Page 581 - The Rough Guide of Sicily

Many saw the result as simply further evidence of the famous cunning and survival
skills of this political stalwart, which have given him the nickname la volpe (“the
fox”).

Statements by pentiti and others accused of Mafia associations were also at the
bottom of investigations into the business dealings of the then-prime minister Silvio
Berlusconi. This time they were considered serious enough to warrant a raid on

Berlusconi’s Milan headquarters by an elite anti-Mafia police unit in July 1998, and a
hasty dash to Sicily by Berlusconi to defend himself against charges of money-
laundering for Cosa Nostra. Despite these high-profile events, though, the very
concept of Mafia involvement was becoming increasingly irrelevant to most Italians,
as reports of political and business corruption began to dominate public life
throughout the 1990s. As the mayor of Venice remarked, in response to whispers of

Mafia involvement in the fire that destroyed La Fenice opera house in 1996, “claiming
it was burnt by the Mafia is about as useful as saying it was attacked by alien
spacecraft.”

Contemporary events

Since the turn of the millennium, the violence has for the most part calmed down.
While killings still occur, few political figureheads are targeted these days, perhaps
because fewer are willing to take the visible risks that sealed the fate of crusaders like

Falcone and Borsellino. More Mafia bosses have been jailed – Bernardo
Provenzano, for thirteen years capo dei capi, was captured in 2006, quickly followed
by 52 arrest warrants against the top echelons of Cosa Nostra in Palermo, while the
man thought to be Provenzano’s successor, Salvatore Lo Piccolo, was arrested in
2007. Perhaps more significantly, the last decade has seen the repossession by
Palermo’s anti-Mafia magistrate of billions of euros in assets held by mafiosi, largely

from the real estate and construction industries.

The most important development, however, has been the growth of a new open
attitude towards the Mafia, in contrast to the previous denial and omertà. One of the
most watched TV programmes in Italy in recent years has been La Piovra (“The
Octopus”), a drama series along the lines of The Sopranos, while in Corleone, an
anti-Mafia centre has opened to educate both foreigners and Sicilians alike. Sicilians

themselves are now bolder than ever in their public demonstrations of disgust at the
killings and intimidation, and a new movement against paying pizzo, or protection
money, has gathered force throughout the island. An increasing number of brave
individuals are willing to make a stand: people such as Rita Borsellino, sister of
murdered judge Paolo Borsellino and now an anti-Mafia figurehead, or Giovanna

Terranova, widow of another “illustrious” victim, Judge Cesare Terranova (killed in