Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 12.pdf/331

 302

He has been a successful lawyer, and is a very estimable gentleman. In 1896 he was elected a member of the Supreme Court of Appeals of the State, for the term of twelve years. He is a prominent member of the Metho

dist Episcopal Church, and in all his deal ings is a man of the nicest sense of honor. He is an able and careful judge. He is about six feet in height, well proportioned, smooth face, is gentle in his manner and gra cious in his bearing.

THE MAFIA. BY GINO C. SPERANZA. FEW there are who have not heard and enjoyed Mascagni's " Cavalleria Rus ticana," and fewer yet who have not played, sung or whistled its popular intermezzo. But how many of us while watching the brilliant groupings on the stage and listening to the stirring music have thought that we were spectators to a Mafia drama, and that the intermezzo was but the calm before the storm, — typical of the Mafia procedure as we shall see later on? " Rustic chivalry" is what the English translator calls it, and, in a certain sense, that is as good a defini tion of the Mafia as can be given, for, as a very recent writer has said, " the Mafia can not be defined, it can only be described." There are so many wrong and even absurd ideas about the Mafia that it will not be amiss to endeavor to describe- it as it really exists; in doing this I shall draw freely from the ex cellent and reliable works on the subject by Prof. Vaccaro, Pitre, Lombroso, TomazziniCrudeli and other minor students of this question. In the first place the Mafia is not, as is often thought, a criminal association having membership in every part of the Italian Kingdom. It is strictly confined to Sicily, and is the product exclusively of Sicilian history, life and character. It is entirely separate from, and in no wise similar to, other sects or associations of evil-doers, such as the Camorra of Naples, the ancient Holy Vehme or the White Caps of our own coun try. That it has adherents not only among

the poor and low caste, but also among the rich and influential, has been amply demon strated by the evidence given at the Notarbartolo trial at the Milan Assizes, in which distinguished Palermitans were accused of having instigated the assassination of the di rector of the Bank of Sicily. But the most common mistake is that of considering the Mafia an association or sect. I have used both these names in describing the Mafia only for lack of better words, but I will now endeavor to give them their real meaning. In order to fully understand it, however, it will be necessary to take a rapid view of Sicilian history, for therein lies the key to the whole question. Sicily, the Paradise of Italy as it has been called, has been a coveted prize from time immemorial. Long before Greece and Rome sent their legions to subdue it, the Cartha ginians and the Phoenicians harassed the island for nearly two centuries but never succeeded in subjugating it. Greece and Rome were not any more successful, even despite the underhand methods adopted by the latter. We have all heard of the fright ful rule of Verres, of the incursions of the Vandals, Goths, Byzantines, Arabs and the Normans, who each in their time made of Sicily a desert place as much as lay in their power. Yet the Sicilians never willingly submitted to the foreign invader, and when the Norman monarchy established itself in Sicily it was with the free consent of the people assembled in Parliament. Thus, as