However, almost unquestioning loyalty to the code of honor - omerta, immediate vendetta (blood feud) against family offenders, discipline and loyalty to the family and incredible cruelty allowed Italian groups to quickly take leading roles in the American underworld.
Seize and control almost all areas of business, bribe most of the country's largest judges and officials. To kill competition in many industries, for example, the “twin towers” were forced to pay a waste removal company controlled by the Italians 1 million 100 thousand dollars a year (in those years this was a huge amount). Moreover, the mafiosi did not do any intimidation, they simply did not allow other companies to enter this market, this company was the only such company in the New York market!
Gambino mafia family
Loyalty to tradition in the Italian mafia
Loyalty to tradition left its bright imprint on the criminal code of honor, since for the most part all family members were exemplary family men and cases of betrayal were quite rare, even despite the fact that the mafia controlled almost all entertainment businesses: prostitution, gambling, alcohol and cigarettes. Cheating on your wife was perceived by the family as a slap in the face and was brutally suppressed, of course in modern age everything has changed a lot, but this tradition has existed for quite a long time. Showing attention to the wives of friends and family members was strictly taboo.Due to the fact that the profession of mafia members was accompanied by a certain risk to life, each family member knew perfectly well that in the event of his death, his family would be taken care of financially no worse than when he was alive.
Long years of oppression of the Sicilians by an aggressive government have led to the fact that the word “policeman” can still get you a slap in the face in Sicily. One of the most important points of omerta is the complete lack of contact with the police, much less cooperation with them. A person will never be accepted into a family if his close relative serves in the police; even appearing on the street in the company of police officers was punishable, sometimes at the highest standard - death.
This tradition allowed the mafia to exist very for a long time without any problems with the US government. The US government did not recognize the existence of the Italian mafia until the mid-20th century, due to insufficient information about the structure and extent of penetration of organized crime into business and politics.
Mafia clans in the USA
Alcoholism and drug addiction were considered a vice, but despite the ban, many family members were addicted to both, one of the least observed laws of omerta, but family members who drank and stabbed themselves, as a rule, did not live long and died at the hands of their own comrades.
No person can enter the family by introducing himself as a capo or mafia don; the only way to get into the family is the recommendation of a family member and his willingness to introduce you to the family. There are no other ways.
Strict punctuality; you must not be late for any meeting; this is considered bad manners. The same rule includes showing respect for any meetings, including meetings with enemies. There should be no killings during them. One of the reasons that numerous wars between various families and clans of the Italian mafia quickly subsided, at meetings a truce was declared and often the dons of the families found mutual language and solved the accumulated problems.
When talking with any family member, even the smallest lie is considered a betrayal, the duty of each family member in response to asked question to tell the truth, whatever it may be, naturally the rule applies only to members of one criminal group. The strictness of execution was, in fact, monitored at the lower levels of the hierarchical structure; naturally, in the upper layers of the hierarchy, lies and betrayal existed right up to murder right hand head of the family.
Do not lead an idle lifestyle, full compliance with moral principles
No family member had the right to engage in looting and robbery without the approval of the boss or capo. Visiting places of entertainment without necessity or direct instructions was strictly prohibited. The law also allowed the mafia to remain in the shadows, because an intoxicated family member could blurt out a lot of things, where this information could cause significant damage to the family.
Appropriating other people's money without any instructions from the head of the family was a strict taboo. From childhood, young men were brought up within the framework of the laws of devotion to the family, that it is a great shame to be an outcast, that without a family a person’s life has no meaning. In this regard, in the circles of the Italian mafia, “lone wolves” were very, very rarely encountered, and if they were encountered, they did not live long; such behavior was punishable by immediate death.
Vendetta - blood feud
As justice for failure to comply with the laws of omerta, a vendetta awaited the violator, which in different clans could be accompanied by various rituals. By the way, blood feud against both a family member and any other offender or enemy of the family had to be quick and without unnecessary torment for the victim, such as: a shot in the head or heart, a wound with a knife in the heart, etc. Those. the victim did not have to suffer all according to the “Christian” canons, however, after death, the victim’s body could already be treated barbarously and with considerable cruelty to intimidate the enemy or educate other family members.
There were also different traditions in different clans: for excessive talkativeness, a cobblestone was inserted into the corpse’s mouth; for adultery, a rose was placed on the body; a wallet with a thorn placed on the victim’s body meant that the murdered person had embezzled other people’s money. You can hear a lot of different fables about this; now it’s difficult to discern where the truth is and where the lie is.
