Corleone

Acitrezza Agrigento Catania Cefalů Corleone Marsala Monreale Mount Etna Norman Mosaics Palermo Piazza Armerina Santo Stefano di Camastra Segesta Sicilian Lunch Siracusa Stagnone Lagoon Taormina Trapani

Corleone

Photos from 2005

 

 

park square

 

fountain

 

green grocer

 

 

 

 


The Mafia

Mafia, name for a loose association of criminal groups, sometimes bound by a blood oath and sworn to secrecy. The Mafia first developed in Sicily in feudal times to protect the estates of absentee landlords. By the 19th century the Mafia had become a network of criminal bands that dominated the Sicilian countryside. The members were bound by Omerta, a rigid code of conduct that included avoiding all contact and cooperation with the authorities. The Mafia had neither a centralized organization nor a hierarchy; it consisted of many small groups, each autonomous within its own district. By employing terroristic methods against the peasant electorate, the Mafia attained political office in several communities, thus acquiring influence with the police and obtaining legal access to weapons.
Benito Mussolini's Fascist government succeeded for a time in suppressing the Mafia, but the organization emerged again after World War II ended in 1945. Over the next 30 years the Mafia became a power not only in Sicily but all over Italy as well. The Italian government began an anti-Mafia campaign in the early 1980s, leading not only to a number of arrests and sensational trials, but also to the assassination of several key law-enforcement officials in retaliation. Public outrage was tempered by the arrest in 1993 of the reputed Mafia leader, Salvatore Riina.

 

some of the files used in the prosecution of Mafia figures

Beginning in the late 19th century, some members of the Mafia immigrated to the United States. They soon became entrenched in American organized crime, especially in the 1920s during Prohibition. After the repeal of Prohibition in 1933 ended most bootlegging, the Mafia moved into other areas, such as gambling, labor racketeering, prostitution, and, in recent years, narcotics. Links with the Italian Mafia were also maintained. As in Italy, prosecution of reputed Mafia leaders in the United States increased in the 1980s and 1990s.

 

poster

Responsible groups of Americans have, at times, waged campaigns in the media to obliterate any assumption that crime in the United States is dominated by people of Italian descent, claiming that the existence of an American Mafia had not been fully established.

Contributed By: G. Robert Blakey for Microsoft Encarta


The Cathedral

 

 

nativity scene

 

crčche

 

baptismal font

 

 

 

open confessional

 

 

carved door panel

 

cathedral doors

 

cathedral entrance


The Murals

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Acitrezza Agrigento Catania Cefalů Corleone Marsala Monreale Mount Etna Norman Mosaics Palermo Piazza Armerina Santo Stefano di Camastra Segesta Sicilian Lunch Siracusa Stagnone Lagoon Taormina Trapani

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