Black Hand Unquelled

Manawatu Times, Volume LIII, Issue 6667, 21 July 1928, Page 3 (Supplement)

Black Hand Unquelled

MAFIA DEFIES MUSSOLINI UNCRUSHED BY FASCISTS SOME time ago, writes the Marseilles correspondent of the “Daily Chronicle,” the Fascists “told the world” that the Mafia, that ancient and extraordinary secret society of Sicily, had been completely wiped out.

Signor Mussolini had (they said) devised a big ' and, ' cunning campaign against it. Signor Cesare Mori,' his skilful police lieutenant, had carried it out—with complete success, we were told. ..

Articles appeared in the Italian newspapers describing how Mori and his little army of policemen had attacked and .captured the Mafia strongholds, and-rooted up tho whole evil growth of anarchy and terrorism. • Much praise was bestowed upon “II Duce” and his “chief of staff,’’ and the feat was proudly hailed as "one of the most; conspicuous achievements of the Fascist regime.” ■

But it now appears the. muchvaunted campaign of extermination was a failure, and the vainglorious news "fed; to” the world’s newspapers by Signor Mussolini’s clever.’ Press agents.was,.untrue. , 1 ■ .... The Mafia still lives and flourishes exceedingly. . ■'■} Stronger Than Before Indeed, the recent assault upon it has strengthened its hold upon Sicily, and the Fascist Government i admits the failure in that it announces another and sterner attempt to annihilate the organisation. : • ’ Hundreds and hundreds of people were arrested in course of the first effort. . i si . kiv Most of them were thrown into prison without being charged; they were condensed (without a trial, and finally sent to the numerous arid, unhealthy little “Devil’s Islands” off the coast of Sicily. _ . It is a thankless task, of course, to dispose of a legend. '. y Most people believe that the Mafia is a wonderful secret society,' with squads of romantic highwaymen—dashing Robin Hoods, and picturesque Dick Turpins—an amazing organisation which, .flouting all established authority, is a law unto itself,, Nothing could be farther from the truth! There is little that is romantic about the Mafia. 1 The members of this society and the people for whom ii stands are, in fact, among the most wretched and oppressed beings in all Europe. ■ : , 1 ’ ' V 4 -*’ Sicily has for centuries been the prey of conquerors; on the highway of Mediterranean raiders and traders, it had constantly been plundered, and no one, from the Phoenicians to the Fascists, has been concerned to-set up a regime of justice, order, and'decent economic conditions. Who are the people bn whose wrongs and miseries the mysterious Mafia has been built? •, , ■ 1 \

First of all. they are the peasants, living in conditions of squalor which almost surpass belief. Their homes are hovels; they, are worked -brutally hard all the hours of light. The estates on which' they labour belong the absentee landlords, who let out the land to agents'only concerned with squeezing the last lira out of land and worker. v. \ It is doubtful if . there is a more miserable agricultural community in the world than the farm labourers of Sicily. . O : Laws for Themselves Worse,', perhaps, is the Tot /of the workers—large numbers of whom are mere children—in the sulphur . mines of the islah(|. • , ; : They are abjectly poor; their pay is a mere pittance, and the work Ts done in vilely unhealthy conditions. It is mainly this frightful economic state of affairs, coupled with an ageold lack of ordinary', elementary justice, that has bred the-Mafia'organi-sation... ;

As justice is,denied: the people by the ruling authorities, the Maflois. administer it themselves and after their own qrude and violent fashion. . Sentences, as often as not, take the form of assassinations; fines and taxes are collected by force from the privileged. ■ ■ ' Naturally, this has bred widespread lawlessness—murder, arson arid. robbery—throughout Sicily, but the poorer people -do believe—and with /some, reason —that they are thus defended and that “justice” is administered to their oppressors. The Mafiosi, well organised In every part of the island, hold their courts, and make their decisions in secret. Ages of this mystery have created a stern Mafia “honour” among them and among the people in general. To turn informer Is to be guilty of the worst possible treason, and ,tp court early and violent death. A word a sigh from a Mafia chieftain, arid the whole island obeys. ' , •

