Here is another quick powerpoint support for my presentation for university, on the Sicilian Mafia "Cosa Nostra", on how it works, how it is linked to politics, etc...
2. Part I: What is Cosa Nostra?
1) Definition
2) Birth
3) Operating Mode
3. 1) Definition
- Mafia is not every criminal organization, it is particularly the
Mafia of Sicily, or Cosa Nostra (“What's Ours”)
- Secret organization
- Each network has a territory
- Networks of Italy: the Camorra, the 'Ndrangheta, the Stidda
(Southern Sicily), and the Sacra Corona Unita.
- The Mafia cultural trait inherent to the Sicilian society: it is→
the “consciousness of one's own worth, the exaggerated concept
of individual force as the sole arbiter of every conflict, of every
clash of interests or ideas […]” (Giuseppe Pitrè)
- “Cosa Nostra” defense of one's property, following the→
Sicilian way of being
- Today, there is also an organizational level: Mafia groups have
a structure, a hierarchy, an economic activity...
- Goal: to provide “private protection”
4. 2) Birth
1816: The Kingdom of the Two
Sicilies = Kingdom of Sicily +
Kingdom of Naples
1861: The new formed Kingdom
of Italy = Kingdom of the Two
Sicilies + Kingdom of Sardinia
Sicily abolished feudalism →
large redistribution of public and
Church lands to citizens
→Large number of new
landowners (new liberal system)
Absence of effective governance
vandalism and no protection of→
properties creation of the first→
Mafia clans, to satisfy the demand
for social services
5. 2) Birth
Low quality of government
basis of the credibility of the→
Mafia: the population (actors)
don't trust the public institutions
replacement by another→
institution: the Mafia
The change in the landowning
system make preferences of→
actors change appeal to the→
parallel system of the Mafia it→
changed networks, moving
from a formal one to an
informal one
6. 2) Birth
If it was reversed, and the administration employed more
means, then it would weaken the system little by little and
the Mafia would lose its credibility and power →
incremental change
For now, the Mafia is the beneficiary:
corruption more→ lack of efficiency in bureaucracy →
more inequality →lack of social trust corruption→
Inequality: because those who benefit from the Mafia's
services are those who pay others are disadvantaged→
A lot of politicians – the more powerful people, so the more
networked, the richest – are closely linked to the Mafia
7.
8. 3) Operating Mode
It is both an informal institution and a criminal organization:
Institution: the actors benefit from it; legal framework of its
own; Mafia survives to people and to the organization itself
(over almost 2 centuries now)
Informal: exists in parallel of the formal system of
government
Organization: also lives longer than the actors; it takes
actions organizational structure (hierarchy) with an→
executive body
Criminal: takes illegal actions, punishable by law:
whereas the formal institution of the State (law) is enforced by
the legal organization of government, the Mafia is an informal
institution enforced by its illegal organization
9. 3) Operating Mode
Mafia = negative network strongly tied→ →familism (type
of bonding social capital)
Mafia = case of stickiness: part of the system, anchored
culturally as well as socially and economically
Familism: when the purpose of the family is more important
than the one of the community at a bigger scale (country)
(Edward C. Banfield)
What will be good or bad for the family/Mafia, won't be the
same for the State (example: Mafiosi's “men of honour”: not
the same meaning for the Mafia or for the State)
Reason why it is dangerous for the efficiency of the State:
strong ties not allowing any flow of information it allows→
the development of the family only, not of the country sort→
of social cancer
10. Part II: Cosa Nostra Facts
1) “Christian
Democracy” and the
Mafia
2) The Most Famous
Anti-Mafia Trial: the
Maxi Trial
11. 1) Christian Democracy and the Mafia
1946: Italy becomes a Republic
Fear of communism leads to the
victory of the political party
Christian Democracy
(Democrazia Cristiana),
founded in 1943, which will
dominate the political life in Italy
until its dissolution, in 1994,
accompanied by a general belief
of its corruption implications
Its founder and first leader,
Alcide De Gasperi, became prime
minister from 1945 to 1953
12. 1) Christian Democracy and the Mafia
Giulio Andreotti is a famous Italian
politician from Christian Democracy, who
became Prime Minister in 1972
Salvatore Lima, close to him, has been
the mayor of Palermo, elected with the help
of Mafiosi →profitability corruption
In five years, he also signed over 4,000
building licences, more than half of them in
the names of three clients who had no
connection with construction at all →
grand corruption
Salvo Lima was one of the most important
contacts of Cosa Nostra in politics
13. 1) Christian Democracy and the Mafia
1979: Carmine Pecorelli, a
journalist who was about to
publish allegations that
Andreotti was linked to the
Mafia, was shot dead in his car
Tommaso Buscetta, one of
the high bosses of Cosa Nostra,
later turned informant (a
turncoat, pentito), will tell that
this murder had been
conducted to help Andreotti,
who was in government
14. 2) The Most Famous Anti-Mafia Trial:
the Maxi Trial
February 1986 – December
1987:
Criminal trial against Cosa Nostra, in
Palermo. An enormous number of
Mafia bosses were judged, either in
presence or in absentia
Though soon after its end, the appeals
process began: a lot of criminals were
granted their freedom the judged had→
been appointed by Salvo Lima (so
potentially bribed by the Mafia)
Giovanni Falcone and Paolo
Borsellino, two famous anti-Mafia
magistrates, were greatly disappointed
15. 2) The Most Famous Anti-Mafia Trial:
the Maxi Trial
However in 1992, they succeeded in
refusing some appeals, and forced some
Mafiosi who had come out of jail to get
back in
The Mafia, seeing that Andreotti and
Lima could no longer protect them, killed
Falcone, Borsellino and Salvo Lima the
same year
Maxi Trial acknowledged the Mafia as→
being a network and not merely isolated
criminals
Cosa Nostra was weakened: many
Mafiosi were imprisoned
2006: Bernardo Provenzano, who
ordered the murders of Falcone and
Borsellino, was finally arrested
