Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Mafia Today
Since Salvatore Riina's conviction, other top
mafiosi
have followed him behind bars, most
notably his successor Leoluca Bagarella, arrested in 1995; the Sicilian 'Godfather', Bernar-
do Provenzano, caught in 2006 after 20 years on the run; Salvatore Lo Piccolo, Proven-
zano's successor, arrested in 2007; and Domenico Raccuglia (aka 'the Veterinarian'), num-
ber two in the organisation, arrested in 2009 after 15 years on the run.
The year 2013 was an eventful one for the anti-Mafia movement. April of that year saw
the biggest ever seizure of Mafia-related assets, from businessman Vito Nicastri, who is al-
leged to have been a front man for the Cosa Nostra. In May, more than 50,000 people at-
tend the beatification of Don Giuseppe Puglisi, the Catholic priest shot by a Mafia hitman
in 1993. Puglisi will be the first Mafia victim to be officially declared a martyr by the Ro-
man Catholic Church, a powerful statement for the anti-Mafia movement. The same month,
Italy's former head politicians were on trial alongside Mafia bosses such as Salvatore Ri-
ina, for involvement with the Mafia in Sicily. Among the accused politicians was Nicola
Mancino, the former interior minister.
No one would be so foolish to suggest that the power of the Mafia is a thing of the past,
but these events have meant that the powerful core of the organisation is being weakened
and that the silence, which for so many years has made progress difficult, is finally being
broken.
Today's Mafia has infiltrated daily life, becoming intertwined with legal society: its col-
laborators and their children are now 'respectable' and influential citizens. Whatever the
business activity, the Mafia will often have a hand in it; for example, a legitimate business
might secure a building contract, but the Mafia will then tell it where to buy cement or
where to hire machinery. Critics call this 'the Invisible Mafia', and point out that a large
number of Sicilian business owners still pay some kind of
pizzo
(protection money).
The first mafia 'supertrial' happened in a bunker near Palermo in 1986, where 500 top
mafiosi
were prosec-
uted; there were 347 convictions, with 19 life imprisonments and overall sentences totalling 2665 years.
which campaigns against these iniquitous payments, urging consumers to support busi-
nesses that have said 'no' to paying
pizzo
. Its motto, 'A people who pay the
pizzo
are a
people without dignity', seems to have struck a chord across the island and a number of
