Allied forces appointed accused murderers as mayors in occupied Sicily

Evidence

After the Allies landed in Sicily, the mob connections deepened. Allied leaders drew on the assistance of local mafia bosses, who had been the targets of a brutal crackdown by Mussolini. In some cases, the Allies appointed the mafiosi as mayors. One, Calogero Vizzini, had been accused of (though not tried for) thirty-nine murders, six attempted murders, seventy-three robberies and thefts, and sixty-three cases of extortion. Soon, according to one mafia expert, the Allied administration was “riddled with Mafiosi.” Bosses were serving as brokers between the Allies and locals, providing interpretation, and fulfilling other important roles. Once the mafiosi declared themselves anti-Fascist, the historian Tom Behan notes, the Allies had “trusted partners who were able to police society very effectively.” — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 332

Categorization

• SEED: An article angle: how anti-Fascist convenience made the U.S. military the patron that rebuilt mafia power in Italy — the reverse of the usual ‘we defeated organized crime’ claim.