Mafia
The Trials
The sensational series of trials that resulted over the following decade exposed Mafia's relationship with politicians, legal officials and police to all of Italy. The Notarbartolo case was Italy's first Mafia media circus. The first trial took place in Milan, seven years after the murder. At the Milan trial, Leopoldo Notarbartolo, Emanuele's son, accused Raffaele Palizzolo, a member of the Parliament, to be the instigator of the crime. Leopoldo then told the story of the long battle between Palizzolo and his father. Palizzolo was convicted. The second trial was held in Bologna. It lasted nearly eleven months. Fifty fat volumes of evidence were submitted, 503 witnesses were heard; they included three former ministers, seven senators, eleven members of parliament, and five chiefs of police. Chief of Police Ermanno Sangiorgi was called to the witness stand.
WWII and the Mafia
There is a story that says that Lucky Luciano had been released from prison early in return for arranging the Mafia's help with the invasion of the American troops in Sicily, during WWII. Most historians now dismiss it as a fable. More likely, in Sicily Allied troops ended up to rely on the men of honour - the most powerful men of the region - to re-establish order. In every Sicilian village, people gave the Allies a joyous welcome because they were tired of the hardship that Fascism and war had brought. They also loved America - many emigrants had returned from the US rich, and many American soldiers were from Sicily. As they advanced across Sicily, Allied troops summarily dismissed the Fascist mayors of the towns that they liberated. They replaced them with local men of power, who often were men of honour
The Corleonesi
These are the years of ferocious mafia wars between the Corleonesi and the Palermitan. Corleone reinvented Mafia tactics by creating a new combination of old methods to dominate and conquer Palermo. Its trademark was invisibility, and savagery. The two Mafioso sections fighting were the Corleonesi and the Palermitan. Among the Corleonesi there was Luciano Liggio, Totò Riina, and Bernardo Provenzano. Among the Palermitani: Gaetano Badalamenti, Stefano Bontate, Salvatore Inzerillo.
What are the rituals and codes which define the family? What do they tell us about the Sicilian society of those times?
They pray regularly as a family and dress up and meet for meals every single day. This stressed that family was very important.
VITO CORLEONE
Vito Corleone is the head of one of the "five families" of New York, the five local branches of the mafia (although the word "mafia" is never used in the movie itself). Technically speaking, he may not be the most moral guy in the world—letting his henchmen hack off a horse's head and put it in a movie producer's bed, and so on—but he apparently has a few principles. For instance, he says he won't murder the men who attacked a friend's daughter because it's out of proportion to the crime committed. He'll only beat them up just as badly. Also, and more importantly for the plot, Vito refuses to deal drugs or help other Mafiosi do it, which leads to an assassination attempt that almost kills him. Throughout the rest of the movie, the Godfather is kind of out of commission. Sonny is the acting Don for a while, until he gets whacked, and Vito has to make peace with the other bosses. He survives long enough to help Michael identify the man who is trying to betray them to their main rival, Don Barzini, before dying in a nice, peaceful manner, while playing with one of his grandkids in a tomato garden. Vito represents the way of doing "business" in the past, in the Old World, whereas Michael is trying to ride the violent wave of the future.
In The Sopranos, we encountered new ways of portraying the universe of the Mafia: comedy, vulnerability of the boss, symbolism (the ducks). What plus values do they add to the story?
Vulnerable which is unlike how the Godfather was portrayed. Violence is very reactionary and not planned in a lawful way Working class people -- not elites like the Godfather (he was basically a prince). Humor-- tons of it. Middle class/New York comedy Strong women But Tony's ducks seemed more telling, somehow: that this big bad mobster could be brought to his knees, gasping in realization of his own mortality (or whatever) by a family of adorable ducklings. I bet there were some people out there who probably won't admit it, but on first viewing of The Sopranos thought to themselves "Dude, grow a pair." But the wonderful thing about the ducks was that they were unaffected by the life of Tony Soprano
What do The Leopard and The Godfather have in common (thematically, characters, mood, genre)?
Wealthy--The Godfather and the Prince are very similar Religion Family Power Changes (Change from old to new) Relationship between father and son (handing over a business from one to the other) About family even though there is killing. Both family dramatic sagas
Death Sentence
When Falcone was appointed in Rome, Totò Riina and the other Mafiosi who were incarcerated, started to get worried. The State was to be bombed into backing down over the things that mattered most to Riina and his cohorts: the maxi-trial verdict, and the 1982 law that allowed the authorities to confiscate the Mafia wealth. The Commission's death sentences against Falcone and Borsellino were reactivated within days of the Court of Cassation's pronouncement. These years, 1992 and 1993 - the aftermath of the Court of Cassation's historic decision - were the most dramatic in the whole history of the Sicilian mafia. Giovanni Falcone was killed on the 23 of May, 1992. Paolo Borsellino on the 19 of July of the same year
The Great Depression and WWII
When Prohibition was finally abolished, America was four year into the great Depression. Organized crime survived these changes thanks to the gaming industry. But the end of Prohibition also saw the national mood harden against organized crime. The Hollywood movies of the early 1930s show this switch in public attitudes and political tactics. Instead of the gangster movies of the early 1930s, like Little Caesar (Mervyn LeRoy, 1931) and Scarface (Howard Hawks, 1932), Hollywood began to make films lauding the deeds of law enforcement officers.
Giuseppa Di Sano
Women had an important role in helping Sangiorgi to design his map of the Mafia. Among them, Giuseppa Di Sano, the quiet heroine of Sangiorgi Report. Giuseppa had a small grocery store in Palermo, in front of a lemon grove, an inconvenient position for the Mafia activities. Besides, the Mafiosi believed she was an informer of the police, because a policeman was courting her daughter and often visited the store. They threatened her, and then orchestrated to kill her. Unfortunately they ended up killing her daughter, who went to help her mother. Giuseppa decided then to testify against the Mafia. She was the only witness that did not fail Sangiorgi at the trial. Despite the threats she faced, Giuseppa Di Sano mustered her courage and told the story of her daughter's murder.
Antonino Giammona
a notorious Mafia boss, for example, had a political following that brought some fifty votes under his direct control - this at a time when only 2 percent of the population had the right to vote, and a few hundred votes were regularly enough to win a constituency. For the Mafia votes became a new, very profitable, asset.
Captain McCluskey
a totally corrupt cop—tied up with drugs and rackets and, in this case, a murder attempt on Vito. Michael shoots him through the skull after they sit down to dinner at a restaurant in the Bronx, gaining his retribution.
Princess Stella
an emotional, loyal wife who loves and respects her husband almost to a fault. The book shows her submissiveness toward Prince Fabrizio, [Her] fine crazy eyes glanced around at her slaves of children and her tyrant of a husband, over whom her diminutive body yearned for loving dominion. (1.6) Even after her husband has behaved like a cheating jerk, she takes comfort in feeling his large, masculine presence next to her in bed: "Stella lay back too, and as her right leg grazed the left leg of the Prince she felt consoled and proud at having for a husband a man so vital and proud" (3.15). What she really needs to do, though, is demand some R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Apart from her faith in her husband, Princess Stella has a deep commitment to religion, even though she sometimes seems more invested in habits than in actual faith. As the text says, Maria Stella did not say a word at first, just made a series of signs of the Cross; then she remarked that she should have crossed herself with her left hand and not with her right; after this supreme expression she loosed the thunderbolts of her eloquence. (3.10) When she forgets which hand to use when making the sign of the cross, she shows us that she's more preoccupied with making the sign than thinking about what it actually means. But giving into superficial gestures instead of thinking deeply about them is nothing new for the aristocracy.
