[with] its own logic, its own bones, that "has ruled Palermo and its countryside" since the nineteenth century. In the same vein, Pantaleone continues:
Once a Mafioso had become a landowner, he was even more interested in the rigid application of the system . . . increasingly taking the place of legitimate authority, it naturally happened that the Mafiosi went beyond its origi nal interests and turned its attention to absolutely any aspect of rural life which could be exploited for black mail and this second stage led to the organization of the real industry of crime and violence which had already be come sufficient by the beginning of this (20th) century.
The Mafia supported Garibaldi's unification of Italy, not so much with a view toward nation-state building as with a view toward enlarging its power base in the national government. It was successful in this project, and its praxis remained feudal, with the difference that vassals beholden to the feudal lord were not landowners or peasants but parliamentarians.
The result was that when a Mafioso was in
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