Being of Sicilian descent, I have always been interested in the culture and social traditions of my people. Many of the views that the public has of Sicilians and their ways are erroneous as they stem from the mass media interpretation of facts and the creation of a lot of fiction. Using my own knowledge and with the aid of the book The Godfather, I will present to the reader many of the important insights into the psychology and sociology of a historically and socially important social unit in American culture.
Before I begin, for the sake of clarity, I would like to say that, for the purposes of this article, “psychology” will denote the mental or behavioral characteristics of the individual or group. “Sociology” will denote the systematic study of the development, structure, interaction, and collective behavior of organized groups of human beings, and the scientific analysis of a social institution as a functioning whole and as it relates to the rest of society.
Sicily is a small island off the coast of Italy and close to the North African country of Tunisia. When people define themselves as Italians or Sicilians, the person listening usually asks, “what’s the difference?” Well, while the answer can be simple, the history behind the reasoning is quite complex. The simplest explanation to the question is this: Sicily was not a part of Italy until after World War II. It’s almost like assuming that Puerto Rico is a state. While Puerto Rico is now part of the United States, you would never think to say, “Puerto Rican, isn’t that American?
Back to Sicily. Sicilian culture and language comprise of Arabic, Greek, and Italian influences. The word often associated most with Sicilians, Mafia, is actually an Arabic word for refuge when the Sicilians hid in the mountains from both the Arabs and the Normans.
“In this antique garden, Michael Corleone learned about the roots from which his father grew. That the word “Mafia” had originally meant place of refuge. Then it became the name for the secret organization that sprang up to fight against the rulers who had crushed the country and its people for centuries. Sicily was a land that had been more cruelly raped than any other in history. The Inquisition had tortured rich and poor alike. The landowning barons and the princes of the Catholic Church exercised absolute power over the shepherds and farmers. The police were the instruments of their power and so identified with them that to be called a policeman is the foulest insult one Sicilian can hurl at another.” (p326)
The Mafia is commonly accepted as a secret organization composed chiefly of criminal elements and usually held to control racketeering, peddling of narcotics, gambling, and other illicit activities throughout the world. When questioned, most people will associate the Mafia with crime, violence, and negativity. They react to the organization, and particularly the Sicilians, who have always been in the forefront, as instigators and hardened criminal types. The truth is, crime is always born out of poverty. Whether it’s the Japanese Yakuza, the Colombian Cartel, the Irish Westies, or the common American mob made up of crack dealers, bookies, pimps, and counterfitters, or even the Russian Organskaya. No matter what the name or organization, all cultures have their form of organized crime. So many times the Sicilian people are singled out as “the” source of organized crime. Is anyone ever na ï ve enough to believe that any one sect of organized crime could work solely on one nationality alone? Unfortunately, it seems that way. No one realizes that it takes the cooperation of local and national governments and businesses to help it succeed.
In spite of the common stereotypes of Mafia and other less desirable characters, fictional or real, the real and true Mafia, as depicted in the novel The Godfather by Mario Puzo, is very much rooted in the family and is based on very noble and virtuous values.
Feuding played a large part in Sicilian culture not because people relished it, but because they were fighting for their very survival. Centuries of over cultivation have depleted Sicily’s soil of its richness; most of the island has been deforested. There is not enough rain. It is hot and dry most of the year, and arable land is at a premium. Sicily was stripped of its land, leaving the scraps to the natives. Since there were more mouths to fee than there were scraps, the natives fought among themselves to get their share. Sicilians have come to look upon poverty, scarcity, and death as constants in their lives. The have-nots will do almost anything to escape this misery, and the well-to-do will fight in order not to sink back into it. In some respects, the feuding resembled the range wars among cattle barons in the American West. In western Sicily, as in the American cowboy frontier, men fought over cattle because cattle made a man rich. In the countryside, there was not enough good grazing land. Ranchers could not afford to fence in their property, so they had to let their cattle feed on common pasture used by other ranchers. These conditions almost invited rustling, and thefts of cattle resulted in retaliations. One skirmish brought on another, foray followed foray, confusion abounded.
