What is the Sicilian Mafia and how did it start?

When Ola Olsen, an economics professor at Sweden’s Gutenberg University, and his colleagues began researching the origins of the Sicilian mafia, they found a mysterious pattern in the data.

In the mid-19th century, Italy’s newly wealthy state conducted various surveys to assess the crime situation at the municipal level in Sicily. A third of the island’s cities began to receive reports of ongoing criminal gang activity.

But what is the reason that criminal gangs were in some places and not in others? Unlike other places where crime was reported, economists began to see commonalities in areas ranging from industries to mining and various agricultural commodities.

Says Olson: ‘The only notable common element in these areas was clusters of citrus fruits.’

Citrus trees can only grow in a certain altitude and temperature and most of the Mediterranean islands are not suitable for their production.

However, economists came to the conclusion that wherever lemon groves could grow, there were criminal gangs. What was the connection between this harmless fruit and the criminal and violent gang?

The answer to this question is scurvy.

Until the late 18th century, travelers traveling long distances often contracted scurvy. The disease caused fatigue, pain and bleeding from the gums.

At more dangerous levels, it can cause liver damage and even death.

However, the doctors came to the conclusion that even a small amount of fresh fruits in the patient’s diet can cure the disease by filling the vitamin C deficiency.

In 1790 it became standard practice for the Royal Navy to provide all crew members with lemon juice on board.

Demand for lemons increased overnight. A poor island off the coast of Italy was the most favorable place for its production.

Sicily was already growing some citrus for export (mostly used in perfumery and decoration) and had the perfect environment for their production.

The health benefits associated with citrus and its storage capacity meant a wealth of citrus farmers.

Unfortunately, citrus is very easy to steal and many farmers have experienced that a year’s crop can be stolen by bandits in a dark night.

Very soon they started hiring powerful natives to guard their crops.

Soon these thugs started offering lemon farmers their protection whether they needed it or not. This is how Cosa Nostra was born.

Once the link between the lemon harvest and the Sicilian mafia was slow to develop, it became a permanent chapter in history.

But over the past decades, researchers have traced a few similar lines: countries with vast resources of minerals, oil, and even certain plants have been plunged into misery and chaos after a sudden discovery.

This phenomenon is referred to by the term ‘adverse resource effects’.

Fedem’s Andrew Harris explains: ‘There are many different definitions of negative resource impacts and it’s actually a catch-all term that encompasses many theories. I think the most cited of these theories is the Dutch disease hypothesis.

At the initial level, this phenomenon appears when the discovery of raw materials in a country causes a sudden increase in the value of its rupee.

‘This rise occurs when people selling commodities want payment in the local currency they have to pay themselves and thus increases the demand for the currency (which in turn increases its value.) ‘

Thus, the country’s other exports become more expensive for overseas buyers and consequently the economy loses its competitive edge.

Although the exporter of the goods earns well, the rest of the country becomes poorer.

Although the growth of poverty is devastating enough, the discovery of resources tends to exacerbate existing problems and fuel violence.

FIDEM recently conducted a study on the People’s Republic of Congo to analyze this phenomenon in more detail.

The Congo review found that expensive commodity prices are strongly correlated with increased violence.

“Our analysis of conflict fatality data shows that violence tends to increase during periods when the prices of certain trade goods are high or tend to rise.” Fedem’s focus has been on metals like cobalt, coltin and copper, which are used in our electronics, TV and electric car batteries.

The discovery of valuable resources does not in itself lead to violence and corruption. Professor Alyssios Papyraks of Rotterdam Erasmus University has been researching various aspects of resource impacts for more than 50 years.

They summarize the factors that turn an unexpected financial gain into a crisis.

‘First you have to distinguish between concentrated resources and dispersed resources,’ he says. Concentrated resources are oil, minerals or natural resources found in a single location that are geographically confined to a specific location (such as Sicilian lemons that grow at a specific elevation).

Such resources would be in the hands of relatively small groups of people who would either protect them themselves or forcefully ‘protect’ them with the help of criminals.

Papyrus says the negative effects of resources are more devastating if the country has relatively weak government, lax rule of law, and something that can be easily smuggled or stockpiled.

Even if the economy is already relatively weak, the effects are severe. A major factor is the presence of different ethnic groups in the region, which can further fan the flames of conflict.

Why should we share the blessings of natural resources on our land with different groups living in other parts of the country?

“As far as Sicily is concerned, it has all the ingredients,” says Professor Olson. The first written mention of a member of the Mafia appears in the 1860s.

This is a time when chaos was at its height on the island, with revolts against the Austro-Hungarian Empire that ruled Sicily common and the rule of law weak.

‘Sicily’s history has always had a long tradition of resistance to whoever ruled the island and fostered a culture of taking matters into their own hands’ rather than reporting criminals to the government.

Like other resource-stressed countries, Sicily has experienced division throughout its history between different ethnic groups who migrated to the island from different locations.

There are many regions around the world where a sudden increase in demand for a particular local natural resource has led to a violent wave of armed criminal gangs.

