END OF THE MAFIA

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 70, 23 March 1926, Page 7

END OF THE MAFIA

ITALIAN SECRET SOCIETY

HUNTED DOWN BY POLICE

THOUSANDS STJEBENDEK IN SICILY.

(United Presa Association—Copyright.) (Australian-New Zealand Cable Assn.) LONDON, 22na March. The Milan correspondent of the "Daily Chronicle" says that Italy is agog over the near ending of the Mafia, which has proved the greatest manhunt in Italy. Caesar Mori, Prefect of Palermo, is in charge of operations, which have baffled generations of Italian police. Nearly a thousand prisoners, including heads of the gang, have been captured. Among them is the Mayor of : a Sicilian town to whom several cases lof bloodshed are traceable. Previously the population has been overawed into silence. Murders and other crimes spread over years are now coming to light. Many were committed by well-educated persons, apparently leading blameless social lives. These well-to-do people exploited brigands for the ends of the Mafia. It is now plain that a few hundred extortioners composed the head and front of the Mafia. Through the Tax Department they obtained information of everybody's means, so were able to exact annual tribute from people in their zone. Great landowners might be required to hand over 50,000 lire annually, while a ragged tramp would bo forced to give a Mafia chief a day's labour. Finally, Caesar Mori, as InspectorGeneral of Public Security in Sicily, became powerful enough to issue a twelve hours' ultimatum, which was circulated in the hills, and resulted in hundreds of bandits surrendering. South Italians now call Mori "Saint Mori, the miracle worker."

The Mafia is the most famous, or, rather, infamous,' of Italian secret societies. Originating in Sicily centuries ago, it has levied blackmail on the people for generations, and is rampant in America, wherever Italians congregate under the sign of the "Black Fand." Attempts to suppress it have failed in the past owing to the Mafia's strong political influence. It was when it came into collision with the Fascist movement that Signor Mussolini determined on its suppression. It remains to be seen whether the Mafia will survive *and revive.