Sicily's cornered Mafia primed for reversal of fortune
By Crispian Balmer | PALERMO, Italy
Fri Jun 23, 2017 | 11:31am EDT Shortly before 8 a.m. on a sunny spring morning, Mafia boss Giuseppe Dainotti was cycling down a quiet street when two men on a motorbike drew alongside and shot him three times, killing him on the spot.
It was a classic mob hit in the heart of the Sicilian capital. People claimed to have seen nothing and only one person admitted to even hearing the gunfire. A month on, no one has been arrested.
Released from prison in 2014, Dainotti, 67, had served more than two decades in jail for murder. The motive for his own murder are not clear but police say the first high-profile Mafia hit in Palermo since 2010 may signal renewed internal strife.
"The Mafia today is in search of a new leadership at a time when a lot of the old bosses are coming out of prison," said Palermo police chief, Renato Cortese.
"The danger is that some bigwig will be released and try to put the Mafia back together again," he told Reuters.
Once all-powerful on Sicily, the world's most famous crime gang, known as Cosa Nostra, "Our Thing", has been squeezed over the past two decades, with many bosses put behind bars, many of its businesses sequestered and many locals ready to defy it.
Despite these setbacks, no one believes it is dying. Indeed, after years of decline, with the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta overtaking it as Italy's most powerful mobsters, prosecutors believe it is trying to rebuild, starting with its drug trade.
"The mafia organization is once again looking to develop and maintain a total monopoly on the extremely profitable narcotics market," Matteo Frasca, the head of Palermo's Appeals Court, said in a speech in January.
Italian prosecutors say the 'Ndrangheta has a stranglehold on cocaine trade, but Cosa Nostra is a major player in the Italian hashish market, often importing the drug from northern Africa and selling it throughout Europe.
In March, police found 400 kg (880 lb) of hashish, worth an estimated 3 million euros ($3.4 million), floating just off the Sicilian coast after a drop-off went awry. In May, police seized around 300 kg of hashish in a single raid in Palermo.
"For a while, the Mafia depended on public work scams and extortion rackets for much of their money, but with the economy in such a dire straits here, they are returning to their old drug habits," said a senior anti-Mafia magistrate, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
SHOPKEEPERS' REVOLT<..snip..>
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-mafia-idUSKBN19E1RO
