LINES OF THE DAY

". . . But the past does not exist independently from the present. Indeed, the past is only past because there is a present, just as I can point to something over there only because I am here. But nothing is inherently over there or here. In that sense, the past has no content. The past -- or more accurately, pastness -- is a position. Thus, in no way can we identify the past as past." p. 15

". . . But we may want to keep in mind that deeds and words are not as distinguishable as often we presume. History does not belong only to its narrators, professional or amateur. While some of us debate what history is or was, others take it into their own hands." p. 153

Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History (1995) by Michel-Rolph Trouillot

Saturday, August 6, 2011

What You Don't Learn from Puzzo's *The Godfather*

That New Orleans was the Mafia's Plymouth Rock, the first place 'the mafia' was spoken of in the United States. The Matraga Family from Sicily immigrated to New Orleans in the 1870's, as did the rival Provenzanos. The Matragas got damned fast into labor racketeering (and brothels and saloons) while the Provenzanos ran the docks -- they ruled United Fruit's South American shipping. Another area over which the two families warred was control of supplies of produce and groceries.
The Mafia was already old in the game down there in New Orleans when Marlon Brando Vito Coreleone (b. 1891) arrived in NYC.
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