Silence '' t ■ Magistrates and judges often fin'd it impossible to extract as much -as a word from a > single witness In a case. The Mafia has decreed silence. Mussolini used to value the Mafiosi as political allies. As recently'as 1924, their rifles, revolvers and daggers helped him to win political victories for Fascism. . An organisation like the Black Shirts of early days rather appealed to the Black Hands of Sicily, i It was possible to be Mafiosi and Fascists too, “II Duce,” therefore, was able to win many over to his side: When, however, the Mafiosi saw that Mussolini was using them;mOTlljt for his own political ends, that they had to submit—they, the lawless’And the free!—to the orders of Rome; and' that without question, and that no effort was being made to right; ike wrongs and cure the economic miseries of Sicily, they deserted wholesale from the Fascist ranks. V' - r > Thereupon Mussolini decreed their extermination —that is to say, he or-, dered a campaign against them 'because they were his political enemies, not because they were Mafiosi., h; ■: First pf all, in 1926, he jsaned^a;

special ukase, to be applied only U, Sicily. It decreed that those persons who were 1 “suspected by public opinion"—which is only Fascist opinion, naturally—-of . being law-, breakers were to be arrested and banished* Even the - formality of a - trial wab to be dispensed with. |> L Caesar Came and Saw • Police-Prefect Cesare Mori, a man i, of 60 and a former artilleryman, was r given the task of carrying out this decree.' >V, .• ’ ;]1 It was an excellent choice,. from the Fascist point of view. Mori is a good type of the brutal sort, of sergeant-major. . He knows the Mafiosi, because, when die held a police, post in Sttaily in pre-Fascist days, one of his officii - duties was,to bribe the Mafiosi In order to secure the return of any $ Government Parliamentary candidate i|| whom the Government ordered him ta > see was returned. Nearly all Italian m governments have used the Mafia i such a purpose. For their co-operation Mori not > merely provided them with ample g* cash rewards, but secured official ‘pro*. tection for them. ’]

He was, therefore, almost “one ot ' them,” so-that when the BlacK Shirt* 1 came Into power he preferred hi* • Mafia friends to the Fascist new* -I' comers, ■ -Iv v-jl? For a while his attitude did not mat* : ter; the new lords of Italy, concerned : > with bigger things, did not worry cf about, the .opinions of a police prefect \ in far-away Sicily. - : > But .soon he had to choose, and he ;• “ratted” to the . Fascists in order to ref ain.hia, position. He became, all other Italian police chiefs, merely : -$- a paid agent of Fascism. Autocrat of Hills and Vales N . r‘dj Mori carried on his campaign for t months, arresting many hundreds of persons, not .because' they were' osl, but because they refused’ to bow ,1; the knee to Mussolini. ' - , He was not merely a police prefect; he was judge and jury as well. His: word was law; there was no i appeal from it. - , - • ; Once a 'person was arrested, thatvi ! ' person was, without further 'adoi! shipped off to Ustlca or to one of tha-H sun-scorched islands of the Lipaii A group, there to eke .out a miserable fi existence on :2s a day in most squalid '■} and unhealthy conditions. jHS

. The Mafia will never be wiped om by such brutal means. It would, of course, be a very good thing’)t'it-.could be suppressed, with;:; all the crime and hatred Connected wlthgi it, but the methods of Mussolini andly Mori will simply make if more wide ; spread, and more brutal.

. What Might Have Been , It/Tvill only vanish when that brought it to life have gone, when " justice in Sicily inspires the respect ©r® the /people, when local government* is no longer a farce, arid when, espepl*!!; ally, i the frightful economic, of the.Tslanders ls definitely- ■ Then it would disappear speedily. -a|| Such-would not be a task/for Fascism, but to any 61 refowri the Black Shirt reg>ta& hM'i given no sign of turning its hand. ■; The Mafiosi, therefore,-, will conWfiwt® to be the; real masters of Sicily/ V/'. k • They have, faced „ with a ' stern, 'struggle; become stronger, than >ever;* and. they, are well provided not merefig with .funds,; but also.\with arms,'- .PXtm thteir/struggle against Mori’s forces; ; . ' '' —isrr . .jl