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housed the Beati Paoli, and the Fratellanza (the “brotherhood”) controlled central Sicily. While independent of one another, all these fraternities adopted similar rules and codes of conduct. The most important of these was omerta , which translates to “conspiracy of silence”; in other words, a vow of absolute secrecy. Betrayal by one member of another, or of the fraternity as a whole, was punishable by death. The supposed aim of the early Mafia was to help the poor against their rich oppressors. In reality, however, their motivation rapidly became somewhat more self-serving. These early Mafia societies financed their operations by being rural gangsters. They robbed and kidnapped landowners for ransom, stole cattle and other livestock, and ransacked orchards and vineyards. Despite being responsible for countless murders,Al Capone (left) was finally put behind bars by the Treasury Department. Here, he is seen aboard a train with U.S. Marshal H.C. Laubenheimer en route to serving an 11-year prison sentence for tax evasion.

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The Mafia