How much influence is the Mafia thought to have exercised within Italian politics?
Their influence has traditionally been strongest in their Sicilian heartlands, where the gangsters’ tentacles are thought to have extended into many areas of business, local politics and the justice system. . But the Mafia’s influence on Italian politics was also seen as immense. According to the evidence against Mr Andreotti, for example, he was consorting with Mafia bosses and was able to commission them to kill a journalist holding sensitive information. A sea change in national attitudes to the Mafia occurred in the early 1990s, when the murders of anti-Mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino caused revulsion and outrage across the country. The clean-up of public affairs added to the impression that the Mafia was being marginalised. More recently, however, Mr Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party won each and every seat in Sicily, prompting critics to suspect some foul play.