La cavalleria rusticana
an opera by Pietro Mascagni (1890), based on a short story by Giovanni Verga would become the model of the purest form of myth about Sicily, and consequently the Mafia.was often used to exemplify the typical traits of the Sicilian character, and of the Mafiosi: violence, passion, jealousy, revenge. One famous example is the intermezzo which ends The Godfather III, by Francis Coppola
Kay
becomes Michael's second wife, after all. While she's in love with Michael, Kay seems pretty conflicted. She knows that Michael's father runs a Mafia family, but he tells her that he's different... which he is, until he isn't. Also, Michael can't tell her that he loves her—maybe because he doesn't want to drag her into anything. After returning from Sicily, Michael finally does marry Kay. But this time, their marriage is shadowed by the fact that Michael is maturing into an extremely ruthless leader of organized crime. How will Kay deal with this? The end of the movie darkly suggests that it'll be a source of problems to come
Prince Fabrizio
he's proud and he's huge enough to intimidate anyone who looks the wrong way at him. At first, it's actually tough to figure out whether this guy is going to be our hero or our villain. He sounds super intimidating, to be honest: [The] Prince had risen to his feet; the sudden movement of his huge frame made the floor tremble, and a glint of pride flashed in his light blue eyes at this fleeting confirmation of his lordship over both human beings and their works. (1.7) Centuries of royal blood have convinced the Prince that he practically rules the world like a god. If his royal status isn't enough to make him feel that way, his giant body sure is. And at this point, we're left wondering, "So why should we like this guy?" In the early pages of this book, Lampedusa is almost obsessed with describing how imposing the Prince's is: Not that he was fat; just very large and very strong; in houses inhabited by common mortals his head would touch the lowest rosette on the chandeliers; his fingers could twist a ducat coin as it if were mere paper. (1.9) The guy sounds like a royal monster who could eat children if he wanted to, but the truth is that his short temper is evened out by his love for his family and his delicate manners. So Fabrizio isn't a raging lion, he's more like an agile, graceful leopard—the official symbol of the Prince's family, zing! A lifetime of idleness has left him feeling like there's no real point to what he does. Plus he's pretty bummed out about getting older. The two main problems in his life—his age and the end of the Sicilian aristocracy—are totally unavoidable. And even if the guy had the power to save his royal status, he wouldn't feel any motivation to do it. As the narrator tells us, Between the pride and intellectuality of his mother and the sensuality and irresponsibility of his father, poor Prince Fabrizio lived in perpetual discontent under his Jovelike frown, watching the ruin of his own class and his own inheritance without ever making, still less wanting to make, any move toward saving it. (1.12) In other words, Prince Fabrizio knows that there's no good reason to defend an entire class of people who are rich and powerful just because they were born into a certain family. He knows that the future belongs to people who've worked hard for what they have. In his darkest moments, Prince Fabrizio feels dislike for the one person in this book he loves most—his nephew Tancredi: "For the first time he felt a touch of rancor prick him at sight of Tancredi; this fop with the pinch-in waist under his dark blue suit had been the cause of those sour thoughts of his about death two hours ago" (2.55). After all, Tancredi is young, handsome, and charming while Fabrizio is old, bitter, and kind of depressing. A lifetime of doing nothing hasn't just made Fabrizio bored; it's also made him super philosophical about the both his death and the death of his entire social class. Early in the novel, he knows that his day will eventually come, just like it has for the Sicilian aristocracy. He thinks back on all the stuff in his life and realizes, Don Calogero's tailcoat, Concetta's love, Tancredi's blatant infatuation, his own cowardice; even the threatening beauty of that girl Angelica: bad things, rubble preceding an avalanche. (2.84) All he can see around him is destruction that's totally unpreventable. It's all just part of the natural process of new generations sweeping old ones into the trash bin of history. The only thing that ever seems to cheer the Prince up is the thought of being romantically involved with young, beautiful women. But he can only keep this fantasy going for so long. By the end of the novel, Fabrizio has already started to think of himself as a dead old mummy that can be hung from a wall. But on the bright side, he feels like he'd make a good mummy: [He'd] look magnificent on that wall, tall and big as he was, terrifying girls by the set smile on his sandpaper face, by his long, long white piqué trousers. (6.40) He likes the thought that something of him can be preserved after he dies. But like his dog Bendicò, he knows that even the mummified version of him will turn to dust. So in the end, it's tough to say what conclusion he's reached other than, "Everybody dies."
Don Calogero
in the words of Prince Fabrizio, the "new man" of Italy. He's a scheming capitalist who knows how to squeeze a situation for every penny it's worth. Because of this attitude, Don Calogero has become the richest man in his town, richer even than Fabrizio. As Fabrizio's friend Ciccio says, "Don Calogero is very rich, and very influential too; that he's a miser (when his daughter was at school he and his wife used to eat a fried egg between them) but knows how to spend when he has to." (3.43) On this level, it's possible to admire Calogero as an enterprising guy who has made his own fortune, unlike Fabrizio, who's been born into his. On the other hand, Calogero is really rude and rough around the edges. He lacks a lot of the social niceties of people who've had money for many generations. As Ciccio adds, Calogero is: "... a scourge of God, Excellency, a scourge of God. And we haven't seen the beginning of Don Calogero's career. In a few months he'll be Deputy in the Turin Parliament [...] that's Don Calogero, Excellency: the new man: a pity he has to be like that, though." (3.43) Don Calogero is destined to gain power in the new Italy, and people like Fabrizio are destined to become relics of a former time. When offered a position as a senator in the new Italian government, Fabrizio turns down the position and recommends Calogero for it, saying that he's the type of man whom the government will want heading forward. Fabrizio's time is done, and the age of Calogero is just beginning.
Father Pirrone
is basically the voice of Christian morality who hangs around Prince Fabrizio to tell him when he's acting against God's will. Prince Fabrizio doesn't seem to care, though. He keeps Father Pirrone around mainly to help with his astronomy experiments. After a night where Prince Fabrizio hangs out with his mistress, Father Pirrone asks him to confess his sins by saying, "Excellency, the efficacy of confession consists not only in telling our sins but in being sorry for them. And until you do so and show me that you do so, you will remain in mortal sin, whether I know what your sins are or not." (1.110) For Father Pirrone, Fabrizio doesn't show nearly enough shame for the sins he commits. On top of that, Pirrone is worried about the formation of the new Italian government and how this will lead to a decline in the power of the church. Churches aren't as important in modern democracies as they were in old world aristocracies, and Pirrone can see what's about to happen to him: The unhappy priest was breathing hard; sincere horror at the foreseen dispersal of Church property was linked with regret at his having lost control of himself again. (1.115) We get a chance to learn more about Father Pirrone when he pays a visit to his home village and helps get his niece out of a jam—one that involves pregnancy and a shotgun marriage. Here, he shows us his playful, scheming side. But even though he might be able to save his cousin, he can't save the country he's lived in his whole life. Things change, and he's going to have to get used to that.
Clemenza
is one of Don Corleone's main capos, or under-bosses, along with Tessio. He's a helpful mentor-figure to Michael, and a killer at the same time. He shows Michael the correct way to kill Sollozzo and McCluskey, and gives him advice both on his relationship with Kay and on cooking. He also helps dispose of Vito Corleone's betrayer, Paulie, by having him whacked while Clemenza stops to urinate in New Jersey. He concludes the scene with the memorable line, "Leave the gun. Take the cannoli."
