Fatal Attraction
Poverty became endemic, and the population found itself strangled by a system that left them with no hope.
It is in this context of extreme precariousness that the mafia took shape. It appeared first as a local response, a means for the destitute to protect their interests, even to survive. The original mafioso is often a miserable person expelled from his lands, forced to wander, sometimes to beg, or to become a bandit. But another profile of mafioso exists: the wealthy landowner who, to maintain control, employs henchmen ready to intimidate, extort, and eliminate his enemies, thereby avoiding the official justice system, perceived as slow and corrupt.
Hot Chapters