By: James The Mafia started early in the 9th century. This was the period in which the Arab forces occupied Sicily. Sicilians needed a place to escape to. The word Mafia means refuge in Arab language. The Normans invaded a Sicily in the 11th century. Once again they were forced to work for these invaders as slaves. The only way to escape this was to hide in the hills of the island. When Sicily was invaded the refuges were pursued just as every time that they had been invaded before. These people in the hills formed groups to fight against these enemies. This group wanted to create ancestry and heritage. These beliefs were