The Allies and the mafia

Abstract

It has often been assumed that the mafia owes its rebirth and subsequent success to an agreement made with the Allies when they disembarked in Sicily in 1943. The available sources do not confirm this view, but indicate that the relationships which developed between the Allied administration, the mafia, local business leaders, the church and the political class were always in flux. The strength of the mafia in the postwar period needs to be seen less as part of a web generated at the level of high politics, and more as the result of the long‐term reciprocal influences between mafia organizations in Sicily and America.

Keywords:

• Mafia
• Sicily
• Second World War
• Allies