Although it is easy for outsiders to list Sicily’s foreign invaders, it is difficult for them fully to appreciate what this perpetual turmoil did to the Sicilian character. It is one thing to understand, and yet another to feel. Sicily has been buffeted by foreign influences for well over two thousand years. It is obvious that without a genius for survival, Sicilians would have long ago lost their identity. Out of necessity, Sicilians put all their talents and energy into creating a life-style of survival, a peculiar and distinctive way of life that over the years became Tradition. Prevented from participating in the rule of their own land, Sicilians withdrew all the more into their own families. Everyone inside the family was a friend, all outsiders were suspect. Unable to understand the many strange customs and languages foisted on them by their conquerors, Sicilians took comfort in their own shibboleths or investing common words with double meanings. Exploited by colonial laws and cheated by greedy public officials, Sicilians developed their own folk laws and their own business practices. Frustrated and angered by the inequities of stat justice, Sicilians adopted a personal sense of justice that placed the responsibility of conduct and punishment on the individual and the family. This subculture system of justice did not overthrow the official order, but existed alongside it. In an unjust world, it was necessary to create one’s own justice.
A Sicilian of the old Tradition gives his highest allegiance to his family. Outside of that, however, he’s proudly independent. He knows how to look after himself. As the Sicilian proverb says, “The man who plays alone never loses”. Above all, he is intensely aware of himself, like a stallion in the wild.
It must be understood that when I speak of the old Tradition I am referring to an all-embracing way of life governed by certain values and ideals. One practical aspect of this way of life is the forming of clans, or Families, for the mutual advantage of their members. It is this phase of the Tradition that Americans usually refer to as the Mafia. A Sicilian may believe in the principles of his Tradition, but he might not want to join a Family. That’s his choice. Such a decision is not taken lightly, because a member of a family entails not only privileges but also corresponding duties.
In the New World, the numerous Sicilians soon began to dominate affairs among fellow Italians immigrants. Their superiority rested just as much on social structure as on numbers. The clan system gave them great solidarity and afforded them advantages in their enterprises. Many outsiders tried to copy the Sicilian ways, but since they didn’t fully understand the Tradition, the result was usually a caricature. Neapolitans, for example, went in for loud clothes, roughhouse, and maudlin outbursts of violence. The archetypal Sicilian, in contrast, is stoic, self-possessed, and given to violence only to restore order, not out of display.
In the beginning was the Father. Without him nothing can be done. A Family of friends coalesces around the Father, from whom flows all authority. All Fathers are equal in that each has sovereignty over his family. But among themselves, Fathers are obviously different. Some Fathers, because of their probity or power, attain greater influence and are consulted more than others. In Sicily such a man, one who has gained the respect of all other Fathers, as a capo consigliore – a head counselor, a chief adviser.
To Be more precise, however, it is incorrect to think of these leaders as occupying a position: They did not hold a formal title; they did not perform a job with prescribed duties and remuneration. A capo consigliore is not an executive or an administrator. He is a figurehead whose influence among other Fathers derives not from the imposition of his will on them but from their willing cooperation with them. More than anything, the role he plays stems from a willingness in men to congregate around a greater man. In doing so, every man finds his place in relation to the greater man and thus friction is avoided. The results is harmony and a well-ordered society. The capo consigliore, in the ideal at least, is at the disposal of the lesser men. He is there for their benefit and not to gain anything from them.
The Family which a Father holds together embodies an ancient way of life, a mode of cooperation which precedes the formation of city-states and later of nations. It is a way of life that gives primary allegiance to the Family state, to the tribe, to the clan. The Family should be viewed as an organism, a living tissue of binding personal relationship. The code of conduct prescribed by the family is not written in any book. The Tradition is mightier than any book. They pass down the knowledge personally from generation to generation.
The Father has the right to choose his own second, an assistant father if you will, an under leader. The second is a figurehead who represents the Father on various Family matters. The second has no independent power of his own. He does all things in the name of the Father. Because Americans liken the family to a corporation, an institution run along bureaucratic lines, they often mistakenly compare the relationship between a Father and his second to that of a chairman of the board and the chief executive officer of the corporation. Their corporate analogy is misapplied, as are all comparisons between a Family and a business bureaucracy. The second mainly acts as the most accessible conduit to the Father himself. The Father prefers to remain in the background. He uses the second as his eyes and ears. Ideally, the Father is everywhere present but nowhere to be seen. If the Father has to leave his home base for some reason, or if he goes to prison, his second doesn’t automatically take charge of the Family. The Father may delegate that power to his second on a temporary basis, but he may choose not to. The second serves entirely at the discretion of the Father.
