Marchers in ‘Mafia town’ don white hoods after ban lift

EVER since Mario Puzo’s novel The Godfather hit the New York bestseller list in 1969, the small town of Corleone in the heart of Sicily has been in the limelight because of its Mafia associations.

Despite Mayor Nicolo Nicolosi’s insistence that Corleone has changed from the crime-ridden provincial village portrayed in Francis Ford Coppola’s film version of The Godfather, it is hard to ignore the facts. Several high-ranking Mafiosi have hailed from Corleone and in the last century there were regular bloody killings on the streets of the town.

The traditional Easter commemoration of Christ’s path to crucifixion was always elaborate, with thousands lining the streets and participants donning white robes and pointed hoods resembling those of the supremacist Ku Klux Klan.

Four decades ago the chief of police decided to ban the hoods to deny the wearers anonymity. Using the parade to even scores, hooded Mafiosi were known to assassinate rivals during the Good Friday procession.

With the incarceration of the major heads of the Mafia in the last few years and more recently the arrest of the former deputy head of Sicily’s regional government, on charges of Mafia association, the chief of police of Corleone felt it was safe to reintroduce the traditional hoods this year.

The procession passed without incident.