The Mafia is an organizational and criminal phenomen, which was born in Sicily, Calabria and Campania also developed all over the world. In every city, the mafia has a different name, in Sicily “Cosa Nostra”, in Calabria “N’dragheta” and in Campania “Camorra”. The main feature of the mafia is the conquest of economic power, coming to do business with politicians to obtain favors in exchange for votes or through the “pizzo” thata the mafia asks from shopkeepers in exchange for protection. In Sicily, the word “Cosa Nostra” was born in 1800. The phenomen was born as an organization of local landowners who became the masters of the whole territory, and decided who should be elected, who should work and who should be punished.
In Sicily, these criminals organized themselves and after the war stopped the revolts of the peasants who demanded the ownership of the lands they cultivated. The first mafia massacre was on 1 May 1947 where peasanta, women and children were killed. Mafia organization do not limit themselves to committing crimes, but create a system, in which entire territories under their control, affecting the life of the community. In areas controlled by the mafia the clans decide who works, who can build a building, who can start a business and who is protected. The mafia takes the place of the State, and therefore ends up being supported not only by its memebers, but also by ordinary people who finding themeselves in difficulty see the underworld as a way to earn a living.
GIOVANNI FALCONE
Why do refer to Giovanni Falcone when we talk about the mafia?
Because Giovanni Falcone was a magistrate who dedicated his life to the fight against the mafia.
Falcone was born in Palermo in 18 May 1939. He likes to play football with his friends, including his future colleague Paolo Borsellino. After finishing Classic High School, he decides to enroll in a military academy, but changes his mind and decides to attend to law faculty. After having graduated with full marks in 1964 he becomes a magistrate. Falcone was among the first to identify in Cosa Nostra an organization parallel to the state, in times when it was still thought that the mafia did not exist. Then with the falcon method he decides to collect more and more information. From here begin the various processes that will bring the truth about the Sicilian mafia and the clans. Cosa Nostra after discovering that Judge Falcone knew every single information about them, they decided to carry out one of the most ferocious attacks, on May 23, 1992 they put a bomb under the highway that led to the death of Falcone, his wife and his escort . This event will be remembered as “the Capaci Massacre”.
“Today commemorates the 30th anniversary of the Magistrate Giovanni Falcone who sacrificed his life to the fight against the Mafia”.