[Ragnar54]

Has anyone ever traced the origin of the Sicilian Mafia to the Muslim occupation? The Mafia seems to use Muslim-like terror techniques.

[blam]

"Has anyone ever traced the origin of the Sicilian Mafia to the Muslim occupation? The Mafia seems to use Muslim-like terror techniques."

No. But, your idea crossed my mind too.

[Rb ver. 2.0]

Here’s the quick and dirty on the Sicilian Mafia from Wiki:
http://tinyurl.com/odfdb

The first sentence suggests a possible Medieval origin. I found it interesting that the USA used Mafia sources for intel during the invasion of Sicily in WWII.

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

I'm still reading up on Sicily. Its multicultural history is fascinating. Here's what I found in Wikipedia re the Mafia:

The word "mafia" is taken from the old Sicilian adjective mafiusu, which has its roots in the Arabic mahyas, meaning "aggressive boasting, bragging" or marfud meaning "rejected". Roughly translated, it means "swagger", but can also be translated as "boldness, bravado". In reference to a man, mafiusu in 19th-century Sicily was ambiguous, signifying a bully, arrogant but also fearless, enterprising, and proud...

I don't know how much we're allowed to copy, but you can read more here.