In Bisanti started a furniture factory in Palermo. It will be cheaper for you than hiring a security guard. The arrangement lasted for two decades. The Palermo police asked him if he would testify against the extortionist. Not long ago, such a public denunciation would have meant a death sentence, but in recent years police raids and betrayals by informers have weakened the Mafia here, and a new citizens group called Addiopizzo Goodbye Pizzo has organized resistance to the protection rackets.
Bisanti said yes, took the witness stand in a Palermo courtroom in January and helped send the extortionist to prison for eight years. This sun-drenched island at the foot of the Italian peninsula has always been a place of conflicting identities. There is the romantic Sicily, celebrated for its fragrant citrus groves, stark granite mountains and glorious ruins left by a succession of conquerors.
The vast acropolis of Selinunte, built around B. In the ninth century A. Natural splendors abound as well: at the eastern end of the island rises Mount Etna, an 11,foot-high active volcano, beneath which, according to Greek mythology, lies the serpentine monster Typhon, trapped and entombed for eternity by Zeus. But Sicily is also known as the birthplace of the Mafia, arguably the most powerful and organized crime syndicate in the world.
The Allies even allowed Mafia figures to become mayors there. Over the next few decades, the Cosa Nostra built relationships with Italian politicians—including Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti who served seven terms between and —and raked in billions through heroin trafficking, extortion, rigged construction contracts and other illegal enterprises. Those who dared speak out were usually silenced with a car bomb or a hail of bullets.
Some of the most violent and consequential Mafia figures came from Corleone, the mountain town south of Palermo and the name novelist Mario Puzo conferred on the American Mafia family central to his novel, The Godfather.