Directly accountable to the Father are the various group leaders within the Family. In American jargon these group leaders were often referred to as captains. This word in itself gives the erroneous impression that the relationship between a Father and his group leaders is a militaristic one. This is true perhaps only during emergency state of war against another Family. During normal times, however, the relationship between a Father and his group leaders is based on mutual sympathy, capacity, and personal allegiance. At the foundation of this social unity are the “boys”, the Father’s “sons”. In police cant, these are known as soldiers. Once again, this gives the false impression that Family members all are on ready alert, waiting for the order to march.
It must be stressed that the Family members represented a cross-section of society. They were a true microcosm of society at large in that most Families included shoemakers, tailors, barbers, bakers, doctors, lawyers, factory workers, fishermen, priests, and politicians. The vast majority were private businessmen of one kind or another. Some Family members has illicit businesses such as bookmaking or numbers. In their world, such enterprises are not considered wrong.
Men of the Tradition have always considered wealth a by-product of power. Men of the old Tradition were mainly in the people business. They derived their satisfaction from being responsible for a Family of men, who in turn were beholden to them. Cooperation of this kind almost always led to the mutual monetary satisfaction of all parties. But making money was not the uppermost consideration. The main purpose of banding into a Family was to establish a network of relationships that would at once establish order within the Family and give members of that Family an advantage in dealings outside the Family.
The Tradition goes by many names in this country: some prefer the term “Mafia”, others like cosa nostra. In his post-humous biography, Charles “Lucky” Luciano refers to something called the union Siciliano. These are all metaphors. Presumably, we are all talking about the same thing. But notice how the different perspectives inspire us to adopt different terms to describe it. And, of course, the reason there is no formal term to describe it is that there never was a formal organization to describe. We’re talking about a tradition, a way of life, a process.
Strictly speaking, an organization is a creature of bureaucracy. It is a legal entity. It’s life is really on paper. It has a charter (actual or implied), a chain of command, division of labor. It has a purpose. It is there to do a specific task, whether to manufacture widgets or to sell insurance or to rob banks. It bears repeating how different a Family is from an organization. A Family, as an association of persons, doesn’t have a specific economic task. In an organization you get paid according to your job title. But in a Family you don’t receive a salary simply because you’re someone’s brother or cousin; you have to earn your own money. An organization is judged by such factors as profit and productivity. But a Family is judged by such factors as unity and harmony.
The way of life that my Sicilian ancestors pursued is dead. What Americans refer to as the “Mafia” is a degenerate outgrowth of that life-style. Sicilian immigrants who came to America tried to conduct their affairs as they had in Sicily, but eventually discovered that this was impossible. American culture, with its marketplace values, made them rich for the most part, but at the same time it eroded their relationships, which had always been kinship-based.
Mafia is a process, not a thing. Mafia is a form of clan cooperation to which its individual members pledge lifelong loyalty. In other words, as corny or simple as it may sound, what makes this process work is the belief in friendship. Friendships, connections, family ties, trust, loyalty, obedience – this was the “glue” that held them together. In America, however, and increasingly throughout the industrialized world, the glue that holds people together is their economic relationship. Trade and work are the basis of the new culture.
Now, the ideals embodied in the Tradition will endure only in the hearts of men. Even in Sicily, the old Tradition is declining under the influence of the Americanization of Europe. That’s the situation today, both in the New World and in the Old World. If society breaks down in the future, however, who knows if the pure Mafioso spirit will blaze again?
The American public is fascinated with “Mafia” for different reasons, I believe. Why did so many people flock to read The Godfather and to watch the movie? This work of fiction is not really about organized crime of about gangsterism. The true theme has to do with family pride and personal honor. That’s what made The Godfather so popular. It portrayed people with a strong sense of kinship trying to survive in a cruel world.
I believe Americans are strongly attracted to such themes because they are witnessing the erosion of kinship and of personal honor in their culture. They therefore look at representations of these fading values, whether in movies, books, or television soap operas, with nostalgia. I believe Americans miss the old frontier days of personal confrontation. I think Americans also miss the extended family and are having a difficult time trying to find a substitute. Americans yearn for closeness. Most of all, and I say this in a figurative sense, Americans yearn for a “father”.
Quotation contained in article from:
Puzo, Mario. The Godfather.
Greenwich, Conn.: Fawcett Publications, Inc., 1969.