An interesting fact is that the laws of omerta fell into the hands of the police and journalists only in 2007, during the arrest of Salvatore La Piccola, one of the bosses of Cosa Nostra; they were found among the documents found during the search and poetically called in the press “10 Commandments of Cosa Nostra”. Until this moment, no documentary evidence of the rules of the code of honor of the Italian mafiosi existed, so secretly was the criminal network organized.
It's not surprising that such organizational structure took root throughout all countries of Europe, Northern and South America, but oddly enough the only one European country where the Italian mafia does not have any serious influence is Russia and countries former USSR. It is difficult to imagine what this is connected with, including the absence of emigrants of Italian origin, the language barrier and slightly different moral standards of the local population, and a fairly strong local criminal network.
Sicilian Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro
He became one of the most influential leaders in Sicily in 2006, after the arrest of the main leader of Cosa Nostra, Bernardo Provenzano.
Matteo Messina Denaro was born on April 26, 1962 in Sicily, in the commune of Castelvetrano (province of Trapani) in the family of the Sicilian mafioso Francesco Messina. Already at the age of 14, Matteo’s father taught him to shoot a weapon. And he committed his first murder immediately after coming of age, at the age of 18.
In July 1992, Matteo killed his father's rival, mafia boss Vincenzo Milazzo from Alcamo, and strangled his beloved Antonella Bonomo, who was three months pregnant. With this murder he greatly increased his authority. In total, Matteo killed more than 50 people with his own hands. He even once spoke out about this: “The people I killed could fill a whole cemetery.” For this he was nicknamed the Devil.
There is a known case when Denaro personally killed the owner of a Sicilian hotel because he accused him of cohabiting with underage girls. However, it is still unclear whether these accusations were truly groundless or not, since the future boss of the Sicilian mafia led and leads a wild life.
He likes beautiful women, in his garage there are several Porsche sports cars. The wardrobe of the main mafioso of Sicily is represented by expensive haute couture items.
Matteo Messina Denaro in his youth
In the early 90s, the state began persecuting the mafia. Denaro and other Sicilian Mafia bosses staged a series of bombings in Milan, Rome and Florence to make the state fear the Mafia and abandon plans to arrest major mafiosi. By this they showed their power.
The explosions killed 10 innocent people and seriously injured more than 90. In 1993, Denaro was put on the wanted list by law enforcement agencies. But having failed to find the mafia, he was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment for these crimes in 2002. But he remained free and held leadership positions in the mafia.
After the death of his father in November 1998, Matteo became CAPO in his home area, including Castelvetrano and surrounding towns, while Vincenzo Virga governed the city of Trapani and its surroundings.
After Virga's arrest in 2001, Matteo Denaro led the mafia in the province of Trapani. Under his leadership there were approximately 900 fighters. Moreover, he reorganized the 20 mafia families in Trapani into a single "mandamento" (district, region), separated from the rest of Cosa Nostra.
The Trapani Mafia is a major supporter of Cosa Nostra and is considered the most powerful, with the exception of the families in Palermo. Matteo Denaro invested his money in extensive racketeering and extortion, forcing businessmen to come under his protection and profiting from public construction contracts (the family owns significant sand quarries). Denaro is also involved in the international drug trade, joining forces with the Cuntrera-Caruana clan, which has attracted the attention of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.
According to the Anti-Mafia District Directorate in Palermo, he maintains contacts with relatives in New York and with Vito Roberto Palazzolo, a fugitive Mafia Boss in South Africa.
He also has interests in Venezuela and is in contact with the Colombian drug cartels as well as the. His illegal network spread to Belgium and Germany.
Matteo Messina Denaro has close ties to the mafia families in Palermo, especially in Branaccio, the territory of the Graviano family.
In 2006, police arrested Cosa Nostra boss Bernardo Provenzano. Sicilian mafia could not be without the main leader for long, and at the vote Matteo Denaro became the new boss, especially since Provenzano himself supported Denaro’s candidacy. His closest opponents in the vote could be other influential mafiosi - Salvatore Lo Piccolo and Domenico Racuglia. But in 2007, Salvatore Lo Piccolo was arrested, and two years later Domenico Racuglia was also arrested. So Matteo Messina Denaro became the “godfather” of the Sicilian mafia.
