Because family is at the heart of the Mafia
Research reveals a common ancestor shared by six Mafia wives, two Mafiosi, and one mafia genealogist. I've identified 101 men who are (or were) known to be involved in organized crime in Corleone. I found them using a selection of primary and secondary sources, in combination with genealogical sleuthing around. News reports, trial records, police blotters, and... Continue Reading →
From the “inchino” this spring to the recent dissolution of Corleone’s city council, recent events in Corleone demonstrate the relevance of research into mafia genealogy. Science is cool, but also, sometimes boring. In order to bring some rigor to my work, and quantify some of my hunches, I decided last week that I need a... Continue Reading →
Finding proof of the high rate of cousin marriage in Corleone proves more difficult than expected. In an earlier post, “Kissing Cousins,” I wrote about the high rates of marriage between close relations that have been detected throughout Sicily. Before 1918, dispensation was required for marriages in Sicily, out to the fourth degree of consanguinity, or... Continue Reading →
I’m taking a break from Mafia Genealogy. When I began writing this blog in February, I had only been studying the subject matter for a couple of years, at most. I thought, I know enough to begin, and as for the rest, I’ll grow into it. That strategy worked... for a little while. In order... Continue Reading →
How fascism moved from left to right, and the Mafia’s enduring relationship with Freemasonry. The historic relationship between the Mafia and Freemasonry is a fascinating one, for the role that its members have taken in world events. It’s a story that unfolds over centuries, crosses oceans, and takes many turns. But once I started asking... Continue Reading →
Lucky Luciano built the Genovese monopoly on gay nightlife in New York City in the 1930s. The Stonewall Inn was the site of a violent protest against police raids---and against mafia involvement in gay bars. Ed "The Skull" Murphy (top right) was working the door of the Stonewall Inn the night of the famous riot. Of the... Continue Reading →
Are Toto Riina and Tommy Reina related? A few days ago, I discovered that I confused the histories of two different gangsters from Corleone, Toto Riina (b. 1930- ) and Luciano Leggio (1925-1993), in this blog, a couple of weeks ago. I wrote that Leggio’s father was killed in an explosion that was, in fact, based on... Continue Reading →
Dr. Michele Navarra and his successor, Luciano Leggio, dominated the Corleonesi Mafia after World War II. A few months before Domenico Liggio married, in the summer of 1834, he lived with his widowed mother and an older brother, Salvatore, near the ancient Ospedale dei Bianchi in Corleone: the same hospital Dr. Michele Navarra would run,... Continue Reading →
"Mafia" is a feminine term that means beautiful and proud. Paradoxically, women are both essential to and excluded from the criminal organization. At the turn of the twentieth century, the mafia in Corleone was led by members of a new agrarian bourgeoisie (“nuova borghesia agraria”) of estate managers for absentee landlords. Author and labor organizer Dino Paternostro... Continue Reading →
The keys to finding a mafia connection in your own Sicilian heritage: know your family, and the world they lived in.
Mafia Genealogy 