were operating in these Agrigento villages. The separate mafia "gangs" were most likely factions of the same organization in conflict with each other, similar to how early mafia activity in certain US cities is mistaken as separate Sicilian "gangs" vying for power (i.e. Detroit, St. Louis) when in reality they were factions of the same mafia group.
yeah, they are cosa nostra factions, 'flat tails' is still a nickname of the members of cosa nostra in some towns in the province of agrigento
Is this where stidda fell in? What are your thoughts on that?
I've been going through some early Italian reports and there was rampant banditry in Agrigento throughout most of the 19th century, which shouldn't be a surprise, but Italian authorities were unsure whether the bandits evolved into the local mafia or whether the mafia evolved in opposition to the bandits. A pair of brothers were believed to have started a local mafia group in one Agrigento town in response to banditry. By later decades of the 19th century the authorities believed the mafia controlled/influenced the bandit groups, which seems like the inevitable conclusion to make.
I believe it was in Calderone's accounts later on where local bandit gangs were punished and even killed for not falling in line with the local mafia, while bandits who did fall in line were put to work for the mafia. This same process could have been playing out in the 1800s as well. I would expect the relationship between the mafia and some bandit groups in rural Sicily to be similar to the relationship between the US mafia and their associates involved in street crimes like robbery. The mafia itself tends to distance itself from street crime, but ultimately influences if not controls certain aspects of it.
Other notes of interest:
- Canicatti was described as overwhelmingly crime-ridden and dangerous in the 19th century and was a major focus of Italian authorities' speculation about the relationship between mafia and bandits. As talked about earlier in the thread, Canicatti produced a distinct group in the future Gambino family. Would be interesting to know what names showed up in early Canicatti mafia/bandit activities.
- In addition to the large group of men being arrested in the areas around Cattolica Eraclea in the 1820s for what appears to be mafia-like activity, the Public Security Deputy of Siculiana described how infested the area was with mafia influence in the 1870s. The Cattolica Eraclea / Siculiana area comes up early and repeatedly in accounts of the mafia and mafia-like groups. As we know, it has also produced modern members with some of the strongest ties between North America and Sicily.
- Italian authorities rounded up a large number of men for mafia activities in the 1920s/30s, with Bisacquino being at the center of the investigation. This particular network of people stretched into Agrigento and one of the men arrested was a priest from Burgio. Burgio produced significant mafia figures in US cities and there are connections between Burgio and mafiosi in nearby villages like Lucca Sicula and Ribera. Vito Cascio Ferro was likely part of the same 1920s/30s investigation into Bisacquino and parts of Agrigento -- his father was from Siculiana and a heavily coded letter from a man in Ribera was earlier found in Cascio Ferro's possession. Burgio is of course near Bisacquino.
Some interesting excerpts related to the development of the mafia in Agrigento:
The scholar Giovanna Fiume identifies in the Agrigento area a group of countries in which the
brigandage presents, in the first half of the nineteenth century, "a particular intensity":
Favara (epicenter of the phenomenon), Grotte, Canicattì, Naro, Campobello, Santa
Elisabetta, Aragona, Comitini, Racalmuto, Campofranco, Casteltermini,
Mussomeli [16].
Of a certain interest is Candida's account of the strange mixture of coal,
mafia and common crime (robbers and thieves) from 1820 onwards (it will have, in fact, with
variable combinations of elements, three replicas: in the revolution of 1848, in 1860
with the support of the gangs to Freemason Garibaldi and in the popular revolt of 1866 a
Palermo and its province which saw the presence of "brigands and evildoers [20]):" The chronicles
they tell us that in the province of Girgenti, during the uprisings of 1820 and later, in Naro, a
Palma di Montechiaro, in Canicattì, Comitini and Cianciana, during the riots, it
they verified murders for the purpose of robbery, looting, theft, fire and devastation,
made by mafia members associated with the Carboneria, who taking advantage of the motions and doing
intend to participate in it by patriotism, they committed crime of all kinds and
they produced numerous cripples, as the chronicles say [21].
Recently Salvatore Lupo confirmed and specified that "during the conspiracy
Risorgimento there was a clandestine network inspired by Freemasonry through his
filiation, the carboneria [22]; and Giuseppe Carlo Marino speaks of "some nuclei
carbonari dell'agrigentino "including V" Unione Italica of Canicattì [23].
Some bandits from the Girgentino worked away; Yes
think of Giacomo Terrana di Comitini, who around 1840 formed a gang that
operated in the lands of Ramacca, Caltagirone and Licodia "; to represent the area of the
sulfur he had as partners Angelo Sanfilippo of Aragona, Domenico Castiglione and
Angelo Zaffuto di Grotte; to constitute then a real interprovincial of the
crime among his wingmen there were two dangerous wanted, Ignazio Palumbo di Palazzo
Adriano and Nicolò Lo Bue of Lercara Friddi.
