INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE   Download slides “Men die, their ideas carry on walking on other men’s legs”. This statement by Judge Giovanni Falcone perfectly explains why to understand the mafia both a sociological and a historical perspectives are needed. “Mafia” is one of a long list of words – like “pizza”, “spaghetti” and “opera” – that Italian has given to many other languages across the world. It is commonly applied to criminals far beyond Sicily and the United States, which are the places where the mafia in the strict sense is based. “Mafia” has become an umbrella label for whole world panoply of gangs – Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Chechen, Albanian, Turkish, and so on – that have little or nothing to do with the Sicilian original. This course is a social history of the mafia in Sicily. Some of the most famous American Mafiosi, men like Lucky Luciano and Al Capone, also will be taken into consideration because the history of the Sicilian mafia cannot be understood without telling the story of the American mafia to which it gave birth. It is only when viewed from the coast of a small, triangular island in the Mediterranean that the history of the mafia in USA, at least in early stages, can begin to make sense. The mafia of Sicily pursues power and money by cultivating the art of killing people and getting away with it, and by organizing itself in a unique way that combines the attributes of a shadow state, an illegal business, and a sworn secret society like the Freemasons. Cosa Nostra is like a state because it aims to control a territory. With the agreement of the mafia as a whole, each mafia Family exercises a shadow government over the people within its territory. Protection rackets are for a mafia Family what taxes are for a legal government. Cosa Nostra is a business because it tries to make a profit – albeit by intimidation. Most of the income form protection rackets tends to get ploughed back into maintaining its murder capability: it buys lawyers, judges, policemen, journalists, politicians, and casual labor, and it supports Mafiosi unlucky enough to end up in prison. Cosa Nostra is an exclusive secret society because it needs to select its affiliates very carefully and impose restrictions on their behavior in return for the benefits of membership. The chief demands that it makes of its members are that they be discreet, obedient, and ruthlessly violent. The history of the organization is fascinating in its own right. But the history of the mafia cannot just be about the mafia, about the deeds of men of honor. Before Falcone and Borsellino, a great many other people died fighting the mafia. Some of them are characters in the drama. The mafia’s story also embraces the people who, for an assortment of motives ranging from rational fear, through political cynism, to downright complicity, have favored the organization’s cause. There are plenty of contemporary examples that suggest Italy’s deeply rooted mafia problem is still very much alive. Life Senator Giulio Andreotti, the seven-times Prime Minister of Italy, has been under investigation for arranging to have the mafia murder a journalist who was blackmailing him. Another high-profile mafia case involves Senator Marcello Dell’Utri, the advertising executive who in 1993 founded Forza Italia, the political party of the Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The allegations are strongly denied, and one should not rush to draw conclusions about these individual trials. But as well as raising eye browns, they also raise historical questions about how Italy managed to get itself into such a predicament. The course analyses the Sicilian Mafia through an historical, social and cultural perspective, tracing its progression from the National unity of Italy to the present day. To understand the mafia a beginning point can be the Falcone’s statement quoted above. An analysis of the sociological aspects of the mafia is considered essential, including “the code of silence” or omertà, the many different ways of violence, the social relationships within the organization, the role of women in Cosa Nostra, the way Mafiosi communicate with each other and the external world, the structures of power, the businesses of the mafia, and the relationships between mafia, politics, and religion. (extract by John Dickie, Cosa Nostra, A History of the Sicilian Mafia)   About the Professor:                      Lorenzo Picchi graduated from the University of Florence in April 2000 and teaches History of the Italian Mafia and Journalism in several American Universities in Florence. He is the Director of The Florence Newspaper, and has published many articles on the history of the Mafia in Italian newspapers, journals and reviews. He is a member of the Antimafia Association Fondazione Caponnetto, and is currently working on a series of monographs on the Italian mafia.   Contact Lorenzo Picchi: lorepicchi@hotmail.com