Week 4 Honored societies Once upon a time three S panish knights landed on the island of Favignana just off the westernmost tip of Sicily They were called Osso Mastrosso and ID: 590617
Download Presentation The PPT/PDF document "OTHERNESS AND THE ITALIAN IMMIGRANT EXPE..." is the property of its rightful owner. Permission is granted to download and print the materials on this web site for personal, non-commercial use only, and to display it on your personal computer provided you do not modify the materials and that you retain all copyright notices contained in the materials. By downloading content from our website, you accept the terms of this agreement.
Slide1
OTHERNESS AND THE ITALIAN IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE
Week
4Slide2
Honored societies
Once upon a time, three
S
panish knights landed on the island of
Favignana
, just off the westernmost tip of Sicily. They were called
Osso
,
Mastrosso
, and
Carcagnosso
and they were fugitives. One of their sisters had been raped by an arrogant nobleman and the three knights had fled from Spain after washing the crime in blood.
Somewhere among
Favignana’s
many caves and grottoes,
Osso
,
Mastrosso
, and
Carcagnosso
found sanctuary. But they also found a place where they could channel their sense of injustice into creating a new code of conduct, a new form of brotherhood. Over the next twenty-nine years, they dreamed up and refined the rules of the Honored Society. Then, at last, they took their mission out into the world.
Osso
dedicated himself to Saint George, and crossed into nearby Sicily where he founded the branch of the Honored Society that would become known as the mafia.
Mastrosso
chose the Madonna as his sponsor, and sailed to Naples where he founded another branch: the camorra.
Carcagnosso
became a devotee of the Archangel Michael, and crossed the straits between Sicily and the Italian mainland to reach Calabria. There, he founded the ‘
ndrangheta
.Slide3
The Italian mafias
Ritual (blood oath)
–
baptism into new identity
Structure (discipline)
Omertà (Umiltà)Humility Code of silence (misleading – close relationship with police)Honor
Camorra
–
Naples (1912, turning point)
The system
Mafia (“Cosa Nostra”)
–
Sicily
Family
‘
Ndrangheta
–
Calabria
Loose fellowship of local gangs
‘
ndrina
(family) units
(Sacra corona
unita
–
Puglia)Slide4
The american
mob
Loosely based on Sicilian Mafia (Lucky Luciano)
Began in impoverished
I
talian neighborhoods of NY – East Harlem, LES, Brooklyn Active in NY, NJ, NE > Boston, ProvidenceNY home to 5 main families: Gambino, Lucchese, Genovese, Bonanno
, Colombo
Each family operates individually although The Commission oversees national coordination Slide5
1869
–
earliest accounts of organized
I
talian crime (New Orleans newspaper article)
The Black Hand – extortion gangs at turn of 20th Century that pervaded Italian neighborhoods. 1881 – Giuseppe Morello (with others) flees Sicily after murders and is arretsed and extradited from New Orleans back to Italy.March 14, 1891 – New Orleans
lynchings
after David Hennessey murder trial and acquittal (11 of 19 killed)Slide6
Lucky
luciano
Salvatore
lucania
Father of american organized crime Convicted in 1936 of compulsory prostitution and sentenced to 30 years, but struck deal and was permitted to live freely outside US during WWII1907 – family emigrates to LESMember of 5 points gang (irish
american
gang, but founded by an
italian
)
Career criminal, more than 25 arrests for an array of crimes
Friendly with Vito Genovese (B of Bs 57-59), Joe Masseria (GF CB)Slide7
Mustache Pete’s (
masseria
and
maranzano
– both killed in castellamarese war)Castellamarese Clan > bonanno family Luciano befriends Joe Bonanno, Tommy Lucchese among many others1931 – “eliminates”
Masseria
and
Maranzano
divides Italian-American gangs into the 5 families we know today
New heads are Lucky Luciano (
Masseria Gang), Maranzano, Profaci, Gagliano,
Mangano
Says all families will be equal and free to make money. Then declares himself capo
dei
capi
1931
–
“eliminates”
maranzano
with help of
jewish
gangsters (paranoid, but correct)
Luciano becomes most powerful organized criminal
in AmericaSlide8
Additional resources
Netflix:
Inside The American Mob
(National Geographic Channel:
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/inside-the-american-mob/galleries/the-history-of-the-american-mob-a-chronology/at/1928-1705875
/)John Dickie: Mafia Brotherhoods (Blood Brotherhoods), Mafia Republic, Mafia’s Secret Bunkers (‘Ndrangheta): http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/mafia-secret-bunkers
/
YouTube
: Mafia in Sicily:
https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-795BJsmKg