A few years later, around 1870, in Favara i
brothers Calogero and Giuseppe Sanfilippo Rinelli,
two small owners disturbed by raids
brigands, "formed that kind of mafia"
called Cavalleria [56], which some years later
will join the first mafia organization a
provincial character of the Agrigento area, whose
nerve centers were Favara, Agrigento and
Canicattì [57].
You're looking up the same shit I am. I found something interesting also. I never heard of Capuccia of Girgenti:
"We already mentioned the anarchist sect of the Mano Fraterna tried at Girgenti in 1884. In the same province, in 1900, La Capuccia was revealed, and the statute of it was found, entitled "purpose and concepts", in which for Article 2: "in the absence of resources, resort to theft even with murders"; for Article 4:" all writings, such as latch letters, must be written by persons outside the association to lose track"; Art. 9: "before becoming a result of blood, theft or others established by the assembly, witnesses must be prepared in the persons of the company themselves or with persons of maffia"; for Article 12: "the stolen goods must be divided into equal parts, being all brothers and equal."
In June 1901 the Mano Destra affiliates were sentenced in Palermo, who had statutes similar to those already reported. Elsewhere the mafia extorts the tavoledda (tip for the picciotti), and returns the stolen goods for a fee. This happens especially in cattle rustling: given the difficulty of disposing of the prey, the evildoers are happy to return the stolen animals by pocketing a fair sum of money from the owner, resigned in turn to the lesser evil."
1 Never heard of Mano Fraterna (I think they're discussing Fratellanza), Capuccia or Mano Destra. I've heard of the other ones people usually rattle off.
2 First time I've ever seen written Mafia rules, let alone use of the word, "persone di maffia" was the original text. This is a very rare occurance! It wouldn't until 2010 when Provenzano was arrested with the 10 Mafia rules he typed up.
Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God - Corinthians 6:9-10
"In this regard, we like to report the words of Mr. Colacino, who recently, writing about the vast and feared association of the Fratellanza or Fraternal Hand of Girgenti, without being Sicilian or a police officer, thus expresses himself: «In all those Municipalities (Favara, Grotte , Racalmuto, Naro, Canicatti, Aragona and others), the family enmities, acquiring the proportions of real parties as in the Middle Ages and passing on from father to son, provoke struggles, which, often leaving the domestic field, enter that of the public administration , so that municipal tenders are fomented by private grudges. Who does not know the nature of these strong, quick, intelligent populations (?), But easy to resent, tenacious in hatred and revenge, cannot make an exact judgment of what public peace and tranquility was in those Municipalities at the time to which the companies of the Fratellanza refer. The most ambitious or shrewdly wicked, who in the easy passions of the multitude saw an arm to their aims of prevalence; the plebs of the sad, who, flattered in his covetousness of blood inherited an instinct for revenge, found the greatest satisfaction of his appetites in the guarantee impunity, understood each other; the idea of an association as a collective force flashed to their minds with the light of an indisputable truth, and the Fraternal Hand arose, a monstrous degeneration of the fruitful principle of reciprocity, which is the main characteristic of modern society. And indeed, reversing its moral meaning, the mutual aid was in that partnership the most important canon, since its statute meant that all the affiliates had to guarantee each other from any damage or injury.
Without hesitation, without dislikes for anyone, sicut cadaver. As a consequence, it was the law to facilitate the fulfillment of a revenge or any evil plan for a brother, thereby ensuring impunity by intimidating the offended and misleading the search for justice. False testimony, therefore, raised to a system, was one of the most powerful weapons of the criminal association.
In such an environment, therefore, where the moral sense was completely upset, even the honest and the good, for fear of the worst, had to decide to safeguard their own interests and life, hospitalizing themselves, pushed or willing, under the wings of the Fratellanza».
The associations, as can also be deduced from the passage quoted, have direct leaders and hidden protectors, and the latter correspond to the great maintenance of brigandage, as they are pushed to protect the sad out of fear, or for safety, or for ambition, or for the spirit of mafia, or for all these causes taken together. They belong to that class which derives its influence from the name and wealth, and which is more passionately ambitious to dominate, more impatient than insults, more harsh in the competitions of power, influence and even gain, more implacable in hatreds, more ferocious in revenge, it has a whole history of races and hereditary rivalries. The relationship between patron and client knows no limits: every person who needs help to assert a right or to commit violence immediately finds a place in the clientele, with which he brings his arm and that unlimited feeling of solidarity in the companies of the same. Nor could it be otherwise: once such a state of armed social relations exists, those who want to enjoy a certain influence, or sometimes only be respected in honor and possessions, agree that they have an armed force at their command of some importance and let her know she has it.
These social relationships were for the first time bravely denounced by the comm. Calenda, Attorney General, in 1873, with the words reported by Franchetti on page. 13, and which we repeat here: "He is professions that once upon a time these ties were broken, which, as the sad genius of the good once ligated to the Don Rodrigo, so this of the mafiosi, who are good successors, disguised as of the new times, it clings to some of the wealthy classes of today. It is professions that cease these patronage and client relationships, for which protection is ensured for some when they have to deal with justice, for others the work of the arm, and that power of intimidation, for which it procures with respect to person and possessions, and often help of suffrages, if the popular vote is professions to draw any seat in public fora ».
