Italy’s secret service reports that a power vacuum has developed a the top of the Sicilian Mafia or Cosa Nostra.
The annual report claims that Cosa Nostra is in the midst of a power struggle and highlighted the touchy relationship between various factions with in the Sicilian Mafia. Pietro Grasso the chief anti-Mafia prosecutor in Italy said that since Bernardo Provenzano was apprehended back in 2006 the Sicilian Mafia has been with out a “boss of bosses“. Thirty six alleged mobsters were arrested in 2011 on charges including Mafia conspiracy and involvement in what was believed to be an attempt to reconstitute Cosa Nostra governing committee or “dome”. This along with other major arrests over the last few years has landed many of the top Sicilian Mafia bosses in jail.
Some Mafia insiders in Italy believed that at some point Matteo Messina Denaro a clan boss had taken over as the boss of bosses. But Grasso says that is not the case and the void a top the Sicilian Mafia remains. At one time Cosa Nostra was the most powerful Mafia organization in Italy but it has been eclipsed in recent years by the Calabrian Mafia also known as the Ndrangheta. The Calabrian Mafia over the last few years has seen obscene profits made from its control of the European cocaine trade which has allowed them to gain it power. They have now began to expand and have become entrenched in Canada , Australia , and even the United States with little resistance from law enforcement in those countries.
Will be interesting to see if this trend continues or if a new leader can emerge from with in the Sicilian Mafia to lead them back to power. Authorities in Italy have made better strides against the Mafia in recent years being able to seize millions of dollars in Mafia connected profits and gain convictions of high ranking members.
