The Mafia in Italy Was Dead, Until the US Military Brought it Back to Life
The Sicilian Mafia and Camorra throve, and still do, in Italy’s corrupt political culture. Key to their success is their ability to work the system and master its intricacies. They used bribes and threats to subvert politicians, police, and judges and bent them to their will until organized crime became a state within the state. The fascists were not ones to share power or tolerate challenges, however, and Mussolini was neither concerned with nor constrained by legalities in his dealings with the mafia and Camorra. The dictator simply bypassed the criminal justice system and sent in the army and Black Shirts to round up Mafiosi en masse, and kill any who resisted. For over a century, the mafia had intimidated civilians, and its members openly strutted as scary tough guys. They discovered that soldiers were scarier and tougher.
Luckily for the American mafia, Mussolini’s crackdown in Italy forced Italian Mafiosi to flee the Old Country. The push factor at home coincided with a pull factor in the US, where Italian crime families experienced an unprecedented business boom because of Prohibition. The Mafiosi who fled Italy swelled the ranks of the mob in America just when their services were most needed. It was not until WWII and the Allied invasions of Sicily and Italy that the Camorra and Sicilian mafia were reborn when the US Army made use of their remnants to help administer the occupation. It was wartime, and the exigencies thereof called for the use of whatever and whoever was at hand to help win and save American lives. After what Mussolini had done to them, the Mafiosi were committed anti-fascists, and quite eager to help the enemies of Il Duce.