But it is now time to deal with the direct leaders and wingmen, all vulgar criminals belonging to the agricultural class, and in part to the sulfur worker and worker.
Curatolo (castaldo) or particular guardian, gardener or fruit broker, gabelloto or sulfur worker, since an individual shows heedless of the laws, manopronto, intolerant, brutal, and commits a couple of crimes, succeeding in impunity, buy immediately the most valid titles to the protection of some ladies, to the influence and respect of equals. He is looked upon with respect and fear by most, he becomes a center of attraction for the novice of the crime. Whoever has been able to conquer this moral position becomes a real authority, reconciles or judges without appeal the controversies between equals and sometimes even between masters and servants, or asides himself judge of the field in the fierce struggles between troublemakers; it is with the Sulfate in every criminal trial and he dictates advice and orders that nobody tries to transgress; the wealthy owners entrusted him with the choice of the guardians of their own funds, convinced that if they were kept by honest people they would get nothing, while in the opposite case they assure a part of the product, many friends and personal safety.
It is an application like any other of the live and let live, This is the roughly sketched type of an evildoers association chief. All those who have a need to be resolutely satisfied, as long as they give proofs of insensitivity, of unscrupulous courage, become gregarious, behind a novitiate that is more or less long, but sufficient to convince the leader that they earnestly will faithfully observe the status of the association, which with differences insignificant is summarized in the following maxims:
a) Passive, prompt, unaltered obedience to the leaders;
b) Absolute silence on the members of the association and on their criminal enterprises;
c) Material, moral and pecuniary help to colleagues, especially when they are in trouble (in prison);
d) Report everything to the bosses and never resort to legal authority.
The transgression of one of these fundamental canons involves treason, and the leaders do not resort to punishing him for variety and gradation of punishments, but always cling to the same, prompt, sure, exemplary and terrible ... death.
There has been much talk about initiation rites. It is said in legendary thunder that after 1866 a kind of missionaries circulated for various Municipalities, who were proselytizing for a cause, which, disguised as a religious and political, under the pretense of pretending religion and demolishing the usurping and excommunicated government , was really about the crime. From these were introduced rites between the mystic and the sectarian, which with slight variations then became common to the various associations of evildoers. The neophyte was presented to the council of the section heads by two emeritus members or godparents. «The initiate enters the room and stops standing in steers at a table, above which the effigy of an ordinary saint is explained: he offers the two cronies the right hand and they prick the thumb, making them dripping so much blood that is enough to wet its effigy. Above this image the initiate takes the oath, then burns it with the candle lit; then he is greeted, appears and is the first to be used in the first execution deliberated in the assembly ».
The members had signs of recognition and soon the tenebrous association spread in various municipalities. I wanted that at the time of the oath the initiate should also shoot a gunshot at a crucifix hanging there, as if to show that after shooting the Lord he would not hesitate to kill any person, even his dear one.
Colacino, in the study cited, reports the formula of the oath, Here it is: «I swear on my honor (!!) to be faithful to the Fratellanza as the Fratellanza is faithful to me; as this saint and these few drops of my blood are burned, so I will shed all my blood for the Fratellanza; and as this blood cannot return to its own state and this blood once again to its own state, so I cannot release the Fratellanza».
«Running a brother, danger had to exclaim: I spent a hundred and with this one hundred and one. With this, if there were other brothers near him, he was rescued and protected. Wanting another to be known, he asked: Aviti nu scamuzzuni (cigar butt) pirchi give me the gangue (molar tooth)? Which question is answered: aiu, I have it. Or:
" - What time do you have?
«- My watch goes back 30 minutes.
«- How long has it been bad?
«- From 25 March, the day of the Annunciation.
«- Where were you on that day?
«- I was at ... (place where the questioner had been admitted).
«- Who was there?
«- Nice people.
«- Who do you adore?
«- The sun and the moon.
«- Who is your God?
«- Aremi (one of the four species of playing cards).
«This strange mixture of mysticism and cabal, of concepts sacred and insipid vulgarity without thought, in which together you can see the guilty intentions masked of sad appearances, proves once again that in the minds of the wicked, the name of God or of a principle associated with their bad practices, it seems, and some Once it succeeds, it is an easy argument to surprise the good faith of others and coo nest the curse to which they dedicate their existence ».
He makes sure that first to arise this dark partnership was in Monreale, from which he was then transplanted into the Parco, San Giuseppe Jato, Santa Cristina, Montelepre, Borgetto, Misilmeri, Bagheria, etc., assuming various names, such as Compari, Stoppagli (cork stoppers ), Fratuzzi, etc.; and finally in the province of Girgenti, where at the time of the harvest many northern peasants flocked, some of whom, due to their expertise in the culture of vines and gardens, found a permanent home there. Perhaps even the police contributed to this emigration, who in Palermo, being more vigorous and chosen, gave tremendous lessons to the criminal associations, so that many partners, not yet discovered, hurried to find elsewhere a more suitable ground to transplant their industry there. This I say without wanting to infirm the opinion of Colacino, who ensures that the germ of the Fratellanza was imported from an island of forced labor.
