Men of Respect: A Social History of the Sicilian Mafia FROM THE PUBLISHER
The global crime organization which we know as the Mafia traces its origins to the orange groves of the Conca D'Oro, the rich hinterland of Palermo, Sicily, during the early nineteenth century. It was here that the "mafia of the gardens," made up of loose networks of bandits, built their industry of crime. In exploring the Mafia's remarkable rise to power, Raimondo Catanzaro shows how these rural bands successfully opposed the encroaching authority of the Italian government in Sicily during the 1840s, as they infiltrated it, took control of its agencies, and effectively replaced it as the force of law throughout the island. Unlike past chroniclers, Catanzaro sees no break between the traditional rural mafiosi of the nineteenth century and the flashy criminals of today. To the contrary, he demonstrates that the fluid and unstructured composition of the early Mafia enabled it to change its form and thereby survive the many lethal threats it encountered, where a more rigid and unified organization would have failed. This ability to adapt was never more apparent than during the Socialist movement of the Sicilian Fasci in the 1890s. While older, established mafiosi intimidated and murdered local party organizers, younger mafiosi extended the Mafia's power by joining and then subverting these political movements. In his presentation of the recent history of the Mafia Catanzaro makes particularly ingenious use of the Italian Parliament's 40,000 page Commissione Anti-Mafia report to trace the explosive growth of this criminal enterprise since World War II. Here his narrative details the increasing involvement of mafiosi in clandestine commerce, first of tobacco, and then, during the last two decades, of drugs and arms. Catanzaro presents the hitherto untold story of an organization that continues to affect us to this day.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Italian sociologist Catanzaro traces the origin and evolution of the Sicilian Mafia from the 1860s to the present day. His myth-breaking account shows that the Mafia codes of ``honor'' and ``instrumental friendship'' emerged as responses to a specific historical context. Mafiosi saw themselves as private agents of public protection. Catanzaro illustrates, with considerable clarity, that ``organization'' not only defined the Mafia, but also enabled it to change as circumstances required. From just after 1860, when Mafia violence was not the only resistance to the new Italian state, the Mafia has always been deeply involved in political life, as well as the social business of community life. Catanzaro ably covers the many official attempts at Mafia repression, from the Fascists in the 1930s to the Italian Parliament's Anti-Mafia Commission in the 1970s. (July)
Library Journal
Written by an Italian professor, this is an insightful sociological analysis of the special cultural, economic, and political features of Sicilian life that produced the Mafia. Initially, the nascent Mafia served the landowning ruling class by mediating its relations with the peasants. Latent during the Fascist period, the Mafia successfully manipulated the governing Christian Democratic Party after World War II. Expanding into drugs and urban ventures, the Sicilian Mafia is more powerful and deep-rooted than its American cousin. No less violent (it is credited with 150 murders in 1982), it does not balk at killing public figures as well as its own members. Heavily weighted toward the theoretical, this book is recommended for research collections. Lay readers or those interested in the Sicily-U.S. Mafia connection would likely prefer Claire Sterling's Octopus ( LJ 1/90).-- Gregor A. Preston, Univ. of California Lib., Davis
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