The Di Carlo family was persecuted by Italian Fascists in Sicily. That didn't stop them from becoming propagandists for Mussolini.
The Esperia Film Distributing Company
Francesco Macaluso and American Fascism
When the Fascists rose to power in 1922, it soon declared a war on the mafia in Sicily, nearly wiping them out, and forcing di Carlo to flee. Meanwhile, his future associate, a Fascist propagandist, was making a name for himself in the United States.
The First Great Wars
The rise of fascism in Italy nearly destroyed the Sicilian Mafia before the end of WWII, but due to the political blunders of the Allies following Operation Husky, the Mafia was able to reform itself under their protection. Angelo di Carlo, a veteran of the Italo-Turkish War in Libya, is considered one of the architects of this renaissance.
The Mafia without godfathers
Jonathan F. Shulz (2016) has shown that not only is consanguineous marriage highly significantly correlated with mafia activity, “cousin marriage is a highly significant and robust predictor of democracy.”
Are Corleone’s Mafiosi more likely to marry close relations? Part 4
In a controlled study of Mafia marriages in Corleone, Mafia members are more closely related to their brides than their non-mafiosi neighbors in Corleone.
Are Corleone’s Mafiosi more likely to marry close relations? Part 3
I hypothesized that the control group would have a rate of consanguineous marriage close to that found throughout Sicily by Cavalli-Sforza et al (2004), and that the study group would have a higher rate than the control.
Are Corleone’s Mafiosi more likely to marry close relations? Part 2
To study mafia marriages, first, you need to find the mafiosi. See Part 1 of this series. To study the marriages of Mafia members requires several steps. First, there is the identification of members of a secret, criminal organization. A few, like members of Giuseppe Morello’s family, and the bosses of Corleone, have been written... Continue Reading →
Are Corleone’s Mafiosi more likely to marry close relations? Part 1
Over the next several weeks, I will share the results of my first study, into the rates of consanguineous marriage among known members of the Mafia in Corleone, and a control group matched by year of marriage. I’ve noticed that Mafia members in Corleone appear to marry into other known Mafia families, engage in double... Continue Reading →
The Addolorata courtyard
Of the hundred churches of Corleone, one of the most beloved is dedicated to San Leoluca, one of the town’s two patron saints. The Church of Sorrows, the Chiesa dell'Addolorata, is in the San Nicolo’ district, built on what was called at that time “the left side trazzera of Corleone.” (A trazzera is a path... Continue Reading →
Cousins, many times over
There’s a classic illustration of exponential growth, that goes something like this: a king agrees to play a chess match for a prize: a single grain of rice on the first square of the chessboard, two grains on the second square, and so on, doubling the number for each of the 64 squares. The king... Continue Reading →
Mafia Genealogy 