Others assure that these rites and these statutes do not exist and are not necessary, the reciprocal bond of silence, the instinct to preserve oneself not being revealed, the infamy that affects anyone resorting to justice, and the homogeneity of feeling and working to make the members of the criminal associations united and faithful, the honest and shy and silent. It will be, I say, but the doubt no longer seems possible after what was brought to light by the Monreale and Bagheria trials, and by the very recent one by Girgenti. The same names marked by kinship ties, the analogy of constitution and companies reveal the collateral and homogeneous existence of all these anti-legal associations. Moreover, it is clearly demonstrated that these always presented a kind of social organism entirely dependent on a primitive authority and therefore founded on the absolutism of force and whose codified or customary content was faithfully observed.
Or why in this sum of antisocial coefficients marked by the strangely disfigured religious and sectarian spirit must baptism, or the oath of admission, be missing? That if someone seemed unlikely to mix religious sentiment in these brutal and ferocious associations, remember that the idea of God, like any other, varies according to the brains in which it is contained, that all brigands wore images of saints thaumaturghi, and that many religious congregations are also mafia groups.
Once the first nucleus of the association has been established, it expands rapidly, recruiting members in the classes of the convicted and of criminals of all kinds. This expansion force, given the anthropological and historical environment of Sicily, is frightening and invades various Municipalities in a very short time. Those who, shy or weak, refuse to access it, are forced to do so by enticements and threats, except to silence them forever where they insist on refusal. Thus each country has its own conventicle, each district its section, each district its core, gradually commanded by chiefs, sub-chiefs, etc., who form the great council, the guiding soul of the association.
And now: what are the aims of these terrible and mysterious partnerships? By what means are they achieved? -
All the purposes can be summed up in a few words: illicit profit, a well-off life with little or no honest work - the means too, various in their expression, van included in two mottos: intimidation and violence. - But these are also the purpose and the means of brigandage! - Yes, too much: but the difference lies in the different forms of profit, in the various semblance of violence. Sitmodus in rebus!
And here I am allowed a parenthesis, or rather a preliminary ruling, Many, including Villari and Franchetti, and more recently Colacino, seeing how the crime of blood predominated in criminal associations, came to the conclusion that in them the the idea of illicit profit was excluded. Here are the words of Colacino. «In it (the Fratellanza) the purpose of theft, as an argument of common profit, was eliminated. The Fratellanza was not an association of thieves ..... the attacks on property could have been a means of revenge, as this is carried out against a person even devastating their goods ..... The tendency to blood is greater than in theft; the Fratellanza did not want to steal for profit, nor to rebel against capital, nor to attack the form of government. Plunging into the blood of the enemy or offender avidly, fiercely, with impunity, this was his ideal. It is duci lu vinu but cchiù duci is lu sangu of them Christians ».
First of all, I note that Mr. Colacino himself, whose refinement of psychological observation we willingly recognize, agrees in two things: 1 ° that some of the accused more seriously had to answer for depredations; 2 ° that for the obligation to defend the members and to ensure their impunity, whoever stole on their behalf was more driven by that kind of solidarity safeguard. But the personal experience and the examination of the processes already done for other associations leads me to affirm that in them the illicit profit is one of the readers' minds as we said ahead on the traces of cannibalism found by us, the main cornerstones, however well concealed. If Mr. Colacino knew the Sicilian dialect better he would have observed that the word armi for local euphony is so pronounced, but that generally it is called oremi or gold for that kind of playing cards which in shape and color air to the marenghi. Remember now that one of the dogmas of the Fratellanza thus manifested itself: What is your God? - Aremi (gold). - Is the allusion clear? - I agree with him as long as he talks about associated theft and fatalities; but these are only two of the infinite forms with which illicit profit is made. Follow me for a while, Signor Colacino, in the discussion that I am going to make of the various appearances that the associated mafia takes, and I am pleased to convince him better.
Though, as has been said, the Maffia is not itself an organized secret society, yet not the less the Maffiosi in a given locality do occasionally join themselves into a closer union, with oaths of secrecy, code of laws, hierarchy of offices, common purse, and fixed right of admission. In the Rivista di Discipline Carcerarie for 1S85, there is given a full account of two such societies, the members of which were brought to trial and condemned at Catta- girone and Girgenti in that year.
