A town in Italy is having its town council dissolved because it has been infiltrated by the mafia.
The aptly named Corleone, Italy, and three other southern Italian towns, have had their town councils dissolved by order of the government because they had been infiltrated by the mafia, The Guardian reported Thursday.
“The move to dissolve the council tells us that the problem has not gone away, despite all the talk that the Cosa Nostra’s Calabrian cousins are the most important element in organised crime,” Federico Varese, criminology professor at Oxford University, told The Guardian.
The towns of Arzano, Bovalino and Tropea have also had their town councils dissolved.
Far from the first Italian town to have its town council disbanded, more than 200 municipal authorities have suffered the same fate within the last three decades, according to The Local Italy.
The move comes after an investigation by the Italian Interior Ministry found that people with alleged mafia ties had been hired by the town, and public contracts had also been awarded to businesses with mafia ties.
Reports from local media also claimed intercepted phone conversations show members of the mafia had mentioned former Mayor Leoluchina Savona, saying he was a friend of a “loyalist” to former mob boss Salvatore Totò Riina.
The towns will now be managed by a government-appointed commissioner until new elections are held.
If the name Corleone sounds familiar, that’s because it should. It was the name of the family famously depicted in the fictional mafia movie series The Godfather. But the towns history is also steeped in real-life mafia activity.
In January of 2013, former Mayor Savona issued a public apology for the mafia’s violence in the town, saying “I apologise in the name of all the people of Corleone. I ask forgiveness for the blood that was spilled.”
Savona issued the 2013 apology on the 20th anniversary of the arrest of Toto Riina, who was the “capo di tutti capi” — boss of bosses.
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