History - Sicily - page 574

Postwar Woes & Mani Pulite
The most powerful force in Sicilian politics in the latter half of the 20th century was the
Democrazia Cristiana (DC; Christian Democrats), a centre-right Catholic party that ap-
pealed to the island's traditional conservatism. Allied closely with the Church, the DC
promised wide-ranging reforms while at the same time demanding vigilance against god-
less communism. It was greatly aided in its efforts by the Mafia, which ensured that the
local DC mayor would always top the poll. The Mafia's reward was clientelismo (political
patronage) that ensured it was granted favourable contracts.
This constant interference by the Mafia in the island's economy did much to nullify the
efforts of Rome to reduce the gap between the prosperous north and the poor south. The
well-intentioned Cassa del Mezzogiorno (Southern Italy Development Fund), set up in
1950, was aimed at kick-starting the pitiful economy of the south, and Sicily was one of its
main beneficiaries, receiving state and European Communities (EC) money for all kinds of
projects. However, the disappearance of large amounts of cash eventually led the central
government to scrap the fund in 1992, leaving the island to fend for itself.
In the same year, the huge Tangentopoli (Bribesville) scandal (the institutionalisation of
kickbacks and bribes, which had been the country's modus operandi since WWII) made
headline news. Although it was largely focused on the industrial north of Italy, the reper-
cussions of the widespread investigation into graft (known as Mani Pulite , or Clean Hands)
were inevitably felt in Sicily, a region where politics, business and the Mafia were long-
time bedfellows. The scandal eventually brought about the demise of the DC party.
In the meantime, things were changing in regard to how the Sicilians viewed the Mafia,
thanks to the investigating magistrates Paolo Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone. They con-
tributed greatly to turning the climate of opinion against the Mafia on both sides of the At-
lantic, and made it possible for ordinary Sicilians to speak about and against the Mafia
more freely. When they were tragically murdered in the summer of 1992, it was a great loss
for Italy and Sicily, but it was these deaths that finally broke the Mafia's code of omertà
(silence), which had ruled the island for so long. A series of high-profile arrests have fol-
lowed in the two decades since, including the apprehensions of legendary Mafia kingpins
Salvatore 'Totò' Riina in 1993, Leoluca Bagarella in 1995, Bernardo 'the Tractor' Proven-
zano in 2006, Salvatore Lo Piccolo in 2007 and Domenico 'the Veterinarian' Raccuglia in
2009.