Contradictions of Life in the Mafia essays

Contradictions of Life in the Mafia essays In the late 1800s, a collective group of people have decided to establish a second government within the United States. This certain group of people originated from different parts of Italy, and tried to duplicate the Mafia. Throughout the years, the word Mafia lost its meaning. It is now lightly used as a general term to refer to crime organizations. Although a lot of people would debate that the Mafia is nothing more than a criminal organization, a look in the past would prove otherwise. In a certain part of Italy, particularly Sicily, people have a strong sense of family and friendship. During the middle ages, Sicily was invaded by various foreigners. The consecutive foreign rule estranged the islands own populace. This in turn, discouraged the Sicilians to trust the government. The strong bond of family and friendship then laid the foundation for a secret organization, a secret organization that intended to overthrow the foreign conqueror. This secret organization drew its member s from private armies, or mafie, that were originally hired by landlords to protect their estates from bandits. The core of this organization was the code of omerta, the code of silence. The code forbade anyone to approach the government for justice and help the legal authorities in anyway. Disputes were settled privately, and the victims reserved the right to avenge any offense committed to their family. No one was allowed to cooperate with the government, anyone who did was considered dishonorable. Overtime, the Mafia became the only form of authority recognized by the Sicilian people. When immigrants from Italy moved into the United States, they were not exactly welcomed with open arms. There was a lot of prejudice against them, and once again they turn to the Mafia for protection and help. The Mafia would resolve conflicts that the Italians had with other parties. Most of the time, if not all the time, resolving conflicts oft...