The former of these, whose centre was at Leonforte in Catania, whose members knew each other as Patantri, flourished for a long time before being discovered. It was a comparatively small society, only thirty-one members being arrested when the police finally got on the right track, yet for several years it had completely terrorized the neighborhood, keeping the common chest full with the proceeds of open robberies and forced contributions. The "king of the society" had absolute authority; he admitted neophytes with solemn rites and blood-sealed oaths ; he ordered the execution of suspected mem bers, and of those who when invited to join the society refused. Though the Patantri were apparently extirpated two years ago, the lawless disposition survives in full vigor, as is sufficiently proved by the events of August 15th and 16th in the present year, when at Cattagirone and the neighboring Leonforte there was a popu lar rising of the peasantry, soldiers had to be called in to assist the police, the peas ants resisted desperately, and were only crushed after a six hours' fight, during which the musketry fire is said to have been "very lively." One countryman was returned as killed, many were severely wounded, and eighty-seven were arrested. On the same day at Licodia Eubea, in the same district, a policeman was shot dead, others were wounded, and forty men were arrested. The immediate cause of these riots was the astounding belief cur rent among the ignorant peasants that the police were untori —poisoners sent out by government to propagate the chol era.
Far more interesting is the account given in the same publication of the Mano Fraterna or Fratellanza (Brother hood), which had its headquarters in Favara and spread over the whole province of Girgenti. Here we have a concrete example in which, as in a microcosm, the general principles on which the Maffia is based, and which so often elude even shrewd observers by their Protean muta bility, may be seen at work reduced to definite system.
If the origin of the society, the first germ of which was apparently planted in 1879 by a group of coatti (transported convicts), released from one of the small islands of the Sicilian archipelago, remains some what obscure, its aims and methods were brought to the light of day both by oral testimony and by a copy of the " statutes " that were seized on one of the "brothers," and put in evidence during the trial. In the communes where the brotherhood most flourished "family hatreds transmit ted from father to son, and, as in the Mid dle Ages, ranging the whole community on one side or the other, develop into feuds that find a battle-field in local pol itics, and private grudges embitter the opposition of public life. The more am bitious and unscrupulous of the party leaders, seeing a useful weapon in the passionate tempers of the mob, and the criminal classes, hoping for impunity be hind the shield of official protection, came to an understanding with each other, and in this congenial soil the Mano Fraterna struck deep roots. Even honest men and good citizens were driven, lest a worse thing should come upon them, to seek pro tection for their property and their lives, offree will or under compulsion, by mem bership in the Fratellanza " (R. d. D. C, 1. c). The aims of the brotherhood were neither political reform nor socialism, nor yet mere robbery, but the gratification of the lust of power and of idle affluence in its members by appropriating municipal offices and the municipal purse, and by providing for its members easy work and good wages in public or private employ ment. The means employed were terror ism based on the death of all who resisted its orders. The events that led to the discovery of the society were very char acteristic. In 1884 Camilleri, a brother, having fallen under suspicion of betraying the secrets of the brotherhood, his own uncle, Martello, was charged with the punishment of the traitor, and with the aid of four brothers strangled him. Soon, moved by remorse, he confessed all, and then, fearing the vengeance of the broth erhood, and doubting the power of the government to protect him, he hanged himself in prison.
In 1885 the police drew in their nets, and it was found that there were grounds for proceeding against more than twelve hundred. Of these, about a thousand were allowed to slip through the meshes, "lest the very extent of the contagion should make punishment impossible." Thirty-two ringleaders, accused of " more than ten murders," reserved for future trial, have not yet been disposed of, and a hundred and sixty-nine, including one schoolmaster, one priest, a few tradesmen, and a large majority of miners and agricultural laborers, charged with the minor offence of " illegal association," were tried at Girgenti, in the Church of St. Anna, transformed for the occasion into a law court. The trial lasted from March 2nd to March 30th, 1885 ; ten only of the accused were acquitted and the rest were condemned to various terms of imprisonment. The only interesting figure among the accused, and the only one who had joined the association from public motives, and whose hands were comparatively clean, was the priest Padre Don Angelo, a man of education, a Greek and Latin scholar, and an eloquent preacher. He spoke well in his own defence, trying to make out that he was the victim of the jealousy of municipal parties. He had some years before been prosecuted on a charge of instigating to assassination, but the prosecution had failed for want of evidence, and he complained of being now put on his trial as a mere gregario (subordinate). Like a true Sicilian, he would gladly have gratified his vanity by sharing with the ten ringleaders the more serious charge. He had long before taken part in local politics as protector of his ignorant and unenfranchised parishioners, and having thus made powerful enemies, joined the brotherhood, intending to use it, as it would seem, for political ends ; but once in he was unable to keep himself clean from its lawless and selfish opera tions, and he was accordingly condemned to two years' imprisonment. The stat utes of the brotherhood regulated:
1. The relations of members to officers ;
2. The duties of members to each other; 3. The admission of new members. 1. The officers included two head centres, one cashier, who collected the admission fees and monthly dues, and as many cap tains of ten and captains of five as might be required. To these absolute obedience was due, though important questions were decided at general meetings. 2. Mem bers were bound to stand by each other on all occasions, whether by force or by providing evidence in law courts,* and an elaborate code of signals was arranged enabling members to recognize each other under all circumstances.