TOM HAGEN
is the Godfather's adopted son, and unlike all the Corleones, he's of German-Irish descent. Since he isn't blood, he's not in line to become the next Don, though he considers himself to be just as much a son as the other brothers. Instead, Tom is pegged to become the consigliere, the chief adviser and lawyer to the Godfather. He gives sharp advice to Sonny (which Sonny fails to take), because he understands that the killing that occurs in their line of work isn't personal, but "just business." He also helps propose offers (the kind that people can't refuse) to men like Jack Woltz, the producer who's preventing Johnny Fontane from getting a role. While Tom isn't utterly unprincipled (he's one of the "good" characters, relatively speaking), he also has business savvy that is a bit less scrupulous than Vito's. For instance, he sees that drug dealing is part of the future of organized crime and advises getting involved instead of objecting to it. But Vito's not going for it
Elizabeth Street
the heart of the New York Sicilian community. In 1905, roughly 8,200 Italians - the vast majority of them Sicilians - lived there. This concentration of people constituted a territory comparable in size to many of the agro-towns of the Sicilian interior.
Senator Giovanni Nicotera
who turned the Ministry of the Interior into a formidable vote-farming machine. Opposition supporters were cut from the electoral roll or harassed by the police; government funds and jobs were placed at the disposal of friendly candidates. Nicotera also addressed the crime issue in Sicily, that had become an international embarrassment. Nicotera appointed a tough prefect of Palermo and gave him instructions to implement a brutal crackdown on crime. He was successful because he offered politicians in Sicily an implicit bargain: they would be looked on favorably by the government as long as they handed over the bandits. "Bandits" meant the Mafiosi who created problems for the government or who did not have the right political protectionIn the late 1870s and the early 1880s there were several trials against the Mafia, but it soon became clear that the bargain pioneered by Nicotera was proving to be a turning point. Governments in Rome were resigning themselves to working with Sicilian politicians who had Mafia support. Mafiosi were gradually becoming part of a new political normality. The men of honor built up their extortion rackets and other business interests, but they also learned that political friendships had become more important than ever to their survival. Nicotera's bargain thus created a blueprint for governing Sicily that would remain more or less in place for the future.
The Leopard begins with a date, what is it? Why is it important for the story of the Salina family? And why is it important for the history of the Mafia?
1860, gives the reader a reference to the historical framework, set us in historical period. The date is the "motor" of the story and the time when history changes. Sicilian society is changing drastically at this time. The mafia arose at this time due to the new order after Vittorio Emmanuele.
When does the mafia transplant to America? What are its assets there?
1901 1913 early 20th century Prohibition --selling alc
Cosa Nostra and Tommaso Buscetta
After WWII, the Sicilian Mafia began to refer to itself as Cosa Nostra, probably importing the name from America. Between 1950 and 1963, Cosa Nostra underwent profound changes. The protagonist of these years is Tommaso Buscetta, who lived between Sicily, the US and South America. He re-established the ties with the American Mafia, increased the heroin trade, found new sources of income, in particular cigarette smuggling and construction, and reinforced the bond with the political system. In his testimony to judge Giovanni Falcone, Buscetta remembered the 1950s as the good old years, when the old Mafia respected honor, and was not governed by greed and violence
The Mafia: 1960-1992
After WWII, the new assets of the mafia became construction and heroin. Between 1959 and 1963, the hottest years of the construction fever, Vito Ciancimino and Salvo Lima, two politicians of the Christian Democrat Party, were at the Office of Public Works. In those years, the city council granted 80% of the 4205 building permits to just 5 men. The bulk of Palermo's economy depended on publicly funded construction so a huge proportion of the city's wealth was routed through those 5 names. The construction works were managed in the same way as the lemon groves.
What questions does the Plebiscite of the Unification raise?
All votes were for the unification of Italy. the vote was rigged because Ciccio voted no. This brings up the the new order brings the issue of corruption-- they rigged the votes as a power play. The mayor was a money hungry capitalist. Will the new system be effective?
Joe Petrosino
American authorities tried to fight the Italian mafia by preventing Sicilian to immigrate, and also by trying to send back those who were considered to have entered the country illegally. They decided to send an Italian-American detective, Joe Petrosino, in Palermo, to stop immigration. Petrosino had proved to be very effective in fighting the mafia in New York. Petrosino arrived in Palermo in 1909, and was almost immediately killed. He was another "excellent cadaver".
Angelica
Angelica is your classic rags-to-riches kind of character. Yes, she's the daughter of a mayor, but her family has been dirt poor for as long as anyone can remember. Plus it takes a lot more than quick money to give someone the signs of good breeding. Her grandfather, for example, was practically considered a wild animal by his hometown. But through education and her father's wealth, Angelica has managed to transform herself into a dignified young lady. The first thing about Angelica that strikes the people around her is her beauty: "Under the first shock of her beauty the men were incapable of noticing or analyzing its defects, which were numerous; there were to be many forever incapable of this critical appraisal" (2.68). The fact that her beauty has numerous defects suggests that her personality and smile are so awesome that they prevent people from noticing what these defects are. To back this idea, the narrator continues, She was moving slowly, making her wide skirt rotate around her, and emanating from her whole person was the invincible calm of a woman sure of her beauty. (2.68) In spite of all her education, Angelica still has some slip-ups where she behaves with rough manners. When she's served macaroni at the House of Salina, for example, Angelica, the lovely Angelica, forgot her Tuscan affectations and part of her good manners and devoured her food with the appetite of her seventeen years and the vigor derived from grasping her fork halfway up the handle. (2.76) But then again, who doesn't love a good mac n' cheese? Besides, these incidents become less common as Angelica spends more and more time around refined folks like the Salinas.
The Salvos Cousins
Antonio Nino Salvo and his cousin Ignazio Salvo were two wealthy Sicilian businessmen. They had strong political connections with the Christian Democrat party, in particular with the former mayor of Palermo, Salvo Lima, and Giulio Andreotti who served as Prime Minister in several administrations. Salvo Lima arranged an unusually lucrative concession to collect taxes in Sicily for the Salvo cousins island (tax collection was contracted out by the government). Subsequently, the Salvos expanded their economic activity to many other areas such agribusiness (lavishly subsidised by the European Union and Italian government) and tourism. They owned the Zagarella Hotel complex, near Palermo.
Cesare Lombroso
At the end of the 19th century, the Mafia also entered the academic debate. In 1876, Cesare Lombroso published a study called Delinquent Man. In it, he exposed his general theory which suggested that it is possible to identify criminals by their physical traits. He postulated that criminals represented a reversion to a primitive or subhuman type of man characterized by physical features reminiscent of apes, lower primates, and early man and to some extent preserved, he said, in modern "savages". The behavior of these biological "throwbacks" will inevitably be contrary to the rules and expectations of modern civilized society.Lombroso attributed the Mafia to a bundle of causes including race, place, climate. His critics attributed it to poverty, and also to primitivism, but a social primitivism, rather than a racial one. In 1886, Giuseppe Alongi, a policemen and a follower of Lombroso's theories of anthropological criminology, wrote a book called, La maffia nei suoi fattori e nelle sue manifestazioni: studio sulle classi pericolose della Sicilia. In it, he argued that Sicilians displayed "an unbounded egotism", "an exaggerated sense of themselves", "a capacity for violent, tenacious disdain and hatred that are implacable until vendetta is achieved". His ideas on the Mafia were similar to those we had already encountered in the Cavalleria rusticana.
Was the maxi-trial successful in fighting the mafia?
Because of appeals and other technicalities, by the beginning of 1989, only 60 of the 342 men convicted in December 1987 were still behind bars. After the maxi-trial Caponnetto decided to go back to Tuscany. There were insidious opposition against Falcone within the judicial system, so he was not appointed at Caponnetto's place. The anti-mafia pool was somewhat dismembered.
