The difference between the
Mafia and Camorra and the "gangs" of New York City lies in the
fact that the latter are so much less numerous and powerful,
and bribery and corruption so much less prevalent, that they
can exert no practical influence in politics outside the Board
of Aldermen, whereas the Italian societies of the Mala Vita
exert an influence everywhere--in the Chamber of Deputies, the
Cabinet, and even closer to the King. In fact, political
corruption has been and still is of a character in Italy
luckily unknown in America--not in the amounts of money
paid over (which are large enough), but in the calm and
matter-of-fact attitude adopted toward the subject in
Parliament and elsewhere.
The overwhelming majority of Italian criminals in this country
come from Sicily, Calabria, Naples, and its environs. They
have lived, most of their lives, upon the ignorance, fear, and
superstitions of their fellow-countrymen. They know that so
long as they confine their criminal operations to Italians of
the lower class they need have little terror of the law,
since, if need be, their victims will harbor them from the
police and perjure themselves in their defence.
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