3. The forms of initiation, which usually took place in an old lime-kiln, an abandoned quarry, or some similar hiding-place, were singular. The presence of three old members beside the neophyte was necessary. The three brothers took off their hats, then the senior of them tied a thread tightly round the right forefinger of the "son," pricked it with his knife and let a few drops of blood fall on the print of a saint. The print was then set on fire and placed in the left hand of the son, who blew away the ashes, repeating the formula, " I swear on my honor to be true to the brotherhood as the brotherhood is true to me. As the saint and these few drops of my blood are burned, so am I ready to give all my blood for the brotherhood ; as the ashes and blood cannot return again as they were, so I cannot abandon the brother hood." Sometimes the ceremony ended in the son firing a pistol at a crucifix to symbolize his readiness for any crime, to take any life, at the command of the king. The neophyte was after this recog nized as a full brother, and the whole party adjourned to a tavern to drink the toast of the brotherhood : E duci lu vinu, ma assai echiu duci e lu sangu di li Chris- tiani(" Sweet is wine, but far sweeter is the blood of Christians "). By way of comment, it is perhaps enough to add two lines of statistics from the same official publication. The murders in England, in 1884, numbered one hundred and seventy. In the single province of Palermo, for the same period, they were four hundred and thirty-four.
Very great stuff you've shared. The public has a tendency to talk about how much the mafia has changed over the years and each generation of members seems to comment on how things have changed, but when it comes to the organization itself and its protocol, it's stayed more consistent than not amidst all of the changes around it.
The arrest of the schoolmaster, priest, and tradesmen accused of what sounds like mafia association in 1885 brings to mind the priest in Burgio I mentioned who was arrested with a large number of mafiosi in Bisacquino and Agrigento ~45 years later. Joe Bonanno and others mentioned priests being made members in Sicily, so it's not a new idea, but understanding why the Sicilian mafia had priests, doctors, teachers, mayors, and men from virtually every trade and background is important for understanding what the mafia, as a whole, is.
Though, as has been said, the Maffia is not itself an organized secret society, yet not the less the Maffiosi in a given locality do occasionally join themselves into a closer union, with oaths of secrecy, code of laws, hierarchy of offices, common purse, and fixed right of admission.
I've seen this sort of idea expressed in other early Italian reports. It brings to mind what Joe Bonanno said about the term "mafia". This seems to be saying something similar, that the idea of "maffia" is not the secret group itself but the framework for these groups. Joe Bonanno and others have referred to it as more of an attitude, but it's an attitude that includes an entire philosophy.
"Mafia" as an attitude is a way to describe an entire community framework that allows for mafia organizations (i.e. Cosa Nostra / Fratellanza / etc.) to exist within them. Of course the organization also influences the community which is a chicken and egg situation, but having a community that accommodates their values (or lack thereof) seems almost mandatory for a mafia organization to exist and gain traction. "Mafia" could be a way to describe an entire community that shares mafia values and in that type of community any member of the community is a viable candidate for the mafia organization.
It sounds ridiculous from a post-1950s Sopranos "weekly envelope quota" perspective, but the college professor who was allegedly made in Rochester would be completely normal for the Sicilian mafia or even the early US. We're not talking about ancient history in Sicily, either, as Nino Giuffre who became capomandamento of Caccamo was an agriculture instructor who taught classes locally at the time of his induction. This is something that has changed quite a bit in the US, at least the big cities, where the mafia has been almost exclusively criminals and corrupt businessmen for a few generations. But I don't think the US mafia is that far removed even today from a place where it could induct a professor -- God knows the education industry is ripe for corruption, big and small.
Genovese associate James Queli was a high school principal who spent his free time with gangsters and is believed to have given the Genovese family work via school construction projects. His brother is a made member and Jim Queli was ultimately killed by the Genovese family. He may not have been seen as a candidate for membership in 1970s NJ, but he was part of a community with mafia values and even the job of a high school principal was a resource to be used by the organization.
If you look at the South Philly photos that get posted on here, you can pinpoint the made members and those guys are the organization, but you can clearly see there is an entire community behind them which to me is one of the reasons for that family's resilience. It wasn't that John Stanfa couldn't find "viable" recruits, it's that he didn't have the community behind him. He was an outsider, while the local community is what produced the Merlinos and Ciancaglinis. Those two recruited other guys from the community while Stanfa recruited mostly from the fringe.
Back to these early reports, we see Italian authorities describing the mafia very similarly, as much a communal phenomenon as a secret society. They were aware of these secret organizations, particularly the more overt criminal activities, but in multiple examples the investigators stress that they are not exclusively referring to the specific mafia organization but something more general throughout the area. You could call it the mafia climate.
For whatever reason, Agrigento province is pinpointed in early reports for having a particularly heavy mafia climate, though they are careful to note that the individual mafia organizations in Agrigento are fairly simple and small groups.
--
Go back to Melchiorre Allegra -- a military doctor who was inducted into the mafia and served as a physician to mafia members, then was encouraged by the mafia leadership to get involved in politics. The mafia used Allegra's medical profession to their benefit and then used his social status to their political benefit. According to Allegra, simply being a physician from a "good family" (i.e. part of the mafia community) was enough of a resource to warrant mafia induction.