Bendico
Bendicò is Prince Fabrizio's beloved Great Dane whose main interests include sniffing people's groins and digging ups flowerbeds. But even though he's not all that well behaved, he still gives comfort to Prince Fabrizio when the old man is feeling anxious: "Bendicò in the shadow rubbed a big head against his knee. 'You see, you, Bendicò, are a bit like them, like the stars; happily incomprehensible, incapable of producing anxiety" (2.85). For Fabrizio, dogs and stars are both better off than humans because they don't spend all day worrying about petty things like social status or making money. They just exist for the moment, which is something Fabrizio wishes he could do more of. After all, who wouldn't want to be more like this guy? It's pretty easy for people to project all their own emotional baggage onto their pets, but the narrator backs up Fabrizio's idea that Bendicò lives for the moment when he writes, Bendicò also found again his dear comrade in play, one who knew better than anyone else how to blow into a snout through a closed fist; but he showed his ecstasy in his own doggy way by leaping frenziedly around the room and taking no notice of his beloved. (4.11) In other words, Bendicò only knows when he's happy. He doesn't connect this feeling to whatever's causing it—like seeing Tancredi, for example. He just likes to run and jump around. In the final chapter of the book, we find that Bendicò has been dead for decades and Fabrizio has had him stuffed and preserved. Concetta decides to throw him out because he's gotten all mangy and dusty over the years (kind of like her royal family's legacy). In the final moments of the book, she catches sight of Bendicò from the corner of her eye and thinks, During the flight down from the window his form recomposed itself for an instant' in the air one could have seen dancing a quadruped with long whiskers, and its right foreleg seemed to be raised in imprecation. Then all found peace in a heap of livid dust. (8.56) She mistakes Bendicò for a live leopard, the symbol of her royal blood. But she only thinks this for a moment before remembering that it's just her old dead dog being thrown into the trash. We want to feel sorry for poor Bendicò, but the truth is that he's probably the happiest character in the book.
"The Godfather is The Leopard translated into American vernacular". Discuss this statement by Elizabeth Leake, professor at Columbia University. Explain her statement, say if you agree/disagree with it and why. Give examples in support of your thesis).
Both represent the transfer of old to new power so yeah I agree
Don Calò and Michele Greco
Calogero Vizzini, Don Calò, had a major role in this development of the Mafia. Vizzini was the central character in the history of direct Mafia support for the Allied Forces during the invasion of Sicily in 1943. After World War II, he became the personification of the reinstatement of Cosa Nostra during the Allied occupation and the subsequent restoration of democracy after the repression under Fascist rule. Initially he supported the separatist movement, but changed allegiance to the Christian Democrat party, when it became clear that Sicilian independence was unfeasible. The first years after WWII saw savage Mafia wars, in particular in a village near Palermo, Corleone. Another protagonist of these years was Michele Greco, the boss of bosses, or the "Pope", as he was called.
The Anti-Mafia Pool
Caponnetto brought together a small team of magistrates who would come to inflict colossal blows on the Sicilian mafia. He had the idea to form a "pool" of specialized anti-mafia magistrates to share information, and therefore reduce the risk of reprisals. The pool comprised Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, among others.
Who are the major characters? Who are the good guys and the bad guys?
Captain Bellodi - Good guy-- trying to solve the case but was disliked. Using faintly corrupt methods, Bellodi traps one man and uses the names given by a dead informer to trap another, who has money stashed away in many bank accounts that add up to more than his fallow fields would ever bring. He is attempting to take down an organization with many members involved in the police and government, and whose mere existence many Sicilians deny. He is soft, when others would be hard; indirect where his peers would go on the attack. Salvatore Colasberna: The man who was shot and owned a construction company He had been warned that he should pay pizzo and take "protection" from mafia members, but he refused. Although his company was only a very small one, the local mafia decides to make an example of him and has him killed. Don Mariano Arena - Mobster boss Diego- Hitman
Can you find examples of moral ambiguity in this book? (the day of the owl)
Captain uses a fake confession in order to get a real confession from the suspect Talk between Bellodi and Don Mariano Arena and Bellodi accepts compliment from the mafia boss and then feels embarrassed --- some kind of communication between the two. Line between good and evil was met which confused them.
What are the issues that the dialogue between Chevalley and the Prince arises? Why are they relevant to the origins of the Mafia in Sicily?
Chevalley is a northern man and the north opposed the south. They're almost like two different countries. Sicily is a big contradiction. Aristocracy didn't want to participate and void of power. The new leading class us corrupt and doesn't follow the laws. The north is more democratic.
Who was Cesari Mori? When was he active? What is he known for
Chief of police that was appointed to go to Palermo to crackdown on the mafia Gangi and Corleone 1925-29 11,000 were arrested and 5,000 in Palermo alone No one trusted him His was too tough Not just Didn't fully understand the mafia Believed mafia was connected with sicilians and would have put everyone in jail because he thought they all were mafia
Why do Don Ciccio and the Prince disagree on the marriage between Angelica and Tancredi?
Ciccio goes on to talk about how hot he thinks Angelica is and imagines out loud what her bed sheets smell like. The Prince is offended by this. He tells Ciccio to watch what he says because Angelica might soon become his (the Prince's) niece through marriage to Tancredi. Instead of apologizing, Ciccio criticizes the marriage because he thinks Angelica is beneath Tancredi. Angelica is only good for one night and will ruin the reputation of the royal family.Her grandfather is considered a madman and her mother is considered a beautiful beast. Don ciccio is more faithful to the old system. The Prince feels like punching the dude, but doesn't. The Prince is a hypocrite because he defended Angelica but cheated on his wife. Only respects women when it's convenient for him. She's respected since she's going to be part of the family.
And how does The Leopard represent them? (Find examples of social, economic and historical changes in the book.)
Don Cologero wore expensive outfits and was described to be just as rich as the Prince. Also, when Tancredi asks to marry Don Cologero's daughter since he was now poor. People were scared of losing land, wealth, and power of the Church. Everyone was switching sides. Tancredi switches sides
SONNY CORLEONE
Don Corleone's eldest son, Santino (called Sonny), is kind of a slob.He's not inhuman or a total moron or anything, but he's a less-than-ideal Don. He cheats on his wife, he takes things too personally, and he would have no problem with getting the family involved in drug dealing, if his dad weren't there to stop him. On the other hand, he cares about his sister, Connie, enough to beat her husband, Carlo, to a bloody pulp after he injures her. In fact, he's lured into a death trap after Carlo viciously beats Connie again, as a ploy to get Sonny out of the house. Assassins blast him to death at a tollbooth. So, he's a complicated guy—or, really, an uncomplicated guyHis emotions lure him into a trap, and he's unable to step back and consider what might really be going on. It's understandable, given what's happened to his sister. But it doesn't demonstrate the cool, calculating, businessman's mind that Michael has.
What does the expression «excellent cadavers» mean? Who are the first «excellent cadavers» in the history of the mafia?
Expression that became part of our vocabulary Someone important in the institution Joe Pertosino was an important policeman that was sent to try a stop the mafia --- so when the mafia kills someone important we use the expression excellent cadavers. Since the late 1970s and for about two decades, as the power of the Corleonesi grew, there were dozens of "excellent cadavers". After 1979, violence became the dominant note in the Mafia's duet with the upper world of the institutions. And the violence reached a crescendo as Falcone and Borsellino made unprecedented advances in the struggle to defeat Cosa Nostra. L'Ora, a leftist newspaper based in Palermo, started a huge campaign against the Mafia. In 1970, one of its journalists, Mauro De Mauro, was kidnapped and never found. In 1971, the Palermo prosecutor Pietro Scaglione was shot dead.Piersanti Mattarella -- brother of president of republic General Carlo ALberto Dalla Chiesa Following his death -- a law was finally passed -- being part of the mafia was considered a crime for the first time and defined officially as a criminal organization Confiscate resources from the mafia. Rocco Chinnici. On 29 July 1983, Cosa Nostra deployed a car bomb in central Palermo to kill Falcone's boss, the chief investigating magistrate, Rocco Chinnici. Falcone was in Thailand to investigate on the heroin traffic.
Talk briefly about the maxi trial.