In 2009, the Sicilian police arrested one of Matteo’s mafia units, which was involved in fraud in the area Agriculture. The structures controlled by Danero gave huge bribes to officials so that they would ensure the mafia wins in government tenders related to all sectors of agriculture. The mafia laundered huge amounts of money.
During the police operation, many businessmen, officials, etc. were arrested. Denaro's brother Salvatore was also arrested. But it was never possible to arrest the main ideologist and organizer of this business, Matteo Denaro.
The boss of bosses received his next serious blow in 2013, when his sister and two cousins and nephew. They were charged with participation in an organized criminal group and racketeering.
Relatives of the mafia leader were detained as part of a large-scale operation to combat organized crime, which was carried out in the vicinity of the city of Trapani in western Sicily. In total, approximately thirty people were taken into custody. At the same time, money amounting to about five million euros was confiscated, which allegedly belonged to Denaro and his family.
Until now, Denaro has been wanted for 22 years and is one of the most wanted criminals. Now 53 years old, he continues to lead the Sicilian mafia.
Modern pop culture has turned the mafia almost into the main brand of Sicily. Today the situation has changed significantly: in Sicily you are unlikely to see mafiosi similar to the characters " Godfather“, but nevertheless, the mafia still exists in Sicily. This is one of the reasons why Sicily remains one of the poorest regions in Italy. Many hotels, restaurants and shops in Sicily are forced to pay the mafia pizzo - the so-called security and patronage fee, which negatively affects their revenue and prevents further business development. But some brave people are fighting this phenomenon.
How can such a phenomenon as the mafia continue to exist in our time? This complex issue, but primarily this is due social factors, such as the unemployment rate, lack of trust in the authorities on the part of residents, and uncertainty in law enforcement agencies. The mentality of Italians, who are accustomed to being suspicious of social services and innovations, also plays an important role.
According to some estimates, in Palermo, the capital of Sicily alone, more than 80% of small businesses are forced to pay the mafia. It is believed that the southern cities of Italy alone bring in more than 20 billion euros a year to the mafia. But the mafia in its current state continues to pose a danger more to the Sicilians themselves than to tourists, who should primarily beware of pickpockets, rather than local mafiosi.
What dangers can await tourists in Sicily?
In general, modern Sicily is a fairly safe place for travelers. The same precautions must be taken here as in other European cities. If you are in a crowd of people, keep a close eye on your bag and valuables. Do not leave bags, phones, cameras and other things unattended.
The biggest danger in Sicily is not even street thieves, but drivers. In Sicily, especially in Palermo, there is only one rule: traffic: The fastest survives. Drivers are reluctant to give way to pedestrians, even at pedestrian crossings. However, if you are planning a trip to small towns and villages, you will be concerned about another problem: the poor quality of roads or their absence. However, modern highways have been built between major cities and there is nothing to be afraid of.
You should also be especially vigilant when shopping at markets or small private stores. Always check prices and count your change carefully. And don’t take such cases too seriously: in Sicily they make money not only from tourists, but also from local residents.
When communicating with Sicilians, try not to use the word "mafia", especially in in public places. You are a guest in Sicily, the problems of organized crime do not concern you, so there is no reason to raise this issue. For many residents of Sicily, this is a sensitive topic that they are not ready to discuss with strangers.
Although the streets of Sicily are generally safe, we advise women traveling unaccompanied not to go out after dark. In Sicily, it is not customary for a woman to walk alone at night; this immediately attracts attention. Local women go out at such times only if accompanied by a man, and foreign travelers should also follow their example.
It is worth noting that the Camorra originated in Naples long before the state of Italy appeared on the map. The history of the group dates back to the 18th century. The Camorra was actively supported by the Bourbons, who benefited from rampant crime in the south of modern Italy. However, subsequently the mafiosi betrayed their benefactors and supported the new authorities.Initially, the mafiosi gathered in the Church of St. Catherine in Naples, where they discussed issues that concerned them. The Camorristas called themselves the "Respected Society" and with incredible speed they infiltrated the densely populated areas of the city, recruiting more and more people into their ranks.
