La Sicilia e gli Alleati: Tra Occupazione e Liberazione

"Patti is on the list as the representative of a whole generation of young researchers who have done so much in recent years to advance our understanding of the mafia in Sicily and elsewhere. Her little book is about the crucial years in Sicily after the Allied invasion in the summer of 1943. Some of the most widespread myths about the Sicilian mafia concern that moment in history. It is often said, particularly in Italy, that Mussolini had done away with the mafia 15 years earlier, and that the Americans brought the mafia back in 1943. It’s even claimed—and people get very angry if you deny this myth—that the Americans secretly planned their invasion of Sicily with the mafia’s collaboration. Patti’s study shows a number of things: that the mafia had never gone away, and was widespread and influential in Fascist Italy; that the Americans had no grand plan to bring the mafia back; and that it was the climate of confusion and illegality (dysfunctional rationing, black market, etc) that gave the mafia huge opportunities to impose itself after 1943."