People let me speak to you planly for a second, allow me to explain to you, be real with you for a millisecond.    I want to take you back in time but before I can do that I must clear up some misguided notions.  You see like most people I read a book and it made a statement and like most I stopped there.  However I had the misfortune to lose my family members at an early age which I was not ready for.   To be honest no matter the age you are never ready for the death of a loved one.  The reason for this is not to state who Alexander Hamilton is; for there are a million things that I haven’t done yet but just you wait because someday you will tell my story.   As I walk with you going back in time viewing the history of the making of the mafia.  

Most of you have read and believe it started with the Sicilian Vespers.  I heard that also from many scholars and friends and I stopped there. They were considered men and women far more educated than I, they had more means than I.  These people were like an elected official in office, I trusted that they knew what they were talking about.   For those of you that dont know what the Sicilian Vespers is, allow me to explain.  This was a successful rebellion on the island of Sicily that broke out on Easter 1282 against the rule of the French-born king Charles I.  He ruled Sicily since 1266.  

Nevertheless in six weeks, approximately 13,000 French men and women were slain by the rebels, and the government of Charles lost control of the island. This began the War of the Sicilian Vespers.  The Landowner paid old military leaders also known currently as Don’s for protection.  These Don’s had their soldiers provide protection because the government could not afford to pay or hire soldiers themselves with all the fighting between themselves.   The Don’s all had territories that they managed.  However that is not when the Mafia started.   

You now may think me to be insane and challenge me on this issue.  So grant me a little more of your time.  First the word Mafia is Aribic and is thought of as an Italian secret crime society.  Now why would Italians use an Aribic word better yet why would the Sicilians use an Aribic word?  What does that word mean in Aribic.  Very good questions my dear dearest, friends.  The Aribic meaning is secret place or hidden place", and the Sicilians use of the word is used to refer to the secrecy of the organization.

Indeed the Mafia began as a way of life to protect one's family and loved ones from the injustice of the government.  However, life was rough all over the world but more so for the Island of Sicily.   The pain and anguish came to a boil far and the kettle released steam during the six week war with Charles Troops.  Therefore,  I pled with you allow me to take you on a journey back in time.  A mere thousand years or so, to see how one might see how such violence came to be.  How the Sicilians got to the point of needing such an organization to fight the violence and oppression that foregn powers played in history under the guise of government rule. 

You will also see it is not far off from how the Colonists formed America.   When it broke away from their ruler 3000 miles away selecting 3000 tyrants one mile away.  

When power is given to them that crave it, corruption is born.  Born to maintain it, and corruption is the fruits that breeds inconsistent rulers in regards to its injustice system.  Does that sound familiar?  Like in all nations where corruption exists. Where the powerful began to nurture an atmosphere of self-reliance and bypass the people they swore to help and guide, the gentle, peaceful use of cooperation by working with and talking to the people that gave them their perceived power.  The reliance and respect for the people faded.  This betrayal is induced by the fear of losing that power.   The people gave up their rights and freedoms to be controlled by the few that appeared to be wiser and promised to keep law and order.  Law and order, corrupt leaders, this instilled by violence and threats backed by a bureaucracy that power would only share with their very own family and friends.  The powerful always feed on the weak.  Dating back to the first Punic War between Rome and Carthage, they fought over the sovereignty of Sicily, the Romans emerged victorious, and signed a treaty with the Carthaginians giving Rome control of Sicily in 241 BC.  This is when Roman ideals and traditions were imported from the mainland and applied to the island. 

Rome constructed a new economic and social system. Unlike the previous system mainly consisting of subsistence farming, the Roman system was a feudal formation creating a hierarchy of personnel and a system of taxation.  Much like America started with the King’s  endless spending and increased taxation to pay his debts without representation.  If you are not careful your elected officials will raise your taxes to cover their needs and those that are not wealthy will not have true representation.  

Rome also set up a new system of justice. They divided the land under the jurisdiction of single men who in turn made the discrepancy between the judicial decisions of one area versus another distinctly different.   The people contested this inconsistent rule, but the landlords were backed or shall i say, influenced by Rome. This allowed the men to hold on to their authority.   Although the Roman's actions have no direct connections in the creation of the Mafia, it did set the stage for the  structure of hierarchy from which the Mafia emerged.

Sicily fell under Arab in 826 BC with the fall of Rome.  Arab control came with new aspects such as the mistreatment and subordination of women. This is why Angelica wanted Thomas Jefferson to include women in the decoration giving them equal rights yet I digress.   Because of this treatment of women the Mafia later adopted this idea and kept women out of the business.  Another aspect adopted by the Sicilians was the idea of internal justice. Instead of having a system of authorities to deal with crime and misconduct, they used personal and internal justice to avenge crimes to set the records straight.

1000 AD the Normans conquered Sicily, in the 11th century. Their presence only magnified the system of feudalism established by the Romans, creating a system of landlords or nobles who were loyal to the king.

These men and their landlord bosses, like the Romans before them, were hard to control and thus created a system of inconsistent justice that raged across the people further and created an environment of angst between rulers and subjects.  This led to the creation of small groups to deal with the peoples problems internally rather than take them to the authorities.  This meant that family was the only structure that people trusted.

Then in 1300 AD the Spanish occupation of Sicily.   During the Spanish rule the Feudal organization continued and the discrepancies of justice from estate to estate only became greater.  The Powerful had their taxes lifted, while others were financially burdened further with additional taxes. Using fear and intimidation, the Spanish held the power to take the life of any Sicilian or to subdue groups by force and violence. This behavior only increased the need for internal justice, which could be regulated by the groups rather than by solely the leader of the area. This is an early form of the Mafia.   After this came the Sicilian Vespers.  

By 1500 AD Bandits, Guilds and family units formed and served internal justice.  This was another step toward the inception of the formal mafia.  They tried to oust the lords and barons of the Spanish by thievery and murder. It was this reaction in Sicily that the mafia concept of 'omerta´ was fashioned.  A bandit was captured and held in solitary confinement for his crime.  While he was in prison he was poisoned and died.  Many people believe that he was murdered for what he might tell.  It is clear that the code of silence used by the mafia, 'omerta. 

At that point important statesmen and landholders wanted to live near the centers of commerce which was in Palermo, they started handing over the supervision of their estates to managers called gabelloti or gabellotto.  They were the overseer of a large land estate; these gabelloti were usually already prominent and respected men who could use their power to control the people who inhabited the land. The gabelloti began to create entourages consisting of uomo di fiducia or trusted men.  The so called trusted men served as tax collectors, and they had direct contact with the people.  They were accompanied by campieri or fieldmen who were their mounted armed forces to keep the peace through fear. They commanded respect and control through their use of violence.   

The Mafia structure paralleled the gabelloti structure. The Don, doles out orders to his next inline, who then passes the message on until it reaches the soldier who is the man who will carry out the order.  In the earliest days of the rural Mafia the gabelloti were the men who ordered the murders and crimes, and the bandits carried out the crime for a small stipend.  The emergence of these new groups also marks the creation of the Mafia.