“ In an organized form the Mafia survives only in isolated districts. Generally speaking, it is to-day not a compact criminal association but a complex social phenomenon, the consequence of centuries of misgovernment. ”

“ Others connect it with the name of an alleged Arab tribe, Mà-âfir, once settled at Palermo. Giuseppe Pitré asserts that the word is peculiar to western Sicily and that, with its derivatives, it formerly meant, in Il Borgo, a district of Palermo, beauty or excellence. Thus, a handsome woman showily dressed was said “to have mafia,” or to be mafiusa. Often in Palermo the street merchants call arance-mafiuse (fine oranges) . Thus, Pitré argues, mafia, applied to a man to express manly carriage and bravery, would naturally become the title of a society the members of which were all “bravos.” ”

“ The abject poverty of the poorer classes, unable to eke out existence by work in the sulphur mines or on the fields, fostered the growth of two classes of mafiusi—the vast majority of the inhabitants who were glad to put themselves as passive members under the protection of the Mafia, while the active members shared in the plunder. ”