From the book, "Words Are Like Stone"...Carlo Levi 1955
Levi questioned a native of Alcamo, Sicily about the Mafia.
"Carlo, do you really believe in those Fairy Stories? The Mafia does not exist...it's just a legend. There is no Mafia. If there were, it would be a very fine thing. I would be a member of it myself."
MAFIA
"This Mafia...what is it? We hear it spoken of , but we do not know who is the head of it, nor what it can do."
The above question was asked by Francis Marion Crawford, an America, who was born and died in Sicily, author of the novel, "Corleone". His Sicilian friend answered...
"The Mafia has no head. It is hard to explain. You are not a Sicilian. The Mafia is not a band, nor anything of that sort. It is the Sicilian people's resistance and opposition to any kind of government or authority. It is...how shall I say?...a sentiment..a feeling..a sort of wild love of country, that is secret, and the Sicilian will do anything to keep that secret. We Sicilians, we all know what it is, and evil comes to those who oppose it. The Mafia is not a man. The Mafia is the Sicilian character...Sicilian honor...Sicilian principles." It is an idea, not an institution."
The foremost authority on Sicilian Folklore, Giuseppe Pitrč wrote the following in his second volume, "Sicilian Customs, Usages, Beliefs, and Prejudices."
The Mafia is neither a sect nor an association; it has no by-laws and no constitution. The Mafioso is neither a thief nor a gangster, even if the word is used in this sense. He does not tolerate any abuse from anybody. The Mafia is the awareness of one's existence, the exaggerated concept of individual power, the only and sole judgement of any situation, of any clash of interests and ideas, hence the intolerance of superiority and, even worse, tyranny. The Mafioso demands respect and is respectful. If he is insulted, he does not ask for justice, he does not appeal to the law; if he did that, it would mean a sign of his weakness and an insult to Omertą, according to which anyone who turns to the law for help, is considered schifusu and 'nfami. (despicable and a squealer) He can take care of himself, and whenever he does so, the only help he will ask for is within his own family"
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