Once,  the Italian public television interviewed a mafioso from Corleone, a town in the province of Palermo. He served his life sentence in a prison in Sardinia. During his captivity he painted oil paintings. Seen on the small screen, his paintings looked beautiful. Then, the interviewer asked him if it was true that he was still a Mafia boss and wielded power from prison.

“Every time a Mafia murder occurs, the authorities charge me as the mandator in the murder. This is absurd! I have been locked in this prison for many years. Do you think I can keep control over the Mafia from my cell?” replied the Mafia boss.

In my opinion he was right. If a lifer can still have influence over a criminal organization while he is locked in a prison, it means that the prison administration is inefficient.

Actually, some murders were charged to that life convict from Corleone. I can assume the reason. When a serious bloodshed happens, the general public wants a culprit. Why not give people an easy-to-find culprit, that is the indistinct Mafia, which has neither name nor surname, or a lifer?

This is an excerpt from November 2: The Day of the Dead in Sicily

Ettore Grillo author of these books:

– November 2 The Day of the Dead in Sicily
– A Hidden Sicilian History
– The Vibrations of Words
-Travels of the Mind
http://www.amazon.com/author/ettoregrillo