THE MAFIA OF SICILY.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1290, 19 November 1896, Page 8

THE MAFIA OF SICILY.

Popular songs and legends treating of the deeds of famous bandits have been known in Sicily from very early times ; many have existed for years in a purely oral form, others forming motives for the work of national poets. Vanity is always a strongly developed feeling in criminals, and the modern brigands of the islands leve to listen to the acts of their predecessors, confident that their own deeds will hereafter be enshrined in popular song. There exists an epic in the Sicilian dialect, recounting the exploits of a famous brigand, nicknamed Longhead, which glorifies that individual at the expense of the soldiers and police. In another ballad two brigands, each of whom has served as the model of Fra Diavolo (who, by the way, L claimed as a native hy the continental province of Terra di Lavoro) are celebrated by a national poet who does not conceal his predilection for the bandits.

Criminals of this sort, when executed, become objects of worship to the Sicilians. On the banks of the little river, Oreto, near Palermo, stands a small church dedicated to the souls of executed persons, whose graves are covered with flowers even in winter. The people, as they pass by, make the sign of the cross and kiss their hands. They pray also to a tablet within the church, believed to be guarded by the soul ofadead criminal ; and when a wo:shipper has ended his prayer, he lays Ins ear to the stone, believing that he will receive an answer 5 and such is the strength of his belief that he actually hears a reply, and departs with gestures of delight or despair. Girls, vviio have quarrelled with their lovers, repair to the stone with a prayer that, the guardian angel will bring the recalcitrant back to them. A native of Pececo, one Francesco Frustere, brutally murdered his mother ; and no sooner had he been executed than the inhabitants of Pececo commenced to revere bis memory and pray beside his grave. At the bpttom of such perverted worship lies the Mafia, whose business it is to glorify criminals, and, under the pretence of religion,' gather into its net the superstitious population of the island. “The lyiafia,” says a Sicilian author, “is a thief, a brigand, and an assassin.” This society is the root of almost all the crime committed in Sicily. In the mountains it appears in the form of brigandage, in the cities as criminal associations. Its meeting places are tl>o fairs and cattle-markets where the bad subjects from the country roupd collect together, plan their vile projects, strengthen each other’s hands, and sow the evil seed among the rural population. In the month of May, when horses are wildest, an animal is often stolen from the herd by means of the lasso. The owner’s marie on the skin is changed or obliterated, and the beast is taken off to be sold at some distant market, The authorities of the town are in the secret ; but if they betrayed it they would be dubbed “infamous" by the Mafia, and after that their lives would not be worth an hour’s purchase. All brigands need the protection of the Mafia, for when all is said, they are popy devils, leading a wretched Iffe in th<3 woods, continually pursued by the law and in constant danger of their lives. Without the help of the Mafia brigandage could not exist for a month. The brigands equally need the manntengoli or gobetweens. These are generally goatherds, shepherds, or small farmers, who act as postmen for the brigands, as messengers, and as sentinels to give warning of the approach of the soldiers. But there are also manutengoli of a higher class, land-proprietor 3 on a large scale, who furnish the brigands with arms and ammunition; act as their agents, and, in return, demand various services ; and these cannot afford to let their clients fall into the hands of the police. The Mafia, in all its ramifications, tyrannises ever the rural proprietors, who dare neither sell nor let any part of their estates without first consulting it. Should a proprietor he in want of a factor or a keeper, the Mafii imposes upon him one of its members, who, besides his salary, receives a percentage on the wages of the labourers employed op the estate. one vyill enter a proprietors service unless authorispd to do so by tpe Mafia, demands and receiyes, in like manner, 3 percentage on his salary. Should a landlord attempt to resist this tyranny, he runs the risk of being shot or made prisoner by the brigands. On the other hand the society 13 for a certain consideration equally ready to protect the landlord from the brigands. The consequence of all this is that criminals of the worst kind are fed and sheltered by landed proprietors and small farmers in all manner of unlawful ways.— Macmillan's Magazine.