There is so much more to Sicily than the Mafia, but the first thing that comes to mind for many Americans when they think of Sicily is the Mafia.  This is especially true for those who saw “The Godfather” movies.  (I am probably one of the few in the 60’s and older age groups who have not seen any of them.)

Since the Mafia is such a big part of Sicily’s history and current reality, Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) chose the Mafia for its “Controversial Topic” and had guest speakers share their stories and knowledge with us.

This is where it got very interesting.  The first speaker, Gino, was very much against the Mafia, because his father, a tailor, was forced to make suits for Dr. Michele Navarra, the head of the Navarra crime family, in Corleone, Sicily.  (If Gino’s father had refused, there would have been a BIG problem.  When the Mafia says to do something, you do it.)

The second speaker, Angelo, was the son of Bernardo Provenzano, chief of the Sicilian Mafia clan, Corleonesi, who backed mob boss “Lucky” Luciano Leggio in the ambush and murder of Dr. Navarra.  After a failed hit in 1963, Provenzano became a fugitive for 43 years before being captured in 2006.  He died in prison 10 years later.

Meanwhile, Angelo became a tour guide, speaking about the Sicilian Mafia, much to the dismay of Mafia victims, such as Gino.  Check out that link, because the article talks about Angelo being hired in 2015 by Overseas Adventure Travel to speak about the Mafia.  And, by the way, members of the Costra Nostra (Italian for “Mafia”) don’t refer to themselves as “Mafia” because they are “offended” by that term.  (I have so much I could say about that alone!)

So, we now have two men with us, Gino, who despises everything the Mafia represents, and Angelo, the son of a Mafia crime boss (who is not in the Mafia himself).  They are are not only in the same building, but the same room, setting up audiovisual equipment to speak with us.  They were together only briefly for the preparation, but they never looked at each other.  You could cut the tension with a knife.  Not wanting to be obvious (and not even knowing if I was permitted to do so), I shot this quick photo of the two, with our tour leader, Francesco, in the middle:

After Angelo left the room, Gino began his talk.  Corleone, as we learned, became the headquarters of Costra Nostra, because it was a strategic location for the grain trade and is located between two strategic cities.

Corleone wasn’t big enough for two crime families to coexist, so the families of Dr. Navarra and “Lucky” Luciano Liggio went to war.  (At the same time, “Lucky” was also setting up a sister organization in New Orleans, U.S.A., which was more profitable.) If you were in Corleone at the time (or anywhere in Sicily when all hell broke loose), you either decided to leave Sicily or show allegiance to the Mafia.  If you joined, you became a murderer.

In 1958, the war between the two crime families finally ended when Dr. Navarra was murdered and his family was no longer #1 in Sicily.  The war had left 200 dead.

Fast-forward to the 1980’s, 475 Mafia members were arrested and put on trial, resulting in 338 convictions.  The Maxi Trial, which took place in Palermo, lasted for six years and was considered the most significant trial ever against the Sicilian Mafia as well as the biggest trial in world history.

It wasn’t over.  The Mafia retaliated two years later by murdering a Palermo judge and his son, as well as others in the coming years.  It has gone on and on, and the devastation and crime inflicted on innocent people never stops.  In 2007, it was estimated that the total income of illegal Mafia activity was approximately 44 BILLION euros.

Currently, the most influential Mafia is in the Calabria region, in the south of Italy’s mainland. These are some of their criminal activities: protection rackets (protection from theft by non-Mafia, protection from competition, protection of territories), vote buying, smuggling, contract bid rigging, loan sharking; and, of course, murder, when they see fit.

I have only scratched the surface of the Sicilian Mafia, but this gives you an idea.  After listening to Gino, it was fascinating to hear Angelo’s story of what it was like to grow up with his father, the crime boss.  Several of us doubted how he could have grown up with his father being a fugitive crime boss and not understood why they were in hiding, but he was a child at the time and now seemed sincere enough.  Angelo also made it clear that he didn’t support or condone the Mafia in any way.  Still, there was no tolerance for him by Gino, and that was palpable.

Coming up next: SICILY & AMALFI COAST #5: CHARMING CASTELBUONO