In the Beginning
Banditry and murder had been fairly commonplace since the Middle Ages. The Mafia has existed as a loose network of local criminals only since the early years of the nineteenth century. Like the nobility, its roots are feudal. From humble rustic origins not unlike those of Japan's Yakuza, and with its own equally fanciful rites and mythology, the Mafia developed largely as a result of Sicilian social conditions. Despite some charming stories of a medieval origin in secretive sects such as the legendary Beati Paoli, there is no evidence to suggest that the Mafia existed as a hierarchical organization until the latter decades of the eighteenth century. Even the origin of the word mafia is debated, but it certainly wasn't used to refer to organized crime until the nineteenth century.
Until the eighteenth century, many Sicilian nobles actually resided on their country estates. This had changed by the 1700s, with most of the more important titled aristocrats by then resident in Palermo, Catania and Messina. Under these circumstances, Sicily's aristocratic absentee landlords often entrusted administration of their rural estates to managers called gabelloti. Until 1812, the purchase of a feudal property made its holder the count or baron of that fief, and in this way numerous gabelloti themselves became barons, by purchasing feudal lands from the men they worked for. The gabelloti were not aristocrats in the true sense, but far worse than this fact were the methods they used to intimidate the poor peasants into working the estates for poor wages. This often entailed the use of local intermediaries who made it their own business to manage such matters. These intermediaries, who today might be considered local Mafia bosses, rarely murdered anybody; they delegated that job to their underlings. In this way the myth of the "benevolent" mafioso was born.
Some of the more corrupt gabelloti who did not become minor barons actually became important mafiosi.
With the abolition of feudalism, it became all the more necessary to control baronial interests through coercion, for with the abrogation of feudal taxes came higher rents, but by the 1850s it was clear that the mafiosi would also represent the interests of an ordinary farmer or tradesman who paid them well to settle a score or reconcile a perceived injustice. Hence the popular perception of mafiosi as "Robin Hoods" or even "knights." From being "friends of the friends," the more important mafiosi were soon known as "men of honor." In truth, the Mafia code is the antithesis of the code of chivalry, or at least a bizarre interpretation. Many Sicilians' clannish nature, and their instinctive dislike for inconsistent law enforcement and a repressive hereditary aristocracy, created a favorable climate for the mafiosi.
The nobility may not have actually created the Mafia, but it unwittingly permitted the development of social conditions that facilitated its macabre growth.
Omertà literally means "manhood," and refers to the idea of a man resolving his own problems, but the term has become synonomous with the Mafia's code of silence. The Mafia's arcane rituals, and much of the organization's structure, were based largely on those of the Catholic confraternities and even Freemasonry, colored by Sicilian familial traditions and even certain customs associated with military-religious orders of chivalry like the Order of Malta. The duel, for example, gave way to the vendetta, but both were known among Sicilian feuding families in times past.
Garibaldi certainly had the support of Mafia bands during his invasion of Sicily in 1860, though they were not a decisive factor in his victory. In the same year, it was suggested to King Francesco II of the Two Sicilies that the Camorra, a Neapolitan organization similar to the Mafia, kill Garibaldi and his officers upon their arrival in Naples. The King refused his subjects' offer.