For the
ignorant Italian brings to this country with him the same
attitude toward government and the same distrust of the law
that characterized him and his fellow-townsmen at home, the
same Omerta that makes it so difficult to convict any Italian
of a serious offence. The Italian crook is quick-witted and
soon grasps the legal situation. He finds his fellow
countrymen prospering, for they are generally a hard-working
and thrifty lot, and he proceeds to levy tribute on them just
as he did in Naples or Palermo. If they refuse his demands,
stabbing or bomb-throwing show that he has lost none of his
ferocity. Where they are of the most ignorant type he
threatens them with the "evil eye," the "curse of God," or
even with sorceries. The number of Italians who can be thus
terrorized is astonishing. Of course, the mere possibility of
such things argues a state of mediaevalism. But mere
mediaevalism would be comparatively unimportant did it not
supply the principal element favorable to the growth of the
Mala Vita, apprehended with so much dread by many of the
citizens of the United States.
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