even a small restaurant in Valletta city (Malta`s capital) named Beati Paoli and a devote statue of Saint Francis of Paola is in Saint Elmo street corner also in Valletta Malta. There are even rumors that the Beati Paoli are probably still present even today but whether the sect is still active or not remains a mystery . If so makes the `Beati Paoli` one of the most ancient and most illusive sects . I Beati Paoli (novel) Written by prolific author and journalist Luigi Natoli, "I Beati Paoli" was at first released split into 239 episodes, published between 6 May 1909 and 2 January 1910 by the daily newspaper Il Giornale di Sicilia. Divided into four main parts, the historical novel tells the story of the conflict between on the one hand an evil, greedy and ambitious Don Raimondo Albamonte, a Sicilian aristocrat, duke of Motta, and the main antagonist of the book, and, on the other hand, the sect of Beati Paoli, an amorphous, secret and when necessary violent organization of individuals committed to punish Don Raimondo for his crimes. In the words of scholar Rino Coluccello: "the action in the Beati Paoli is created by the conflict between good and bad characters". The novel is set in Sicily over a period of about 20 years, at the beginning of the 18th century. More precisely, the events narrated in the first part takes place in 1698. The second and third parts are set in the years 1713–1714, the fourth in 1718. Predecessors of the Mafia? In Sicily the Beati Paoli came to be seen – both in the popular imagination and in the ideology of mafia groups – as a proto-manifestation of the Mafia. Sicilian mafiosi love to portray themselves as the successors of the Beati Paoli, and Cosa Nostra likes to trace its origin to the sect. The novel is still alive in today's Mafia culture and its main characters are models of the ideal-typical sets of attitudes and behaviour of a mafioso. In one of their first confrontations in court, the Mafia boss of bosses Totò Riina and the turncoat (pentito) Gaspare Mutolo confronted each other referring to the characters of the novel. Another informant, Antonio Calderone, said he was told when he was initiated in Cosa Nostra that a mafioso should "follow the example of the Beati Paoli." The novel is dealt with extensively in