Italian Silence, Iranian Eloquence
| 11:39 UK time, Tuesday, 9 May 2006
A couple of intriguing stories on the programme today about which I thought you might have information to share and opinions to offer.
(And thanks for the comments which are scattered through these posts and of such good quality they prove that blogs are more than just the refuge of people no one will listen to.)
Sicilians are turning against the Mafia, which bearing in mind the long and deadly history of that organisation is remarkable.
But can the capture of the leadership actually change the reach of corruption?
The writer , who has appeared on World Update, would certainly say that such a deeply rooted criminality can't be beaten so easily.
The other story with such a mysterious quality that your speculation is as good as anyone elses is the Iranian Letter.
What does President Ahmadinejad if he tells George Bush to be a better Christian, for example?
Comments
If Sicily is the original home of the Mafia, New York and its environs are its second home. Finding the evidence which will put mob leaders behind bars is the problem. The police may know that the man in the humble, innocuous job is in fact the feared head of a crime family but they can't do anything about it. (The charge on which Al Capone was finally put away, in Chicago, was tax evasion.) The Mafia is expert at eliminating potential witnesses but frequently it is someone from within who finally "talks". Very occasionally, however, a detective ends up working for the mob. New York has succeeded in imprisoning several Mafia kingpins. An associated phenomenon is a vigorous attempt on the part of Italian-Americans not to be tarnished by the nefarious work of a criminal minority.