COSA NOSTRA

Cosa Nostra and Politics in Italy

Cosa Nostra and Politics in Italy

Cosa Nostra with its origins in western Sicily emerged as a mafia organisation during the late 19th century. With a lack of stable government and an inadequate public service system, there was a fertile environment for criminal gangs to flourish and since then they have continued to operate. These two words meaning 'Our Thing' are representative of the terrorism, ugliness and backwardness of the society from which they originated (Sciasci, 2010). This mafia along with some others has continued to reign in Italy through a system based on violence and has also influenced the politics of the country.

If the history of politics and mafia in the country is traced, a link between the two cannot be overlooked. The end of the Cold War saw the relations between politics and mafias enter a different phase. With no support from judiciary they had to choose the strategy of terrorism to gain political alliances which can be witnessed from various instances. Although in the early years there was no explicit link found of the relationship between people from mafia and politics, it existed and came to the surface in the year 1975. The publication of the book of a progressive Sicilian author Pantaleone who, in his book shared the entire career of Giovanni Gioia, who had been a minister several times and held many other authoritative positions during the 25 years of his political career. He hinted the links of this high representative with the people of mafia and also proved it with documental evidence in the court which resulted in the recognition of the court of the country for the first time that mafia had also entered politics (Rizzoli, 2011).

This influence has not ended with the elapse of time and has continued to exist and propel in the country. Nearly twenty years later, in 2004, the Supreme Court charged the former President of the Council of Ministers who was a powerful person in the government, to have an association with Cosa Nostra. Though he escaped justice but this provides an understanding of the long alliance of the mafia and political figures.

Not only does the mafia influence through its representatives in the government but, they use violence as a tool to influence the political life in the country. They refuse to go to judiciary for their internal conflicts and value its own system more for the solution of them. On one hand, they do not obey the law and rules while on the other hand, they use violence as a mode of communication. This use of violence helps them in controlling the population and exhibit power to impose their laws and also influence and hamper the activities of the local authorities.

The electoral process is also affected by this mafia and there has been evidence of such interferences. In times of elections, mafia families extend financial support to some candidates for their political campaign in exchange of some financial benefits ...