History of the Mafia

"Lupo picked up where Franchetti left off. By exploring, in great detail, lots of historical sources, starting in the 19th century, he continues to show how the Mafia was an integral part of the new market society – rather than a remnant from a feudal era. And he gives ample and detailed illustrations of how it developed. Obviously Lupo is fighting a very difficult battle, writing the history of an organization that denied its own existence. The Mafia doesn’t have written statutes – or anything written in fact – on which you can construct anything. But as far as the history of the context in which the Mafia grew and developed, it is certainly the best available study that we have. He starts in 1863, that is the date the ‘thing’ got a name. It was in that year, in a public prosecution document, that the name “Mafia” appeared. It’s not clear what it was derived from, probably from the word Mafioso or Mafiusu, meaning thug or thuggish character in Sicilian dialect. So he starts somewhat arbitrarily and, strangely for a historian, he doesn’t really go into its origins. But he goes up to very recent times – up to early 1990s. So he covers the whole range in great detail, and it gets better as the sources get better, naturally. Support Five Books Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you're enjoying this interview, please support us by donating a small amount ."