In some parts of Colombia, if not all of it, the demand for coca leaves, used in the manufacture of cocaine, led to decades of chaos.

Many of Afghanistan’s problems can be traced back to the export of opium. Even after the popularity of the innovative unorthodox use of avocado on toast, organized crime groups were not far behind in taking over the trade.

But perhaps the most devastating recent incidents of adverse resource impacts have occurred in Congo’s northern and southern Kiu regions.

Mark Sheard, CEO of the charity World Vision UK, says the region is ‘full of valuable minerals and metals, for example coltan which is used in many electrical appliances, cassiterite which is used in the main components of forts and wolframite which is used in heavy metals. Used in machinery and gold manufacture.’

Theoretically, this should have made it the richest place in the world. However, Sheard explains that ‘the importance of these natural resources has given rise to a number of reformist groups that forcibly seize these valuable mineral sites and maintain their dominance.

As a result, not only the management and operation of these mineral sites, but also the chain of production and distribution of these commodities are adversely affected and these resources are taken advantage of illegally.

Dependence on mineral resources has affected the lives of many local people with fears of food shortages and poverty, where children are forced to work in the mines for meager wages.

Then a cycle of exploitation begins where the people living near the mines become dependent on the same resources for daily income instead of investing in activities that will benefit them in the long term.

Sheard explains that this means ‘local communities are unable to diversify their income sources by becoming more reliant on natural resources’.

Moreover, fluctuations in global commodity prices adversely affect people who depend on natural resources in these regions.

A sudden drop in commodity prices during the pandemic meant more poverty in countries that depended on raw materials to survive.

Professor Olson notes that in places like North and South Kew, those promoting violence are often referred to as rebel groups. However, many economists are of the opinion that they should be called gangsters because their main objective is to extract money in exchange for resources.

Increased demand for precious minerals or a particular commodity does not always lead to violence and poverty. In fact, few countries blessed with such resources have been able to protect themselves from the negative effects of this phenomenon.

Why, for example, did the small country of Norway save itself from chaos after the discovery of vast oil reserves offshore in 1967, while countries like Venezuela or Nigeria destroyed themselves from this experience? Why has Botswana, the world’s second largest diamond exporter, kept itself safe from the ‘blood diamond’ violence that has ravaged many other countries in sub-Saharan Africa?

Countries that were somewhat protected from the ill effects of resources were lucky. Professor Walson says Botswana was already on democratic lines when the diamond riches were discovered.

It was overwhelmingly inhabited by the Tswana people, so it was clearly a mono-ethnic country. As a result, there was little chance of controversy as to how the fruits of this treasure would be distributed.

In addition to pre-existing democracy and strong government, Professor Papyrakis points out that countries like Norway had relatively strong and diversified economies even before the discovery of oil.

This means that the people of Norway did not suddenly rely entirely on the oil revenue, but instead used it very wisely as an investment. (Norway is currently one of the top countries in the world by sovereign wealth funds).

But what is the solution for countries that have already suffered from negative resource impacts? What should be done to stop the growth of organized crime groups in countries that already have weak governments and worse rule of law?

“Most of the literature will probably tell you that, like many other factors involved in developing economies, it is entirely dependent on institutions,” says Andrew Harris of FIDM. Only a high standard of governance can recognize the importance of land ownership rights (such as who owns a mine) and make it possible to enforce them. The problem is that no easy way to achieve it is clear even to me.

However, there are organizations that try to solve this problem. For example, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative was founded in 2003 with the aim of eliminating corruption and promoting transparency in resource-rich countries.

One of its primary methods is to require mining companies to publish the taxes they pay to local governments. The government also prints what it receives.

Preventing politicians and officials from secretly transferring money to foreign accounts is aimed at tackling corruption. If people believe that all the money from resources is going into the government’s own coffers, they can be more optimistic that it will be distributed fairly.

This creates less group bias and means that the motivation for violence is now us.

In Congo, World Vision is taking direct action through the Partnership Against Child Exploitation, which aims to empower children and local communities and raise awareness of their rights, according to Sheard.

The partnership, among other activities, aims to raise awareness among local communities to adopt alternatives (such as education) to child labor, improve the climate for legislation and policies, and to be cautious in pre-export contracts. is

A few years ago I went on holiday to Sicily and was sitting on the balcony of a takeaway in the final moments of my night wandering, eating the island’s famous pan pizza.

Clusters of young people gathered around plastic tables, enjoying pizza and Irancsi, chatting happily in the warm night air.

Suddenly, the whole balcony smelled of snakes when an old man dressed in white sat down and started talking drunkenly while chewing on words.

I glanced at him and when I looked back, all the youths were speeding away with bated breath.

Whether or not the man in white was a mafia member, I will never know for sure, but the fear in the atmosphere was palpable.

It was a horrifying experience to see the criminal organization that was born 200 years ago due to the increase in demand for lemons still dominate the public consciousness.

Today, other countries suffering from similar adverse resource impacts can only hope to avoid such a situation.