The Sicilian history has for centuries been disrupted by invasions, location placing it at the crossroads of maritime routes in the Mediterranean. This past has strongly influenced the minds and Sicilian yearn for freedom and independence. In 1861, with the birth of the Italian State, Sicily finds more fiscally squeezed until the reign previous Bourbons, investment and land reform was not forthcoming. All this explains the distrust vis-à-vis the central government and favorable to the formation of an organized criminal society soil. Rather than referring to the new state, local people will turn to a "parallel system of authority" in the words of Mrs. Mallard. Early on, the Mafia will infiltrate political power by "doing" all local elections, all major elected officials are authorized by the Mafia and so the workings of the state are infected locally. This system still continues widely today. The power of the Mafia is undoubtedly to Mussolini regime. The Italian dictator wants to end this local power that counteracts thirst authority. He sends in Sicily prefect Cesare Mori, with the fascist militia, led the first major fight against organized crime. The effects are, however, limited by the arrival of World War II and the affiliation to the fascist movement of large Sicilian family.
Something unfamiliar, organized crime will play a significant role in the Allied victory, at least in the liberation of Italy. Comes into play the famous mobster Lucky Luciano. Born in Corleone (Sicily) in 1896, he emigrated to the United States at the age of 10 years before founding the years 20-30 American Cosa Nostra, unifying the different families (the name later take the Sicilian Mafia and not the Conversely contrary to popular belief). He was sentenced in 1936 for tax evasion and sentenced to 50 years in prison. But to make the American landing in Sicily, the military authorities call on him and on those boards, local mafia provide many details allies and host spies. For services, Luciano will be released on parole before being extradited in 1949 in Italy. He stayed in Naples where he will continue to direct its trafficking including drugs shipped to the United States. In 1957, the principal leaders of the Sicilian and American mafia find themselves without the Parlerme forces intervening. The summit follows the reorganization of the transatlantic trade in drugs and the division of labor between families. Luciano died in 1962 and opened the first mafia war for the conquest of power .in Sicily. Simply put, this fratricidal struggle will see the Corleone clan win. Since the victory of Luciano Liggio, this influence was manifested by the advent of Toto Riina who was succeeded Bernardo Provenzano in 1993 This recently arrested by police made the front pages of all the newspapers who see it as a major blow to the organization. One can only applaud the arrest of an old, sick and isolated after 40 years on the run who was hiding near the village where he was born! Some already assume it was "balanced" by rivals who wanted to do away with some rather archaic management of Provenzano. To those who see a mastermind of the organization there, I would cite Lucciano Liggio, his former mentor, who told him to "shoot like a god, too bad it was a chicken brain." His likely successor Mateo Messina Denaro should be on the run since 1993.
For 20 years, the Italian government is trying by all means to restore the rule of law in Sicily. Following the revelations of the first repented (breaking the traditional code of silence), the "maxi-trial" of Palermo opens in 1986, 475 mafiosi attend (over 800 defendants) and the indictment contains 8607 pages on a hundred homicides. The blow is hard for the Mafia but revenge will be terrible and bloody. In 1992, judges Falcone and Borsellino were killed in two spectacular attacks killing more than a dozen dead. The head of the anti-extortion cell of Catania is also shot. Since the "Clean Hands" operation would have cleaned up the political climate and Cosa Nostra would be more discreet including restricting homicides. (For details on the history of the Mafia, it is helpful to read other history between mafia, Salvatore Lupo, Flammarion).