The early US and Sicilian mafia had many physicians for whatever reason, some of them bosses, but it makes sense when you consider how valuable medicine was then, and also now. We can see with the modern US medical industry that even with government regulation there are countless grey area and opportunities for profiteering, corruption, etc. We have seen modern mafia members attempt to get into those types of medical scams. I don't know how many Sicilian mafia doctors were running hospital scams 100 years ago, but medicine and hospitals were an incredible resource and platform for power in more rustic times.
--
In June 1901 the Mano Destra affiliates were sentenced in Palermo, who had statutes similar to those already reported. Elsewhere the mafia extorts the tavoledda (tip for the picciotti), and returns the stolen goods for a fee. This happens especially in cattle rustling: given the difficulty of disposing of the prey, the evildoers are happy to return the stolen animals by pocketing a fair sum of money from the owner, resigned in turn to the lesser evil."
In Italian reports I've been going through, the way they describe the mafia's manipulation of the gabellotti system is almost exactly what they would do later with the city "protection" rackets. They protected people's land from bandits,but there is reason to believe some bandit groups were themselves controlled/dispatched by the mafia. Mafiosi would therefore be protecting landowners from their own minions, not unlike what you see urban mafia members doing to shops.
What you posted in this quote is almost exactly what the mafia still does in the US and has done for every generation. One of the urban mafia's main forms of extortion is to do this "good cop / bad cop" routine where someone tries to extort a businessman; the businessman reaches out to another mafia member that he either knows personally, or the businessman reaches out to someone he knows in the general mafia community -- either way, the victim ends up represented by a mafia member. This second mafia member is able to make an arrangement or negotiate a lower rate for the extortion and ultimately ends up splitting whatever profits are made with the original extorter. Beyond all of the macho stuff, that is the mafia attitude in a nutshell: to convince someone they are doing them a favor while profiting at their expense.
The cattle racket is a fascinating one because it is an example of something that is completely outdated and we would never imagine John Gotti ordering his men to steal cattle and sell it back to someone. But even though cattle is outdated and the mafia stopped doing it, they used the exact same approach that they would to other rackets. It was a form of extortion, burning the candle from each end as both thief and protector. They didn't limit themselves to that, though, as they had extensive networks for transporting cattle and reportedly mafia-linked bandit groups were exporting stolen cattle to Tunisia in the 1870s. It's likely the Tunis mafia was coming into place there if it didn't exist already.
But yeah, with the cattle racket we see a level of sophistication you wouldn't expect from illiterate paesants stealing cows. They had multiple ways to manipulate the theft: selling the cattle using an underground network that extended overseas; "recovering" the cattle on behalf of the owner and extorting a fee; offering to protect cattle from bandits for a fee (or other benefits, i.e. control over property), meanwhile having influence/control over the bandits; if the owner doesn't pay for protection, use said bandits to steal cattle, and now we're back full circle and you can either attempt to extort a "recovery" fee or sell the cattle overseas. They might not steal cows anymore but the approach has stayed similar.
It's simply amazing how much it has stayed the same. Just how little has changed. The rules and hierarchy have been successfully passed down for at least eight generations. Again, the Capuccio having written rules is quite a rarity.
Regarding priests, Joe Massino made a fitting comment about needing both tough guys and smart guys, something to that effect. There was a time when I would consider the early amount of "professionals" within the mafia to speculate that it wasn't all bad, that it had clouts of legitimacy. Now I think it was just a reflection of the times when even criminals had to work to make ends meet. Prior to prohibition most higher level mafiosi enjoyed a middle class life as best, those who did usually worked.
Mafia is both a culture and a criminal freemasonry. Oddly this criminal culture urges restraint with a conservative approach to appearance, home life and honest dealings. There was nothing distinct about their dress or appearance, with the exception of the Capuccio in 1900 and Provenzano's commandments in 2010, nothing is ever written down. Compared to other things (that I'm not going into here) it is extremely watered down. The idea of the culture here is to not be seen. The priest looked like a priest, the doctor like a doctor and the cattle rustler as such etc.
One thing of interest was Tommaso Buscetta said the Mafia was at one time called Carboneria but, man, I'm prepared to argue that its not. The customs, the set up, literally everything is different. The Mafia is truly a mystery but I wonder if the above is onto something as far as the Bourbons appointing people to run things who became unwillingly obsolete after the end of the dynasty. There's no single answer. Whatever caused this was a big bang of different elements coming together.
It seems like the early mafia was trying to uphold the status quo with their people in power, that's likely a good start.
---
As far as these groups being small. Are we sure? The so-called Fratellanza and Stuppliaghliari were said to be in multiple towns and their arrests numbered in the hundreds. How much do we know? From what I read of the Fratellanza there was a head boss followed by sub bosses in other cities. The situation seems more like a Buffalo or Cleveland with one spider over multiple cities.
