A history of the Mafia from the 1860s through the early 21st century. Having emerged in and around Palermo during the 1860s with the attempt to incorporate Sicily into the new Italian state, the Mafia gained increasing control over local government using threats and murder; by the 1870s, Mafia-versed Sicilian politicians had entered the central government. Mussolini moved to destroy the bosses' influences during the 1920s and 1930s, but many escaped by emigrating to the United States, helping to build the American Mafia, which in turn helped reestablish the Mafia in Sicily at the end of World War II. Public outcry finally led to a crackdown during the 1990s. Drawing on interviews as well as secondary sources like newspaper articles, Dickie portrays the Mafia as containing elements of an illegal business, a sworn secret society, and a shadow state operating within the larger nation-state.
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