Mafia in Italy

Italian mafia

With the term « mafia » in Italy we mean all criminal organizations that are instilled in our territory. That means even organizations who aren’t Italians. Although, when this term is brought up in English or other languages, the idea is that mafia is pretty much only an Italian thing.

Mafia and Italian history are tied since the beginning. In fact, we know that organizations of this type have been there since even before the unity of Italy in 1861. Even though we think that the birth of mafia goes back to the medieval Era, the first time that we hear it in a formal document will be in 1838 when a functionary in Sicily will talk about « unions and fraternities, kind of sects ».

First attempts to block the phenomenon

The first act by some politicians to prevent the phenomenon will not be a lot later, in 1860. Only in the beginnings of 1900 tho, there will be the first attempts of repressions by the politicians and the police. Even Mussolini, during fascism, tried to block the mafia, failing. After the second world war, mafia will gain a lot of power in every part of italy. Mafia is now everywhere: from the bottom of society, where people need to give a tip to these organizations in order to have their properties, up to the politicians, who for the majority have strict ties with the leaders of these organizations, and sometimes are even part of them (Berlusconi). In 1986 there will be what is called the « maxiprocess » guided by Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino which will arrest the greater exponents of « Cosa Nostra ». That’s also when the first civil associations against the mafia are organized. This led to a violent response by the criminal organizations, and a long list of murders followed. In the 90s Cosa Nostra reached the height of violence with some bombs that killed Falcone and Borsellino. This led to a response from the gouvernement who reorganized the law enforcement and created the DIA and DNA ( investigative direction antimafia and national direction antimafia). It is clear that we are still a long way from defeating corruptcy in Italian politics and these kinds of organizations.