(No known attempts were made to contact "Partisans/Anti Fascists" in Sicily).

The Mafia, which had been almost eradicated under Mussolini, reemerged with 
the "blessing/payback" of the Allied invasion/occupation. 

"Northern" Italy with a century old feeling of "superiority" toward the "South",
was then able to use the Mafia control as justification for withholding 
government investment in "Sicily/South" as "wasteful" on the basis of the 
perceived "corruption". 

There are at least two ironies that leap out at me. 

One is that the Unification of Italy in 1860-70, and the ensuing prosperity 
of the "North" was ONLY made possible by the "expropriation" of the "bulging" 
Treasury of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies by the Piedmontese government, after 
which the "South" was left to whither!

Second, The Kingdom of Sicily was the ONLY European nation to DARE be 
an ally of the USA in the battle against the Barbary Pirates (1800-15).

One Last Thought: Why do so many sucessful 2nd and 3rd generation European 
Americans invest in the prosperity of their "mother" country, but NOT 
Italians???
======================================
Thanks to Bob Massullo

SICILIANS REFUTE BAD RAP IN BRITISH MAGAZINE

ITALY DAILY
by Elisabetta Povoledo
May 5, 2002

If Sicily were a publicly traded company, its shares would have tumbled 
Friday, when the respected business weekly The Economist published an 
unsympathetic article that painted a very bleak picture of the region's 
economic potential.

Sicily's political and business elite immediately retorted with an 
impassioned defense of local business. And they were not above throwing a few 
barbs of their own back to the British publication, which has been 
unfailingly critical of Silvio Berlusconi's center-right government. 

Labeling Sicily as the EU's third-world island, the Economist described a 
hostile environment where lack of water and electricity, a rigid public 
administration, poor transport and the general absence of a work ethic, 
easily outweighed the Mafia when it came to impeding businesses from thriving.

"For most of its firms, the daily fight to keep upright in an inhospitable 
business climate is even tougher than fending off Cosa Nostra's attentions," 
wrote the Economist, whose articles are not signed, in the edition that hit 
newsstands Friday.

President Salvatore Cuffaro of the Sicily Region, said he was surprised and 
bitter that the magazine gave such a clichéd view of the problems in Sicily 
and countered that the island was making great strides to "overcome a 
situation that had been created over years of political mismanagement." 
Sicily was actually recognized as a prime investment material, he said, 
citing a recent study by consulting agency KPMG, which placed Catania at the 
top of a list of cities in which to invest.

Annibale Chiriaco, of the region's young industrialist association, said that 
it wasn't the first time Sicily had been attacked using clichés for political 
objectives. "Those who use these assessments for political ends don't realize 
they are discrediting a political class that has already proven itself," he 
said, adding that Sicily was competitive in the global marketplace and that 
articles such as the one published by the Economist ran the risk of "aborting 
these efforts and driving away resources."

Reaction from other members of the business lobby was more muted. "The 
Economist can only give us industrialists the push to do better," said 
Giuseppe Costanzo, the president of the Palermo industrialist's association, 
who agreed that Sicilian business faced many problems, beginning with 
insufficient infrastructures.

Opposition leaders have accused the government of ignoring the south and 
privileging the northern regions. During the presentation of a book on 
employment on Thursday, center-left Daisy Party leader, Francesco Rutelli, 
blamed the Berlusconi government of cutting investments in the south by 20 
percent and assistance to companies by 40 percent. He pointed out that of the 
15 important infrastructures given priority by the government, only the 
bridge over the straight of Messina was in the south.