Falcone and Borsellino set up what became known as the maxi-trial. The maxi-trial opened on 10 February 1986, and it would last about two years. As proceedings began, a tense calm descended on Palermo. Cosa Nostra's killers were under orders to lie low while the drama switched from the streets to a massive floodlit concrete bunker abutting the Ucciardone prison where the specially built courtroom was housed. The main hall was green and octagonal, with thirty cages placed around the outside for the 208 most dangerous defendants. Of the total of 474 men who faced charges, the most important were Luciano Liggio's "beast", "Shorty" Riina and "Tractor" Provenzano. Liggio himself, dressed in a blue tracksuit and tennis shoes, was the first to speak form Cage 23.
What are the major themes in The Godfather?
Family, money, power, respect-- have to respect the Godfather (the opening scene) The American dream v. reality. They lived in a corrupted world where they had to commit crimes in order to obtain the american dream that is promised to immigrants (as explained by the Godfather- Corleone in the beginning of the film. One cannot achieve success without crime and breaking the rules. Mikey was college educated and served in the military yet still resorted to crime. Business not personal- Godfather in the end Tradition and customs: The Godfather's version of the Mafia is an old-school, European, semi-feudal organization. The Corleones are in America, the New World, but they're relying on Old World methods: They don't use American democracy or the legal system to solve their problems. Instead, they solve 'em through force and by relying on ancient notions of familial loyalty and blood. The role that Vito and Michael each take as the literal "Godfather" to family members symbolizes this: They're people you can view as a substitute father/president/judge, who can help you solve your problems if you agree to owe them loyalty and favors in the future. This system is an I-scratch-your-back-you-scratch-mine kind of thing.
New Legislation against the Mafia
Following the death of General Dalla Chiesa, a law was finally passed; for the first time it became a crime to belong to a "mafia-type association", defined as a criminal organization that relied on systematic intimidation, omertà, and the infiltration of the economy through extortion rackets carried out on a territorial basis. The law also allowed the state to confiscate a mafioso's ill-gotten gains. These were hugely important new weapons in the fight to bring Cosa Nostra to justice. But the signals from the politicians remained ambivalent. It was never "the Italian state" as such that opposed Cosa Nostra. The battle against the Mafia continued to be fought by a heroic minority of magistrates and police, supported by a minority of politicians, administrators, journalists, and members of the public.
What are the historical changes which take place at the end of the 19° century?
Garibaldi took over who led the army of Victor Emmanuel the second (first united king of italy). The aristocratic exchange of land rose. Italy becomes unified. Sicily becomes part of Italy under a different king. Now a constitution, law, courts, and police-- There wasn't institutions before-- it was all based on religion. All occur in 1860-61
Heroin
Giuseppe Bonanno, called Joe Bananas, went to Sicily, from the USA, in 1957, and initiated the heroin trafficking operations to Sicily, another turning point in the history of the Sicilian Mafia. In 1956-7, American Cosa Nostra's most important offshore base, Cuba, was getting lost to Fidel Castro, and it needed a new shipment base, and manpower. The heroin was distributed through the pizza places that Italians opened in the USA, the so called Pizza Connection. Tommaso Buscetta opened one pizzeria in NY in 1966. In the 1970s, the amount of heroin seized across the world increased by nearly six and a half times, the years when the Sicilian Mafia established its dominance of the market. Mafiosi from Sicily were refiners, importers and distributors of the heroin. In the 1970s, Cosa Nostra became wealthier and more powerful that it had ever been before.
February 1861. Father Pirrone goes home. Why, in your opinion, the narrator interrupts the saga of the Prince's family, to tell us about Father Pirrone's family? What are the problems that Father Pirrone has to face? In what ways are they relevant to our story?
He went to see his family on the 20th anniversary of his fathers death. His sisters daughter is pregnant with his Nephews child. This splits his family in two. They're very modest and poor not as refined and are farmers. Angelica and Angelina are both beautiful and smart and have similar names so that's why father perrone's life coincides with the Prince.
How does the Prince respond to the historical changes?
He's accepting the change and knows that power is changing. He didn't accept the senator position for example because he's over his time of power. At first he was in denial. After he talks to Tancredi who said he's joining Garibaldi forces. Tancredi says "If we want things to stay as they are, things need to change" Then the Prince starts to understand as Tancredi understands.
Ermanno Sangiorgi
In 1896,was appointed Chief of Police of Palermo. Sangiorgi started to investigate very thoroughly on the Mafia, and the outcome of his endeavor was the first complete report on the Sicilian Mafia. His report described in detail the Mafia's initiation ritual and code of behavior. It set out their business methods, how they infiltrated and controlled the market gardens, how they forged money, committed robberies, terrified and murdered witnesses. After this report it was no more possible to negate that the Mafia existed.
Mafia and Politics, 1946-1950
In 1946, after the constitutional referendum, the DC (Christian Democracy) became the largest party in Parliament. For over 40 years, it would govern Italy in successive coalitions. The Mafia immediately understood that the DC represented the best vehicle for its interests, much better than the Separatist Movement. It would be a gradual but decisive shift in the Mafia's allegiances. Some DC politicians were destined to become Sicilian organized crime's favorite mediators with Rome for over four decades.
General Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa
In 1981, the carnage continues. The Italian state's response was to appoint General Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa as the new prefect of Palermo. He had become a national hero by bringing home great successes in the fight against leftwing terrorism. In Sept. 1982, he was killed with his young wife. The day after, someone scrawled on the wall at the scene, "Here died the hope of all honest Sicilians".
Director of Penal Affairs
In February 1991, Falcone was appointed Director of Penal Affairs in Rome, with the responsibility for coordinating the fight against organized crime. His main goal was to set up two national bodies that are still today the pillars of Italy's response to organized crime: the DIA (Direzione Investigativa Antimafia), uniting the efforts of carabinieri, police, and other law enforcement agencies involved in fighting mafiastyle organizations; and the DNA (Direzione Nazionale Antimafia), a national anti-mafia prosecutors' office. He created a unified vision not just of Cosa Nostra, but of the whole Italian underworld.
Mussolini
In October 1922, Mussolini took over the Parliament; in 1925, he stood up in parliament, assumed personal responsibility for the violence of his Fascist gangs, and launched the process of suppressing all opposition. Mussolini's Fascist Party was no longer a government; it was a regime. A year later the new dictatorship inaugurated a war on organized crime in Sicily.
New Economic Resources
In these years there was an important change in the Sicilian economical resources. The lemon business had been paralyzed by an export crisis, and the most productive market became construction. In 1950, the government announced a massive program of investment for the backward economy of southern Italy, and gave money to implement construction in the public and private sectors. It was to be a major turning point in the history of the Mafia. From then on, if the organization wanted access to Sicily's major sources of wealth, it would have to turn to professional politicians and not landowners. The restoration of Italy's democratic system - and of the Mafia role as the island's informal state - was nearing completion
How is violence portrayed in the Godfather?
It is portrayed as the only way to obtain justice. (beginning scene) The justice system failed them and they needed their own justice that was more comparable to revenge / primitive justice. The mafia was provided services and didn't want to be considered hired assassins. Violence is justified by their feelings-- Mikey used violence to kill sisters husband for treating her badly. Not seen as crime, just business. Violence as justified by religion. Micheal was content as a baptism even while he was having people killed. Catholics have always been violent so therefore their violence is justified since religion is violent power.
Little Italy
Little Italy soon became very dynamic economically. It was into this dynamic environment - at once very Sicilian and very American - that the Mafia transplanted itself. And it was in this environment that the transformation of ordinary Sicilian migrants into Americans took place. At the same time, paradoxically, they were becoming Italian. Italy has a notoriously weak sense of national fellow feeling. Migrants from all over Italy, when in America started to feel Italians
The Mafia's Expansion
Mafiosi rather quickly started to offer their services to market operators who wanted to keep some competitors out of a given industry or expel troublesome insiders, and enforce cartels among a limited amount of producers. Italians infiltrated industries such as barbershops, the garment industry, and the docks.
