From that day the power of the Camorra 'be came practically absolute. From city to city its work was extended until its name was heard with dread in every part of Italy. At regular intervals each storekeeper received a visit from the strange collector and, as death was the pen alty of refusal, the money demanded was usually paid without protest. No one was exempt. Wherever goods were sold or trade of any kind was carried on the importunate collector stood ready to receive his share of the profits. He was permitted to go everywhere. He was at the custom house, where he collected his tolls as conscientiously as if he had been a govern ment agent. If money was deposited he stood by the side of the depositor in the banking house. Nothing escaped him, and when the business day closed he paid his visits to the wine shops, the gaming houses and all dens of vice, for the officials of the society were not partic ular as to the methods used in the making of money so long as they received their share of the spoils.
In this manner was the country terrorized by the operations of a society which had be come more powerful than the government. Several half-hearted attempts were made to suppress it, but as its membership was com posed of persons from every walk of life the blackmail continued, and at last became open highway robbery. Then it was that the streets of the cities became unsafe either by day or night, and the finding of a dead body on the public highway was of such frequent occurrence as to occasion but little comment. The victim had simply refused to pay his tribute to the Camorra.
It was not until 1877, therefore, that any progress was made in the restoration of order. Then United Italy took the matter in hand, and as this crusade was conducted by honest men who were ready to act with energy and deter mination, hundreds of the agents of the associa tion were soon arrested, and, as executions and long imprisonments followed, penalties to which the highest as well as the lowest were sub jected, it was not long before the dreaded Camorra ceased to be dreaded.
While never as powerful an influence for evil as the Camorra, the Mafia was organized upon similar lines, and the fact that it is more recent makes it of greater interest. Like the parent society its purpose was one of murder, robbery and blackmail. Like the parent society it became stronger than the government in its own country, and, as in the case of the Camorra, was only subdued by the exertion of the au thorities of the United Italy.
There were two factors that played an im portant part in the organization of the Mafia. The first was the presence of numerous bands of outlaws organized as a protest against the non-resident land ownership, which had caused so much poverty and misery in that part of the country. There can be no doubt but that these conditions were about as hopeless as present day imagination can picture. The Sicilian peas ants had suffered untold miseries at the hands of the heartless agents of the alien landlord, and the ignorance and natural viciousness of the people could suggest but one way out of the difficulty. Assassination and robbery was the remedy. The other factor was the presence of thousands of bravos, soldiers and courtiers who had lost their occupation when Ferdinand granted the demand for a liberal form of goy ernment. The abolition of the petty courts, of which there had been so many in the Two Sici lies, threw these men out of employment, and, as they cared neither to work nor starve, they naturally thought of brigandage as the one way out of the difficulty. With that idea in view
scores of military clubs were formed and these were the cloaks behind which the members com mitted their murders and robberies. It was at this time that Mazzini appeared upon the scene. How much he saw of the patriotic side of the question, how much of the criminal, will never be known. We only know that it was his con structive genius that welded the two factors to gether and that it was to him that we owe the existence of the Mafia. Strange as it may seem the name °Mafia° is meaningless and the word does not appear in any dictionary of the Italian language. In fact, up to the year 1859 the word itself had not been coined. It was only when Mazzini had gone from club to club, and from outlaw band to outlaw band, forming branches • of his secret society that such a title was conceived. Mazzini called his united clubs a name which was derived from two Latin words, a spit, and I beckon, meaning "I beckon with a spit,D the latter, of course, being the stiletto with which the society was to do such deadly deeds. To say that Mazzini was thoroughly in sympathy with the horrible work to which the society later devoted itself is to go a step beyond the historical, but its purposes, as expressed in the words, °Mazzini autorizza furti incindi ayvel enamanti,l' meaning, uMazzini authorizes thefts, arson, poisonings, D gave to the association of criminals its name, the initial letters of the five words being used to form the new word, °Mafia.° The extent to which the Mafia had expanded was shown in 1876, when the government was called upon to investigate the abduction of an Englishman named Rose. The sum of $20,000 was demanded, and 'paid, for his release, and the investigation which followed was so revolt ing in its details that the result was suppressed by the authorities. It had been shown that the money had been divided among many people of various conditions, from the peasantry to the commander of the post, whose gendarmes were supposed to be pursuing the bandits; the chief of police and detectives of the district, and even the judges of the courts, they having promised immunity in case the abductors should be cap tured. When the government of Italy was noti fied of these facts it took the matter in hand. The corrupt soldiers and officials were sent to another part of the country, being replaced by sturdy and honest regiments from the borders of the Tyrol and the mountains of Switzerland. The new men had no sympathy with crime, no friendship for the criminal. They knew that it was their sole duty to carry out the orders of their superior officers and they performed this duty with a vigor with which even the powerful Mafia could not cope. Whenever or wherever a man was found who could not give a per fectly clear account of himself, or prove that he had no connection with the murderous society, he was shot on the spot. It has been estimated that no less than 5,000 persons met their death at this time, and while the search must have resulted in the killing of many inno cent people, the object of the crusade was ac complished, and the Mafia, after its years of prosperity, was driven into obscurity. During this campaign of extermination, however, hun dreds of the members of the Mafia made their escape, and many of them came to this country. Rumors to this effect were common at times, but they were not treated seriously until 1890, when the hand of the society was felt in the killing of Chief of Police David C. Hennessey, of New Orleans.