Nel Regno della mafia. Il fenomeno mafioso negli scritti dei giuristi siciliani (1880-1900)

In the 19th century the term mafia began to circulate in Sicily to describe a specific criminal conduct. Many myths began to spread about the nature of the mafia and mafiosi. This article focuses on some of those myths about the mafia. It also analyses the theories of Sicilian jurists at the time, who in different ways tried to explain the existence of a complex phenomenon such as the mafia. Some of them argued that there was a link between the issues faced by Italian society and Sicilian crime. They claimed that without necessary social and legal reforms, crime had become an indepth system: a state within the state, a kingdom in its own right.