Hierarchy and main areas of activity
Unlike the famous Cosa Nostra, the Camorra does not have a clear hierarchy and does not have a single leader. It is more reminiscent of hundreds of clans fighting among themselves for money and power. It is the absence of a single leader that makes the Camorra practically invincible. When the police arrest the head of a family, the mafia's activities do not stop there. Moreover, young and proactive criminals come to power, and the family may split into two or more groups. The battle between law enforcement officers and the Neapolitan mafia is very reminiscent of a battle with Hydra. Even if you cut off her head, two new ones will grow in its place. Because of this design, the Camorra remains flexible and able to survive under almost any conditions.The absence of a single leader makes the Camorra practically invincible // Photo: ria.ru
As at the birth of the Camorra, its members are mainly involved in racketeering, drug trafficking, human trafficking and smuggling. Currently, criminals earn their main income from drug trafficking. Illicit substances from all over the world flock to the south of Italy and from here spread throughout Europe. The Camorra can be called a state within a state. The mafia creates jobs in the shadow economy, which is important for the poor population of the southern regions of Italy. Working for the Camorra, a person can earn up to five thousand US dollars a day, which is considered an incredible income for poor regions. For this reason, mafiosi have no shortage of people willing to work for them. Children often become Camorrists. By the time they reach adulthood, they are already seasoned criminals.
Children often become Camorrists. By the time they reach adulthood, they are already seasoned criminals // Photo: stopgame.ru
But at the same time, many modern mafiosi are trying to engage in legal business. Most often, cammorists can be found among restaurateurs, builders and in companies involved in waste removal. Because of the mafia, a few years ago in Naples there was a real crisis in waste disposal.
At the same time, the Camorrists are not at all interested in politics. They do not spend time, effort and money to ensure that their people find themselves in high government positions.
There is no way back
If becoming part of the Camorra is not particularly difficult, by the way, newcomers, as in the 18th century, must undergo an initiation rite similar to a duel, then leaving the organization is almost impossible. Apostates have two paths - to the cemetery and to places of imprisonment.It is noteworthy that in the Camorra there is no omerta - mutual responsibility, although a vow of silence is declared in the event of arrest. To ensure that mafiosi who end up behind bars keep their mouths shut, those who remain free support their families in every possible way, and also try to make the prisoner’s life as comfortable as possible. This may be due to the fact that Neapolitans, unlike Sicilians, are more talkative and emotional. Therefore, the mafia has to resort to additional incentives.
So that the Camorrist who ends up behind bars remains silent, his family is supported, and they try to make his stay in prison comfortable // Photo: Life.ru
If one of the Cammorists betrayed his comrades, then the mafia will try to do everything possible so that he does not live to the end of his prison term.
Numerous and bloodthirsty
A correspondent for The Economist attempted to determine the size of the Camorra. According to the most conservative estimates, its members are about ten thousand people. On modern stage The Neapolitan mafia, according to the publication, consists of almost one hundred and twenty groups, each of which includes up to five hundred people.The Camorra enjoys the reputation of an unusually bloodthirsty group. Over the past three decades alone, almost four thousand people have become its victims. Very often, innocent people die because of Camorrist disputes. A few years ago, a fourteen-year-old girl died in the middle of a shootout.
Meet the Italian mafia. How Cosa Nostra and its godbrothers live today
Ask the average person what they know about Italy, and the first thing they will say is that there is a mafia in this country. In the public consciousness of millions of people around the world, a stereotype has taken root in which the mafia and Italy are inextricably linked. Naturally, in reality this is far from the case. However, the influence of organized crime on the economic, social and political life of the country, especially the south, remains great.
IN last years Not a month, or even a week, goes by without the world media reporting another mass arrest of members of Italian criminal gangs. However, despite the numerous arrests of mafiosi, the activity of criminal communities in the country is still quite large. It is believed that they control more than a third of the shadow business in the state, and their income amounts to tens of billions of euros. For example, last year total income mafia amounted to an amount equivalent to almost 7% of Italy's GDP. The amount of funds confiscated from criminals during this period alone exceeds 5 billion euros.
It should be noted that the very name “mafia” in relation to all Italian organized crime groups is not entirely correct. This is also one of the stereotypes that has developed in the public consciousness. This word became widespread in the middle of the nineteenth century, when the play “Mafiosi from the Viceroyalty” was staged in the theater of Palermo, Sicily, which was extremely popular among the audience. The history of the origin of this word is rich. There are dozens possible versions his appearance. Meanwhile, as historians studying the problems of organized crime in Italy have established, only organized crime on the island of Sicily is called the mafia. It is better known as Cosa Nostra. Usually, when experts talk about the Italian mafia, they primarily mean it.
