The speculation, extortion, intimidation and protection rackets that characterise Mafia activity were first practiced and perfected in the mid-nineteenth century among the citrus gardens of the Conca d'Oro

It's often assumed that this kind of organised crime was the ancient residue of feudal traditions that had evolved into something ugly among the most impoverished, isolated and backward inhabitants of Sicily. In reality many of the new mafiosi were aristocrats, and all of them were modern entrepreneurs who had become the most powerful landowners on the Conca d'Oro. The speculation, extortion, intimidation and protection rackets that characterise Mafia activity were first practiced and perfected in the mid-nineteenth century among the citrus gardens of the Conca d'Oro, though they continue to blight politics, hobble the economy and cripple the lives of the individuals on the island to this day. 

H. Attlee,  The land where lemons grow (2014), 69