Now these names tend to be local renditions and it was established as early as the 1870's that every city and every group were linked in some way. Fratellanza and Zubbia were like Cosa Nostra and Chicago Outfit essentially. However I would imagine to Morello it was Fratuzzi and to Sciaccatani it was Fratellanza (as some informants called the NYC mafia circa 1920's), I just wonder if this indicates any further divisions of factions?
I made a thread not long ago about different sources who have said the Sicilian mafia has traditional rules against stealing and lying. This appears to have carried over to the early US in a couple accounts (Valachi was told by Maranzano he couldn't steal/rob; a 1960s Detroit bug recorded members discussing how made members aren't allowed to lie). These rules and many others are sometimes broken directly, we also see where the mafia tries to find ways around their own rules rather than breaking them outright.
One obvious way around lying is omission, which the mafia does constantly. "I'm not gonna tell you to rob that club, but I'm not going to tell you not to rob the club either." If a sitdown is held, the member can represent the robber while claiming no responsibility, then take a share of the profits if the robber wins the sitdown, or if the robber loses and profits have to be returned, the robber's representative might even receive a split of the returned money with the victim's representative. This happens with ostensibly legitimate business transactions, too.
In the 1980s, I believe it was DelGiorno who talked about getting around the drug dealing rule by giving loans to drug dealers. A number of Philly members placed their own dealers in their own mafia-sanctioned networks and even arranged drug deals, meanwhile they can technically claim they're not drug dealers because they don't touch the drugs themselves. If the boss asks him if he deals drugs, the member can say no, meanwhile the boss knows he deals drugs and the member knows that the boss knows he deals drugs, but everyone is playing the game of omission so that nobody can accuse them of lying.
For an organization of shrewd operators who are constantly sharing internal info and keepings tabs on each other, the excuse of "I didn't know" seems too common. It's common, though, because it allows them to lie by omission and avoid direct responsibility. These kinds of games aren't unique to the mafia, but there is something unique to the way the mafia does it that comes through in these vague 1800s accounts as well as what's going on today.
In the case of cattle rustling, we see where the mafia figures could negotiate as the "protector" -- they aren't the thieves, they just happen to know exactly who the thieves are and have the ability to contact and negotiate with them. And if the negotiations don't go well, the cattle can be shipped to Tunis guilt-free because the mafioso "tried" to help the victim and bears no official responsibility, yet the "helper" put himself in a position to profit no matter which way the negotiation went. That's a running theme in virtually all mafia activity.
--
We can see it's not that the mafia no longer wants to associate with priests, schoolmasters, and people in otherwise legitimate professions. In the US they have continued to associate with people in any social position and use them to their benefit, but what has changed is they don't induct them into their families.
When the mafia was more secretive and deeply embedded in these Sicilian villages there were fewer downsides to inducting someone from an upstanding social position because odds were against it creating a widespread scandal. In modern times, the scandal of mafia membership isn't worth the cost and you can see where John Montana in Buffalo lost virtually all of his prestige both in the mafia and in legitimate circles when it came out that he was a mafia leader.
It is still worth the cost to criminals, racketeers, and members whose occupation doesn't require them to appear completely legitimate. Being identified as a member might mean more LE scrutiny, but being ID'd as a member doesn't directly stop them from making a living on the street and could actually help their ability to operate on the street. However, if a member's entire persona is legitimate, being identified as a member can damage his ability to stay legitimate. Like with that obscenely wealthy Colombo member with the car dealerships, his entire use to them is through his legitimate influence and wealth. I'm not using his name because there has been some controversy with his name in the public domain, but he's a member and we all know it. He wouldn't have gone after people for publicly calling him a member if he didn't think it damaged his reputation in some way.
It's easier to downplay mafia ties in today's world when someone is an associate vs. a confirmed member. Father Louis Gigante is the type of priest who would have become a made member if he was a Sicilian who lived a couple of generations earlier. He was both an active civic figure and a diehard mafia sympathizer. But nobody has ever been able to label him a member, which is to his advantage in an era where we call these groups "crime families". The idea of a priest being labeled a "soldier" in a "crime family" makes that priest virtually useless as a resource today, whereas some vague info in the 1800s about a priest being a "man of honor" in the "Fraternal Hand" is something else entirely.
The reality, though, is that Father Gigante was as deeply involved in the mafia community as many members and I doubt the priests who were Sicilian mafia members were fearsome gangsters. The mafia didn't induct priests so that they would run around with a knife between their teeth extorting the congregation -- most priests were already massively influential figures in the community and the mafia had far more to benefit from a priest who did his priestly duties and used his authority to benefit the mafia.
It brings to mind the lore about Salvatore Maranzano studying in the priesthood. When I first read that, my brain assumed Maranzano had a choice between becoming a priest or becoming a mafioso. I don't even think I thought about it. Looking at it now, it's possible Maranzano could have become both a mafioso and a priest. It shows you the range of personalities that become priests given how close he's alleged to have come to becoming one.
