Word on the street (somebody told me) that Mussolini solved the southern Italian/Sicilian/Neapolitan organized crime problem when he took over by rounding up the goombahs and killing or imprisoning them all.
True?
Details?
To cite the Wikipedia:
Is there a modern non-pejorative use for the word “goombah”? I’ve only ever seen it as an insulting term for Italians, although I know it was a synonym for “godfather” long ago.
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:3, topic:587747”]
Is there a modern non-pejorative use for the word “goombah”?
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How about paisan?
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:3, topic:587747”]
Is there a modern non-pejorative use for the word “goombah”? I’ve only ever seen it as an insulting term for Italians, although I know it was a synonym for “godfather” long ago.
[/QUOTE]
I should have seen that one coming…
If he did, it didn’t last; a problem isn’t solved if it doesn’t stay solved. And if you were serious about thinking the Mafia has been destroyed, I suggest not asking an Italian about it.
I read somewhere that the Fascists had lots of low stone walls in Sicily knocked down, because mafiusi would hide behind those and shoot the lupara (sawed-off shotgun… originally for killing wolves, hence the name… but also used against government men).
The heroin problem in American inner cities that began in the 1950s has been attributed to the Allied campaign (Operation Husky) to take Sicily from the Axis in 1943. Supposedly the American authorities cut a deal with Lucky Luciano that if American mafiusi helped American forces capture Sicily, they would be freed from prison and given freer rein to deal junk. This is also the explanation for how the Mafia was returned to power after the war, after having been vanquished. I haven’t any Wikipedia cites for this, just something I heard once.
No “supposedly” about it, Lucky Luciano was approached by the US government to have his friends on the outside prevent strikes in the New York docks during the war, him being in prison at that time, later he was “deported” to Sicily, and the mafia and the USG formed an alliance against the fascists.
In the novel of The Godfather, it is claimed that, when Sicily was liberated by the Allies, they let all of the imprisoned mafioso out of jail, on the theory that anyone imprisoned by Mussolini had to be a good guy. No idea if this is true or not.
It’s doing well enough over in Sicily.
Even the American mafia in NYC is still limping along. This is an organization(s) that has been absolutely bombarded by law enforcement for the last 30 years.
Elimination of parole from the federal prison system, dwindling recruitment pools, harsh sentencing in RICO trials, frighteningly advanced surveillance and other law enforcement techniques, etc. etc. Even with all this against them they still manage to retain an incredible amount of cohesiveness.
If America can’t successfully eradicate it, what chance does Sicily have?
Not really. He appointed a dictator of Sicily, more or less. They cracked down, and hard. The government eventually had to quietly give up, because organized crime was far too deeply entrenched. There were enough mafiosi still free in 1943 that the Americans found them useful allies during operation Husky.
It’s interesting to think that organized crime is so deeply rooted there that even the total suspension of all rights and laws isn’t enough for the government to dislodge it.
Mussolini did crack down on the Mafia-but his fascist government had its own corruption. Frankly, the Sicilian Mafia is so deeply rooted that it is impossible to destroy it.
Except, now, in recent years, some honest government officials have emerged to challeng it.