Criminal authorities of Sicily in the 19th century were sure that everything can be achieved with a kind word if you hold a gun in your hands. The evil irony reflects the essence of the ugly phenomenon that originated on the island after long, impoverishing robberies and robberies by their neighbors. True, the groups became organized only after the conquest of Italy by Napoleon, when the feudal nobility left the island and transferred their estates to managers, whose main task was to collect taxes from the peasants and knock out debts.
In order for the management of the estates to be effective, the servants organized their own small punitive detachments, which do not shun blackmail. Peasant families also created peculiar organized associations, trying to protect themselves from the crazy bandits that Sicily, located in the heart of the Mediterranean trade routes, was infested with at that time. The situation developed approximately the same as in the nineties in our country, when the criminal authorities of Moscow demanded payment so that you would not be robbed, as well as that they would return youloot.
The situation was so complicated that Napoleon's governors did not even try to intervene in it, and therefore lost their influence, losing power to only one thousand of Garibaldi's associates. The unification of Italy did not bring relief to the inhabitants of the island, since the new authorities were interested in the development of industry concentrated in the northern part of the country, and the agrarian south survived on its own. It was difficult for large and medium landowners in Sicily to maintain property in such conditions, so local crime bosses became their best assistants, although not always desired or chosen of their own free will.
Such defenders quickly got fed up with the payment established under the contract and began to demand a share in the property, gradually taking all the property into their own hands. We observed something similar in those days when the criminal authorities of Russia tried to "protect" the entire business and did not miss a single outlet.
Sicilian power associations became more and more organized, they originated and began to be inherited traditions aimed at preserving the criminal structure. Strong personalities made their way to the head, caring about the security of the created system and protecting their interests. Therefore, criminal authorities began to unite all members of their organizations with mutual responsibility and resolve all issues of competition through blood feud - vendetta, administering justice according to their own rules.
The scope of their activities is so wide that no one remains indifferent. Directly or indirectly, but every inhabitant of the island becomes associated with some group. Gradually, criminal authorities also take state officials under their control, distributing positions and motivating them with tempting contracts. The expansion of influence was so rapid that the prosperous mafia families already began to feel a shortage in manpower, so they began to expand through marriages and christenings. At the same time, the head of one clan - the godfather - was entrusted with several families of godchildren, whom he kept under control.
Only in the 20th century, the criminal authorities of Sicily received the first strong blow, knocking them out for fifteen years, when the fascist dictator B. Mussolini came to power. He had his own army, formed from bandits, and he did not need the services of the old mafia clans.
