9781422284100

Legend has it that the Mafia was born on the island of Sicily in 1282. At that time, the island had been under the rule of the French for just over 17 years. The Sicilians were used to occupation by foreign powers, having endured 1,500 years of successive conquests. The Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Vandals, Ostrogoths, Arabs, Normans, and Germans had all invaded the island and, to the Sicilians, the French were no better and no worse than their predecessors. Then, in 1282, came an incident that changed everything. In Palermo, Sicily’s capital, parishioners of the Church of the Holy Spirit were enjoying their traditional Easter Monday festival when, to their disgust, the ceremony was invaded by a crowd of drunken French sailors. As vespers rang out, one of the Frenchmen, Sergeant Pierre Drouet, noticed a young Sicilian woman. He dragged her away from the congregation and was in the process of raping her when her husband accosted him. With a cry of “Morte alia Francia” (Death to France), he stabbed Drouet to death. A riot ensued, and the Sicilian men massacred every Frenchman at the festival. Within hours, the whole city of Palermo was in revolt and the entire French garrison was butchered. For three days and nights, Palermitans continued their bloody retribution against the French throughout Sicily. The rebellion became known as the Sicilian Vespers. Thousands of French civilians and their families perished, and the survivors fled for their lives. France was forced to cede control of the island. In the long run, the uprising made little difference. A mere six months later, the king of Aragon invaded Sicily and filled the vacuum left by the French. However, the Sicilians who had participated in the revolt against the French founded a secret society, which they called MAFIA, an acronym for their battle cry, “Morte Alla Francia, Italia Anela” (Death to France, Italy Forever). Seven hundred years later, that society is still very much alive and well, despite many attempts to destroy it. The Early Days Initially, there was no single Mafia society, but rather scores of separate fraternities scattered around the island. In the province of Palermo, there were the Stoppaglieri and the Fratuzzi, which translates as “little brothers.” The province of Messina for full membership in the organization. True, these men were powerful gangsters in their own right, and some of them worked with and for the Mafia, but they were precluded from membership by accident of birth.

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ORGANIZED CRIME