Mafia's First Excellent Cadaver
Marquis Emanuele Notarbartolo was the Mafia's first "excellent cadaver", the first victim among Sicily's social elite. In 1893, he was killed with a knife - a weapon commonly used in crimes of passion - and on a train, two very unusual events. In the 1870s, Notarbartolo, who was uncompromisingly honest, had served a three year term as mayor of Palermo. This made him the Mafia's enemy. Then he was appointed governor of the Banco di Sicilia, a job he held until 1890. During his tenure, he found evidence of serious misconduct at the Banco di Sicilia. Among other things, he found that the bank's money was being used to protect the share price of NGI, the Florio's shipping company, during delicate contract negotiations with the government.
MICHAEL CORLEONE
Michael Corleone is the biggest kahuna in this movie. Yeah, Vito Corleone is a pretty big kahuna as well—but Michael ends up taking the cake. He's the one who leads the Corleone family to its final (and really, really violent) victory.Initially, Michael is a golden boy. He's a war hero from WWII, he has a girlfriend (Kay) who seems on track to become his wife, and he has a legitimate, non-criminal career in his future. "That's my family, not me," he tells Kay, referencing his family's murderous business. But circumstances intervene. After the Tattaglia family tries to kill his father, Michael needs to steer off his law-abiding career path. In the process, he discovers he can be pretty cool under pressure, like when he protects his dad from another would-be assassination attempt at the hospital. Finally, he crosses over to the criminal side by murdering Sollozzo and Captain McCluskey, who both conspired in arranging the Don's failed assassination. He's committed to the Mafia Boss trajectory—even though he has to escape to Sicily.In Sicily, he leads a pleasant and idyllic existence, marrying a Sicilian girl. But a car bomb kills her, puncturing his bucolic dreams. After his brother Sonny is assassinated, Michael returns to New York—all set to succeed his father as Don. He gradually sets about doing this, getting his chips into place and finally bringing down the wrath of God (or the Devil) on his enemies. He orders a massacre that wipes out their leading rivals and the traitors within their midst, setting the Corleones up for supremacy among New York's five Mafia families. Whereas the Don's other son, Sonny, is kind of an unprincipled jerk—full of intense animal energy—Michael is a much more calculating and savvy figure. Originally, his father wanted him to go legit, to live the American Dream in an authentic and non-criminal way and become a senator or a governor. But that's not what happens: Sonny ends up being a fairly lousy Don and gets murdered in the process.Michael becomes a very good Don indeed. The key to his success seems to be that, whereas Sonny takes things personally, Michael is able to keep his cool. As he says to his brother at one point, "It's not personal, Sonny. It's strictly business." That's what should be engraved on Michael's tombstone, if they ever bring him down. He's a consummate Chess Master—he gets that revenge is a dish best served cold, and is able to bide his time before eliminating Carlo, thus avenging Sonny and Connie in one fell swoop. He's clever in a way that Sonny never could be. But, hey, Michael's also a pretty bad guy by the time the movie ends. He's gained power, but lost his soul—arranging a massacre that wipes out all of his enemies, as he hypocritically makes pious affirmations at his sister's child's christening. He lies to his wife about his murderousness and seems set to lead a double life, trying to be a committed family man while simultaneously acting as a ruthless Mafia boss.
Fascism War against the Mafia Is Over
Mori operation was ambivalent in the same way that earlier attempts to repress the Mafia had been: it combined brutality with hypocrisy. In the long term, the State's reputation in Sicily could only suffer, and the results of Fascism's war on the Mafia were destined not to last; the Mafia was suppressed, but not eradicated. In 1929, Cesare Mori received a telegram from the Duce telling him that his job was finished. During the 1930s, the Mussolini's official line on the Mafia was that Mori's task had been completed. Fascism had beaten the Mafia; it had solved the problem for good.
Cesare Mori
Mussolini appointed Cesare Mori from Pavia (north of Italy) - the iron prefect, the man with hair on his heart, as he was called - to lead his war on organized crime. During Mori crackdown, the Mafia suffered badly; a great many men of honour were sent to prison, with or without trial, and the rest of the organization went into hibernation. Fascism claimed that they had solved the Mafia problem. Mori made rackets in the Gangi and Corleone areas, and arrested hundreds of Mafia affiliates, among whom several well-known bosses. Many of Mori's successes were obtained by the traditional method of putting pressure on landowners to betray the criminals they had been sheltering. More generally, Mori's goal was to impress the population through strength rather than justice.The result was the kind of undiscriminating repression with which the islanders were all too familiar. Within less than three years of the start of Mori's campaign, some 11,000 people were arrested, 5,000 of them in the province of Palermo alone. It is not possible that all of them were men of honor.The Mafia, Mori believed, was not an organization. But for the sake of maintaining law and order, the police and judicial system could assume that it was. In reality it was best described as "a peculiar way of looking at things". Mafiosi were drawn together by a natural affinity. Upon this notions, Mori built his whole repressive program. Sicilians had to see that the State was tougher than the men of honour. The Fascist State was to out-mafia the Mafia.
Nicola Gentile
Nicola Gentile, a young Sicilian, who was initiated into the mafia in Philadelphia in 1905, had dealings with men of honor in Manhattan and Brooklyn, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Chicago, Milwaukee, Kansas City, San Francisco and Canada. In the years before WWI, his criminal network was firmly rooted in Sicilian communities across North America, but it had little influence outside those communities.
Notarbartolo and Palizzolo
Nortarbartolo fought also to stop the Banco di Sicilia being used as a channel for granting favors. Thanks to Palizzolo, a member of the Parliament, a leading member of the Banco governing body, and also a friend of the Mafia, the Banco had become the most powerful clientele-building instrument on the island. Throughout the 1880s, Notarbartolo strove to clean up the bank's affairs and was forced to resign. Patronage was another asset of the Mafia. In 1882, the right to vote was extended to include one quarter of the adult male population. Elections suddenly became more expensive, and more difficult to manipulate. Raffaele Palizzolo, a politician from Palermo, devoted his life to brokering favors with the help of his Mafioso friends.
The Mafia Goes to America
Not all Mafiosi fared badly under Fascism, though. Official American sources estimate that 500 of them escaped Mori's clutches by emigrating to the USA. They found Prohibition America a welcoming refuge. The Mafia's salvation came from the United States. For during the same decades in which it was repressed by Fascism and war, the Mafia had become a part of American life.
AMGOT and the Sicilian Separatis Movement
On 17 August 1943, Sicily was entirely in Allied hands. For the next six months the island would be under AMGOT - Allied Military Government of Occupied Territory. It was under AMGOT that the Mafia made its first attempts to determine the political shape of Sicily as it emerged from the war. Their first operations were in the black market. Men of honour sensed that the end of the war would bring a new struggle to control the land, and became active in the Sicilian Separatist Movement. The separatists wanted Sicily to become a free country under the wing of American eagle. They thought that Sicily's future would be as an autonomous American protectorate and Mafia fiefdom.
Rocco Chinnici
On 29 July 1983, Cosa Nostra deployed a car bomb in central Palermo to kill Falcone's boss, the chief investigating magistrate, Rocco Chinnici. Falcone was in Thailand to investigate on the heroin traffic. The position of Chinnici was taken by Antonino Caponnetto, a pale, timid magistrate from Toscany, who felt it was his duty to serve the state in fighting the mafia.