In recent years, the authority of Cosa Nostra and its influence among the Italian criminal community have been significantly undermined. In the early 2000s, the authorities managed to achieve some success in the fight against this group - dozens of key figures in its hierarchy were arrested. In this regard, the structure of the organization has changed significantly. If previously it was a centralized organization with one boss at the head, now it is led by a directory of 4-7 heads of families, who, due to opposition from law enforcement agencies, can only extremely rarely meet with each other to resolve strategic issues. (It should be noted that the family in in this case- a mafia group, not necessarily related by blood, that controls part of the territory, usually a village or city block.)
Against this background, criminal communities from continental Italy are becoming increasingly powerful. This is "Ndragetta" from Calabria, whose members were involved in mass murder in Duisburg, Germany in August 2007, and the Neapolitan Camorra, whose members are the main culprits of the garbage crisis in Naples. The Apulian Sakra Korona Unita is also gradually gaining weight. This group emerged only in the early 1980s, but has already fully managed to earn the respect of other criminal communities.
The main area of activity of criminal groups in Italy is smuggling of drugs, weapons and alcohol, gambling and Building bussiness, racketeering, money laundering and control of prostitution. Distinctive feature and the key to successful mafia activity is considered to be high cohesion and organization. However, this did not prevent the clan war that arose in the early 1980s, when colleagues in the criminal business ruthlessly dealt with each other. Then hundreds of people, including those not involved in the world of crime, became victims of the armed confrontation.
By the early 1990s, tired of the bloodshed, the criminals decided to go into legal business. Now, not without success, they are gaining increasing influence in the judiciary and government bodies. It is known that hundreds of Italian politicians are now supported by criminal communities different levels, police officers, judges, prosecutors and lawyers. However, this state of affairs existed in previous years, but there were much more victims of criminal squabbles then, and the public could only guess about the connections of the mafia with politicians. Law enforcement agencies did not have the legal opportunity to put criminals behind bars.
The fact is that for decades, the basis for the longevity of criminal communities in Italy was the unconditional adherence of all mafia members to a vow of silence (“omerta”). It was impossible for the police to obtain any information from the detained criminals. If the vow was broken, the traitor and all his relatives faced death at the hands of the mafia. However, in the mid-1980s, this principle was violated and hundreds of criminals were sent to jail. Nowadays, many bandits detained law enforcement agencies, willingly become their informants, receiving from the authorities in exchange for information protection for themselves and their loved ones.
Meanwhile, a final advantage in favor of the state in its confrontation with the mafia has not yet been observed. According to Italian intelligence services, approximately 250 thousand people are involved in organized crime in southern Italy.
Cosa Nostra alone has up to 5 thousand active members. Tens of thousands are its supporters, and 70% of Sicilian entrepreneurs still pay tribute to the mafia.
The Calabrian "Ndraghetta", which is now one of the most influential criminal organizations not only in Italy but also in the world, consists of 155 groups and has about 6 thousand militants. "Ndraghetta", unlike "Cosa Nostra", has a horizontal structure, so it does not have any clearly defined leader. In fact, each family exercises complete control over its territory.
The Neapolitan Camorra, whose history goes back hundreds of years, is organized according to a similar principle. It consists of 111 families and has almost 7 thousand members. The criminal activities of the Camorra threaten stability in southern Italy so much that government troops were sent to Naples in 2008 to counter it, just as they were in Sicily in 1994.
"Sacra Corona Unita" appeared in 1981. Currently it includes 47 families and more than 1.5 thousand people. Its organizational structure is also similar to that of 'Ndraghetta. Italian fighters against organized crime note that special friendly relations have long existed between leading criminal groups. At the same time, they successfully cooperate with criminal communities in almost all countries of Europe and America. For example, "Ndragheta" leads successful business with Colombian drug lords.
And yet, despite the existence of the mafia, the level of tension in Italian society is now noticeably lower than in previous decades. Since the early 1990s, when the mafia switched from armed confrontation to a less aggressive strategy, the media and politicians took up other issues. The country's authorities practically no longer pass laws against the mafia, although hundreds of its members have been arrested in recent years. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who was suspected of having connections with the mafia back in the early 1990s, promises to put an end to this phenomenon. It should be noted that in the entire history of its existence, only the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini in the 1920s was able to defeat the mafia in Italy. However, despite this, having experienced numerous metamorphoses, she was reborn and became even stronger and stronger than she was.
Despite the local victories of the authorities, hundreds of thousands of residents of southern Italy seem to have already resigned themselves to life under the rule of the mafia. This means that the country’s authorities still have a lot to do in order to finally remove this phenomenon from the life of the country. But will the Italian rulers have enough patience, will and courage for this?
