[in the Arena]

Known as the Pazzi conspiracy, the plot was led by Francesco dei Pazzi, whose banking family had resented for years the Medici climb to power.

The beginings of mafia ?

[DoctorMichael]

The beginings of mafia ?

See my Post #9......The Medici, and other families at that time, carried with them many of the societal traits of the Italian/Sicilian Mediterranian ethos, one of which was what we today would characterize as Mafia-like: Nepotism, only a trust of close family members and the installing of them into positions of power, murder of rivals, etc., etc. (ie. very 'Godfather'-like, or the Baathist party of Saddam Hussein, for that matter).