The Verdict of the Court of Cassation
On 31 January 1992, the Court of Cassation confirmed the three central contentions of Falcone's and Borsellino's original prosecution case: that Cosa Nostra existed and was a single, unified organization; that the members of the Commission were all jointly responsible for murders carried out in the organization's name; and that the evidence of Mafia pentiti was valid. The leaders of Cosa Nostra faced definitive life sentences. After 130 years, the Italian state had finally declared the Sicilian Mafia to be an organized and deadly challenge to its own right to rule. It was the worst defeat in the entire history of the world's most famous criminal association
The Sangiorgi Report
On the night of 27-8 April 1900, Sangiorgi ordered a round-up of Mafiosi listed in his report. Thirty-three suspects were arrested, and many more the following months. But then Sangiorgi lost the support of the goverment, and in the 1901 trial most of the "pentiti" withdrew their depositions. At the end of the trial, only thirty two of Sangiorgi's mafiosi were convicted for forming a criminal association. Given the time that they had already spent in custody, most of them were released immediately. If the report had achieved its aim, the Mafia would have suffered a devastating defeat only a few decades after it emerged. But the Sangiorgi Report was consigned to the archives
Trials, 2
One witness whose statement was followed with particular interest was Giuseppe Pitrè, a famous folklore expert. The professor of 'demo-psychology' gave a glowing account of Palizzolo's character - the accused was a close colleague of his in local government. When asked to define the Mafia, Pitrè explained that its origins lay in the Arabic word 'mascias', which meant an exaggerated awareness of one's own personality, a reluctance to submit to bullying; in the lower social classes it could lead to criminal activity. Again, he was suggesting that the Mafia was a trait of the Sicilians character, not a criminal organization. At the end of the trial, the defendants Palizzolo and Fontana (who was the executor of the murder), were found guilty, and were given thirty years each. Six months later, the Court of Cassation in Rome, rejected the whole Bologna trial on a technicality. In 1903, Fontana and Palizzolo were acquitted for lack of sufficient evidence.
Mayor Gaynor's Police Reform
Paradoxically, Mayor Gaynor's reform of the police in 1910 led to a boost of the mafia. Police reform curbed police corruption and left a void to be filled by new actors. As policing was being centralized, an organization able to coordinate illegal activities was much needed. For instance, a mafia could prevent rival gamblers from informing on each other and enforce an informal license system. It could put pressure on local police officers on the beat not to pass information to headquarters. Around this time, Italians started to protect brothels and gambling establishments. In a few years, Lucky Luciano would be indicted for controlling no less than eighty brothels in Manhattan.
How does the Mafia enter this scenario?
People needed protection because the new king couldn't control anyone anymore. The police could not be trusted so the mafia was hired. The new State could not institute law and order. People had to protect themselves and their businesses so they hired the mafia and paid them all through violence.
Do you remember Lombroso's theories? Can you find hints of them in the book?
Physical characteristics can determine who is criminal. Father Pirrone's brother in law was seen as criminal for his low forehead and bushy hair.
Concetta
Prince Fabrizio's eldest daughter. She is also the only one of Fabrizio's children who gets much airtime in this book. She is generally a shy, proud girl. She is totally in love with her cousin Tancredi, and she gets her heart broken when Tancredi falls in love with Angelica and gets engaged to her. On some level, Prince Fabrizio knows this is for the best. Tancredi is a social climber, and Fabrizio doubts that Concetta would make a very good wife for someone trying to rise in the world: And would Concetta, with all those passive virtues of hers, be capable of helping an ambitious and brilliant husband to climb the slippery slopes of the new society? Timid, reserved, bashful as she was? Wouldn't she always remain just the pretty schoolgirl she was now, a leaden weight on her husband's feet? (2.47) The answer to that last rhetorical question, of course, is yes.
Duke Paolo
Prince Fabrizio's spoiled, good-for-nothing son. He's lazy, entitled, and bitter about the fact that his family is going to lose its status when Sicily becomes part of modern Italy. When he finds out about his cousin Tancredi fighting alongside the invading soldiers, he complains, "[He's] gone to join those swine who're making trouble all over Sicily; things like that just aren't done" (1.128). Paolo doesn't know how to argue against something other than saying, "thing like that just aren't done." Nice airtight logic there, Paolo. On top of all that, Paolo is jealous over his cousin Tancredi's success. He knows that Tancredi is better suited to the new political world, but he tries to hide his jealousy by criticizing Tancredi's political loyalties. Fabrizio sees through this guise immediately and thinks, "Personal jealousy, a bigot's resentment at his agnostic cousin, a dullard's at the other's zest, had taken political guise" (1.129). Paolo's not fooling anyone. At the end of the day, he demands all the respect and luxury in the world simply because he was born into the right family. But he's about to get a firm reality check when democracy comes to Italy.
In The Godfather, we have talked about moral ambiguities. Can you find examples?
Relationship with religion is strong but they still use it as a scapegoat. Relationship between Kay and Michael (just my dad, not me.... Don't ask me about my business) Constant contrast of religion and violence/business anything something religious is happening something violent is also happening Audience always presented with two codes Violence Institutional code For ex- repelled by violence but also attracted because it's part of their code/ idea of justice.
How would you define the relationship with religion?
Religion is more of tradition than something they completely follow. They use religion as an excuse to be allowed to commit crime. For example, the bible contains a lot of violence so they think their acts are justified. (like at the end when Mikey was renouncing his sins at church as he had all these people killed). It contrasts their actions.
Florios and the Whitakers
Sangiorgi also investigated into two of the wealthiest and most famous families in Sicilyprominent entrepreneurial families who had many lucrative activities involving above all the exportation of Sicilian products (such as Marsala wine), and shipping. The Florios owned much of the Navigazione Generale Italiana (NGI), Italy's leading shipping company and one of the biggest in Europe.
What are the major themes of the book? (day of the owl)
Sicily Romantic/difficult to understand Justice Truth Ignorance is bliss Fear North V. South - Bellodi= North softer and friendlier and also the institution Power -- Not lack of evidence for mafia just no one is willing to testify Old v. The New - Bellodi trying to be an honest cop while the older ones are corrupt
In The Leopard, we often find figures of speech like antithesis, contrast, opposition. Can you find some examples? What message do you think the narrator wants to convey through them
Sicily is a very strange place where they think they're perfect and don't need to change. Violence is normalized and deny political propositions. They didn't trust the police since they were inept and trusted the mafia more. Old leaders didn't want to take part in the new order.
Tancredi Falconeri
Tancredi is your typical charming and handsome Italian boy. He's technically Prince Fabrizio's nephew, but Fab thinks of him more as a son. In fact, he often wonders if he allows Tancredi to get away with too much, like when Tancredi teases him about visiting a mistress and cheating on his wife. At this moment, Fabrizio thinks, "Really, this was a little too insolent. Tancredi thought he could allow himself anything" (1.80). But time after time, Tancredi uses his sense of humor to get back on his uncle's good side. If you can make fun of an Prince for cheating on his wife (to his face), you can get away with pretty much anything. At the end of the day, Tancredi is an opportunist who understands what he needs to do to climb the social ladder in modern Italy. As he tells his father, "If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change" (1.85). In other words, if people from Sicily want to keep living a rich lifestyle, they'll need to adapt to the changing world. The longer this book goes on, the more Tancredi uses his charm to advance himself in society. As the text says, Tancredi, too, was the object of great curiosity; though everybody had known him for a long time, now he seemed to them transfigured; no longer did they see him as a mere unconventional youth, but as an aristocratic liberal. (2.22) Tancredi hasn't always been the most beloved kid in Sicily. But he bet on the winning team by fighting with the Italian armies that have conquered Sicily. His strategic mind, plus his humor and charm, are sure to make him a success in the new world. At the same time, there's something sad about the fact that only people like him are going to succeed in the future. After all, not everyone is an opportunist or a schemer.
