“Spring cleaning.” 1) The annual ritual in most households during the Spring to clean, sort and get rid of any unnecessary items in the house. 2) To clean up, hide, get rid of, or bury evidence of a murder or crime.
“To clip.” 1) The action of using a clip (a device used to hold something together, i.e. paper clip, hair clip). 2) The action of cutting off a part of a whole. For example, to clip your fingernails. 3) To whack, to murder, to pop, or to “put a contract out.”
“Going to the mattresses.” 1) The action of moving or to go towards multiple mattresses, perhaps in a mattress store. 2) To declare war on another clan or family who have been giving you trouble.
If you’ve seen any of: The Godfather (I, II, and III), The Sopranos, Scarface, The Untouchables, and Pulp Fiction, just to name a few, then you’ll know that we’re talking hot headed, deep throated, secret-organized-crime speak. And it all started in Sicily.
Sicily & Cosa Nostra
First known as Cosa Nostra, Italian for “our thing,” the evolution of the Mafia has been complicated and ever changing. It all began in the mid 1800’s after the Revolution of 1848, when Sicily was in a state of disorder and chaos because of the non-existence of state authority. In Italian Unification of 1860 when Italian state authority was restored, the State and the Papal Authority were not in agreement. Some Sicilians, due to the continuing disorder of the state, and to its loyalty to Catholicism, began to take on an attitude of paternalism for its communities.
This happened first in the form of protection of lemon and orange estates of nobles in the city of Palermo, usurping the authority of the states and its officials. Protection, crime, money, power, familial obligation, and violence became parts of the trade. Secrecy was a law in the Siciliam Cosa Nostra, called omertà, and it existed so that common folk would not talk about their activities to the authorities.
Soon, the mafia spread throughout western Sicily in various levels of society and positions of power, and also to Eastern United States and Australia. In 1925-1929, many Mafiosi were jailed or fled Italy when the Fascist government became prominent. Only after World War II, did the Mafia in Sicily return to prominence.
Mafia & Organized Crime in the U.S. and South America
It wasn’t until the late 1800’s that the term “mafia” was used. For many mafia members, it had been called “cosa nostra” or “our thing.” It was an unspoken allegiance to a larger unnamed brotherhood and familial or clan allegiance. It was only when authorities in Italy and the U.S. began to identify that there were those who were participating in organized crime, that the word “mafia” was used.
Today, the Mafia and similar entities have made its mark rather prominently in Sicilian history, as well as in cultures and countries all over the world. For example, in Havana, Cuba, American gangsters Santos Traficante, Meyer Lansky, Lucky Luciano, and Frank Costellowere repeated guests at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba. Although he ruled the Chicago underworld, Al Capone also owned a house a few hours away from Havana in Varadero. Today, his former home is a famous tourist site. A few hotels in Chicago also echo their claim to fame through Capone – including the Willows Hotel near Lincoln Park that’s said to rest on top of a set of underground tunnels used by one of their Capone.
Experience the real thing by visiting where it all started – book Sicily, Cuba, or Chicago for your next vacation destination.
