Italian artists Mr Thoms and Zed1 were recently in Palermo collaborated to paint this great mural entitled “La Mafia non esiste e la Piovra è un telefilm!” or “The Mafia doesn’t exist and the Octopus is a Tv-show”.
The new mural obviously refers to the existence of the Sicilian Mafia regardless of the little attention it gets in the media. When looking at the facts, which include repression, murder and the so called “Law of silence” that isn’t very surprising
According to the website Gangland, the italian MAFIA is supposedly four distinct crime gangs — the Sicilian Mafia or Cosa Nostra, the ‘Ndrangheta or Calabrian Mafia, the Camorra and the Sacra Corona Unita (SCU). The Sicilian Mafia remains the most powerful of the four groups, with an estimated 5,000 plus members serving in some 180 factions.
Members of all four rely on a vow of silence and family associations that are reinforced by fear of retribution and even death. That fear has been regularly underscored over the years by brutal murders aimed at either eliminating members of the opposition — including prosecutors and judges — or dispatching a comrade who failed to live up to the “law of silence.”
“La Mafia non esiste e la Piovra è un telefilm!”‘s use of space is just spot on and the story is told with that humor filled severity that characterises the work of both artists.
Author: Fran
Founder and editor of Urbanite. Street Art lover who after the finishing her MA thesis on the Mexican and Norwegian muralist movement in the 1920-50s, developed a fascination for street art and graffiti that eventually led to collaborations with different art blogs, including the creation of this one.