In what contest is the word «Mafia» uttered?
Tancredi was thought to have joined the mafia. The prince tried to convince Tancredi not to join the mafia. At this time although the mafia was more like outlaws, rebels -- not criminals.
What are the different political and economic interests which can be detected from the beginning of the book?
The 'middle men' or administrators of the land are described as money hungry and greedy. They had to be clever to obtain money and power. They dressed smartly and were the class on the way up. They were mostly concerned about finding ways to make more money. Like Russo was scheming to buy one of the Prince's estates. There's also interest in the church since they're the biggest owners of land. Father Perrone is upset that these changes will be bad for the church and they'll lose power, money, and land.
Economic Background
The House of Bourbon, the Spanish royal family which reigned over Sicily before the annexation, adminstered the land on a feudal system, based on large land estates owned by the aristocracy. When the Bourbons collapsed, feudalism was replaced by a form of perverted capitalism. Land was divided, sold and bought in an anarchic way. New elites attempted to take the place of the former, feudal aristocracy.
Diego Tajani
The Senatorpublicly accused the interferences of the Mafia into the Sicilian government. Mafiosi, he alleged, were given freedom to operate in return for supplying information to the authorities on criminals and on anyone the government regarded as a subversive. Tajani said, "The Mafia in Sicily is not dangerous or invincible in itself. It is dangerous and invincible because it is an instrument of local government." At this point the Parliament ordered an inquiry on law and order in Sicily. The inquiry was conducted by nine member of the Parliament, over a couple of years, 1875-77. Plenty of witnesses spoke of the Mafia's role in the citrus fruit industry. Italian politicians now had at their disposal much evidence about the Mafia. But the papers of the inquiry were never published.
And the social and economic changes?
The aristocratic exchange of land made common people gain power by making them landowners. The new business men were rising and the Church was losing power and land.
Sciascia on the Maxi-Trial
The city of Palermo was divided and perplexed by the maxi-trial. Even Sciascia expressed doubts. In an article for Il Corriere della Sera, he argued that the maxi-trial threatened to trample on civil liberties in the same way that Fascism had done. He said that any criticism of the anti-mafia magistrates was treated as if it were a sign of complicity with the bosses. He concluded by accusing Borsellino of careerism: "There is nothing better for getting ahead in the magistracy than taking part in mafia trials." But Sciascia's polemic was more than the outburst of a moribund (he was terminally ill at the time) old man. It was the voice of the distrust that generations of Sicilians seemed to feel towards both the mafia and the Italian state.The verdict of the maxi-trial was announced on 16 December 1987. Of the 474 accused, 114 were acquitted; 2,665 years of jail were shared out between the guilty. Luciano Liggio was acquitted for lack of evidence. Before the maxi-trial had even finished, investigations into Cosa Nostra had produced two further large-scale cases, all handled by the antimafia pool.
Explain the expression «virtuous minority»
The few people that were honest and honestly fought the mafia -- The state didn't directly confront the mafia
During WW2, the Mafia and the Americans enganged in some kind of relationships in Sicily. Can you explain why.
The lemon trade, heavily infiltrated by the Mafia, connected Palermo and New York. But it was only from the days of the great migration, after 1900, that the traffic between the US and Italy in criminal ideas, resources and personnel became a vital part of mafia operations. The trade in citrus fruit, oil, cheese, and wine provided excellent cover for criminals on their journeys back and forth across the Atlantic, and within the USA. These commodities also offered opportunities for Mafiosi to extort protection money and create monopolies as they did in Sicily.
Falcone and Borsellino
The magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino arrived in the Palace of Justice of Palermo in 1978. This is the decade of Falcone and Borsellino. They were in many ways the figurehead of Italy's virtuous minorities, for courage, of course, but also devotion to their job, rigorous honesty, and a legendary capacity for hard work.
Who were Falcone and Borsellino? What are they known for?
The magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino arrived in the Palace of Justice of Palermo in 1978. This is the decade of Falcone and Borsellino. They were in many ways the figurehead of Italy's virtuous minorities, for courage, of course, but also devotion to their job, rigorous honesty, and a legendary capacity for hard work. Invovled in Maxi trials-- part of anti mafia pool. Excellent cadavers killed in 1992
Prohibition
The most important turning point in the history of organized crime in America was the approval of Prohibition, in January 1919. The 18th Amendment to the US Constitution banned the "manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors." Immediately, one of the country's most lucrative industries was handed over to criminals. From raw materials, production packaging, and transport right down to the table at the speakeasy, gangsters raked in colossal tax-free profits from booze. Prohibition is estimated to have put $2 billion into the illegal economy before it was abolished in 1933Prohibition meant bootlegging. Bootlegging was not a prerogative of the Italian-American mafia, but certainly it brought forward some of the most famous Italian-American mobsters, like Lucky Luciano, Frank Costello, and Al Capone. It was men like Luciano, Costello, and Capone, with strong ties outside the Sicilian and Italian communities, who would accelerate the Americanization process within the Mafia organization as Prohibition drew to an end.
Political Background
The new State, led by King Vittorio Emanuele II, was incapable of performing its function of defending law and order. Worse still, it was now no longer only the aristocracy who felt they had the right to use force. Violence became "democratized". As feudalism declined, a whole range of men seized the opportunity to shoot and stab their way into the developing economy. King Vittorio Emanuele II, first king of Italy
How does the book end? What is the message that the end conveys?
The novel ends with Bellodi recounting his time in Sicily to his friends in Parma—who think that it all sounds very romantic—and thinking that he would return to Sicily even if it killed him. The case was not solved but in another way it was -- they found a culprit and the motives which weren't the real ones -- Many mafia crimes excused as crimes as honor b/c they weren't punished very harshly (like wife cheating). The Mafia offers protection but often this is protection against themselves -- you have to pay for protection and if not you are in big trouble. (like the guy who died) Sicily family doesn't have much to do with love but is a tribe of power which the man is the head and the other members of the family support him. Have trouble recognizing state but don't have trouble recognizing the family (the godfather) Two different codes of justice One based on the institution -- based on code and law that are established by men and can change -- influenced by culture Instinctual justice -- revenge-- mafia justice that they administered and backed. Two faces of law -- Different anthropological codes The informer- Law not a rational thing born of reason but something depending on a man -- (primitive) The law irrational that's created on the spot by who's in power. Doesn't believe in the law. Couldn't provide justice to the poor. Bellodi believed the law safeguarded liberty and justice. Justice was serving the codified set of laws that stemmed from the republic. The mafia always wins find false alibi for one of the two killers- all his evidence collapses- everyone set free-culprit is the lover of nicolosi's wife- considered a honor killing- moral of the story is the mafia wins in the end with the help of rome and the parliament
The Historical Beginnings
The origins of the Mafia are generally placed in 1860, after the annexation of Sicily to Italy by Garibaldi and a thousand volunteers, called I Mille. Sicily became part of Italy under King Vittorio Emanuele II, from Piedmont. The Mafia and the new nation of Italy were born together
What is the message of the end of the film?
The people involved in the new order/power politically and economically would be Don Calogero and Tancredi who rode home in a carriage while the prince walked home accepting the fact that he lost his power. The prince was leaving a legacy.
Tommaso Buscetta
The public only became aware of just how stunningly successful the pool had been when Caponnetto gave a press conference at the Palace of Justice on 29 September 1984. The magistrate announced the news that Tommaso Buscetta, "the boss of two worlds", was collaborating with justice, and that 366 arrest warrants had been issued as a result. Even Vito Ciancimino had been served with notification that he was under investigation. Caponnetto declared: "What we have here is not just a variety of Mafia cases. The Mafia as such is going on trial. So it would not be rash to say that this is a historic operation. At last we have succeeded in penetrating right into the heart of the Mafia's structure."
