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Corleone local government dissolved due to mafia infiltration
Source: The Guardian
Corleone local government dissolved due to mafia infiltration
Sicilian town the latest of more than 2oo Italian municipalities
to be shut down for this reason since 1991
Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Rome
Thursday 11 August 2016 16.22 BST
Ever since the fictitious Corleone clan was introduced to the big screen in The Godfather in 1972, the town of Corleone in Sicily has been synonymous with organised crime.
When Don Vito’s son Michael, played by Al Pacino, was sent to Sicily in exile, the murder of his new bride, Apollonia, captured the ruthless brutality of Italy’s Cosa Nostra, which always seemed to lie beneath the surface, even in the idyllic Sicilian countryside.
This week, the resilience of Italy’s most pernicious problem – the mafia – was exposed once again when it was announced that Corleone’s town council was being dissolved by the order of Rome because it had been infiltrated by organised crime. Three other municipal governments in southern Italy were also disbanded under a decree signed by the Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi.
The decision followed an investigation by Italy’s interior ministry, which found that individuals believed to be connected to the mafia had been hired by the town council, and that public contracts had been awarded to suspected mafia businesses.
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Sicilian town the latest of more than 2oo Italian municipalities
to be shut down for this reason since 1991
Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Rome
Thursday 11 August 2016 16.22 BST
Ever since the fictitious Corleone clan was introduced to the big screen in The Godfather in 1972, the town of Corleone in Sicily has been synonymous with organised crime.
When Don Vito’s son Michael, played by Al Pacino, was sent to Sicily in exile, the murder of his new bride, Apollonia, captured the ruthless brutality of Italy’s Cosa Nostra, which always seemed to lie beneath the surface, even in the idyllic Sicilian countryside.
This week, the resilience of Italy’s most pernicious problem – the mafia – was exposed once again when it was announced that Corleone’s town council was being dissolved by the order of Rome because it had been infiltrated by organised crime. Three other municipal governments in southern Italy were also disbanded under a decree signed by the Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi.
The decision followed an investigation by Italy’s interior ministry, which found that individuals believed to be connected to the mafia had been hired by the town council, and that public contracts had been awarded to suspected mafia businesses.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/10/corleone-local-government-dissolved-mafia-infiltration
