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{{Short description|Criminal organization in Sicily, Italy}}
{{Infobox Criminal organization
| name = Stidda
| founding location = Southern [[Sicily]]
| years active = 1980s-present
| territory = [[Agrigento]], [[Caltanissetta]], [[Gela]], [[Vittoria, Italy|Vittoria]], [[Niscemi]]
| ethnicity = Sicilians 
| membership = 2,000~ full members
| criminal activities = [[Racketeering]] <br />[[fraud]] <br />[[Gambling]] <br />[[extortion]] <br />[[murder]]
| allies = [['Ndrangheta]] <br /> [[Camorra]] <br /> [[Sicilian Mafia|Cosa Nostra]]
| rivals = [[Sicilian Mafia|Cosa Nostra]] (until the end of 1990s)
}}

The {{langnf|scn|'''Stidda'''|[[star]]|paren=left}}; {{IPA|scn|ˈstiɖːa|pron}}) is a Sicilian and Maltese [[Mafia]]-type [[criminal organization]] and [[secret society|criminal society]] centered in the central-southern part of [[Sicily]] and island of Malta. 

Members are known as ''stiddari'' or ''stiddaroli''. It is most active in the rural parts of southern Sicily and is a rival to the [[Sicilian Mafia|Cosa Nostra]], originating as a dissident offshoot group of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra. Some members have a star [[tattoo]]ed on their bodies.<ref name="st365">Stille, ''Excellent Cadavers'', p. 365.</ref>

== History ==

Little is known of the origins of the organization, though it is believed to have come about in a similar fashion to the Mafia, in the same rural environment of Sicily. Unlike the Mafia, however, the Stidda was mostly rural and low-profile until the 1980s, when it became somewhat more expansionist and started moving into the cities, bringing the two Sicilian groups into competition with one another. It differs from the Mafia by the fact that it is not based on an [[honor]] system but is interested only in criminal activities and the resulting profits.<ref name=st365/>

The Stidda came into public view when Cosa Nostra [[pentito]] [[Francesco Marino Mannoia]] spoke about it in 1989. Later another Mafia member [[Leonardo Messina]]<ref name=vio>[http://www.liberliber.it/biblioteca/i/italia/verbali_antimafia_xi_legislatura/html/violante01/15_00.htm Testimony of Leonardo Messina] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930205030/http://www.liberliber.it/biblioteca/i/italia/verbali_antimafia_xi_legislatura/html/violante01/15_00.htm |date=2007-09-30 }} {{in lang|it}} before the [[Antimafia Commission]].</ref> told his own view. According to their testimonies, Stidda is an organisation that was founded by former members of the Cosa Nostra during the [[Second Mafia War]] of the early 1980s. They had been expelled due to disobedience or, in a couple of cases, even marrying a relative of a police officer. Many of the original stiddari were followers of the murdered Mafia-boss [[Giuseppe Di Cristina]].<ref name="st365"/>

The Stidda was particularly strong in southern Sicily around the towns of [[Agrigento]], [[Caltanissetta]], [[Gela]], [[Vittoria, Italy|Vittoria]], [[Niscemi]] and other smaller municipalities.<ref name="st365"/> The original leaders of the Stidda were Giuseppe Croce Benvenuto and Salvatore Calafato. A [[dynamite]] bomb later killed Stidda boss Calogero Lauria. They were involved a more direct war with the Mafia in the early 1990s. The vicious war led to over 300 deaths.<ref>Dickie, ''Cosa Nostra'', p.</ref> One of these was the judge [[Rosario Livatino]].{{citation needed| date = June 2025 }}

Stidda is not a tight organization and many gangs ("clans") operate relatively independently. They ally with each other or even the local chapter of Cosa Nostra. They have similar rituals and rules. There is also a membership tattoo. Older members use a needle and black and blue ink to carve a five-pointed star on the initiate's right hand between the thumb and index finger. This tattoo is known as ''stiddari''.{{citation needed| date = June 2025 }}

==See also==
{{Portal|Italy}}
* [[Sicilian Mafia]]
* [[Camorra]]
* [[Mala del Brenta]]
* [[Banda della Magliana]]
* [['Ndrangheta]]
* [[Sacra Corona Unita]]
* [[Società foggiana]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}
*Dickie, John (2004). ''Cosa Nostra. A history of the Sicilian Mafia'', London: Coronet, {{ISBN|0-340-82435-2}}
*[[Alexander Stille|Stille, Alexander]] (1995). ''Excellent Cadavers. The Mafia and the Death of the First Italian Republic'', New York: Vintage {{ISBN|0-09-959491-9}}
*[http://www.americanmafia.com/Feature_Articles_334.html Stidda - The fifth Mafia]

{{American Mafia}}
{{Organized crime groups in Europe}}

[[Category:History of the Sicilian Mafia]]
[[Category:Organised crime groups in Italy]]
[[Category:Secret societies related to organized crime]]
[[Category:Organized crime groups in Malta]]
[[Category:Sicilian Mafia clans]]