Course Catalog

Excellent Cadavers - A History of the Sicilian Mafia NEW!

Sicily resident Douglas Kenning offers an introduction to the Sicilian Mafia (a.k.a “Cosa Nostra”, “our thing”). The course will follow closely its modern evolution from a uniquely Sicilian form of secretive tribal justice, to its total penetration of Italian politics, through bloody struggles for power internally and against the Italian state, to its becoming a web of international syndicates profiting from extortion, gambling, and drugs. We will finish with the recent massive confrontation between the state and the Mafia and the growing anti-Mafia movement in Italy. The phrase, “Excellent Cadavers”, was coined by the news media to refer cynically to prominent justices, police, reporters, politicians, and private citizens who died in heroic opposition to the Mafia. Also, Douglas Kenning will relate some of his personal experience with Cosa Nostra, though no one who lives there is foolhardy enough to tell all he knows . . . omertà.

This class is not available at this time.

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