What was the purpose of the Italian Mafia?
Begainning in the middle ages as a society that avenged wrongs against Sicilian peasants by means of terror and reprisals. In 19th-century Sicily they were employed by absentee landlords to manage their estates gaining legitimacy and thereby gaining contacts and power which they used. As it became more powerful – and influential – they virtually took over or controlled these estates. Via this ‘protection’ they offered from criminals and corruption and by controlling such they organized these criminal groups and by buying off political figures it evolved into an umbrella organization. Calling itself the mafia they gained control of such crime as gambling, loansharking, drug traffic, prostitution.
