Many consider Luca Patti the first instance of a Sicilian mafioso in recorded history, but his ring appears to have had a predecessor, or possibly competition, in Corleone.
The first Mafia gang in Sicily
Did the Mafia begin with the Sicilian Vespers?
This golden age for the island of Sicily is the time that Mafia propaganda reaches back to for nostalgia.
The 1969 Corleonesi trial
In 1958, Luciano Leggio started a mafia war that lasted five years, and killed more than fifty people, starting with Dr. Michele Navarra, the former boss in Corleone. The victory was short lived, as police swept up dozens of mafiosi from Corleone and Palermo in the early 1960s. Three major trials were held in mainland Italian... Continue Reading →
The Enemy Within: Church, State, Freemasonry, and the Mafia
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 →
Mamma Mafia and the Little Brothers
"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 →
How to tell if your ancestors were in the Mafia
The keys to finding a mafia connection in your own Sicilian heritage: know your family, and the world they lived in.
Here comes the ice man
Refrigeration---and the mafia---are both older than you might think.
The murder of Giovanni Vella
Even the biographies of well-known mafia figures like Giuseppe Morello are made up, in part, of rumors and legends. Morello was called “The Clutch Hand” because three of the fingers on his right hand were fused at birth. His birth defect did not prevent Morello from learning to write, or to fire a gun. It’s... Continue Reading →
Mafia genealogy
Founders of two of the Five Families of New York, Giuseppe Morello and Gaetano Reina, came from Corleone around the same time as my great-grandparents. They're also family.
Mafia Genealogy 