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The mafias of Italy: the old guard and the upstarts
For years, the Sicilian Mafia terrorised the Italian public and state, with its highest-profile killings that of anti-mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino in 1992.
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Matteo Messina Denaro brother-in-law, Rosario Allegra, exits the police headquarters in Palermo on April 19, 2018. Italian police arrested some of Cosa Nostra kingpin Matteo Messina Denaro's closest aides, uncovering a secret network of messages that allowed the fugitive boss to give orders to his mobster allies.
(AFP /Alessandro Fucarini)
H
ollywood made the Cosa Nostra famous, but Italy has other organised crime groups, the youngest of which -- the "Fourth Mafia", based in Foggia in the southeast -- is making a violent name for itself.
Here is a brief summary of the four main Italian mafias today.
Cosa Nostra
When most people think of the mafia, they think of the "Godfather" movies, which were inspired by the Cosa Nostra.
For years, the Sicilian Mafia terrorised the Italian public and state, with its highest-profile killings that of anti-mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino in 1992.
But those attacks brought a fierce state clampdown that diminished its power, with the latest blow the arrest in January of Cosa Nostra boss Matteo Messina Denaro after 30 years on the run.
The Cosa Nostra in recent years has shifted to lower-profile strategies of infiltrating local public administration and businesses, and has links abroad, particularly with New York, according to the most recent report by Italy's anti-mafia investigators (DIA).
