nted the Axis forces off the island so that they could return to the level of power that they once held. In turn, they solicited the help of the capo di tutti capi, the boss of bosses of the United States branch of Cosa Nostra, the presently jailed Salvatore Lucky Luciano. He agreed to help, and pre-arranged the support of the Sicilian Mafia.The vanguards of the invading Americans carried flags and foulards of yellow silk, embroidered with the letter L (Robb 52). One had been dropped by a lowflying U.S. reconnaissance plane on the hill town of Villalba, at the doorstep of the local priest who was brother of Don Calogero Vizzini. Don Calo was about to be made an honorary colonel in the U.S. army. He was already capo di tutti capi of the Sicilian Mafia, and was heavily into black market business when the U.S. dropped the flag. As the Americans were moving into Palermo, two thirds of Italian troops deserted. The L was for Lucky Luciano, who was said to be aboard the plane that dropped the flag. Luciano appealed for a reduction of sentence for services rendered to the nation, and was immediately released and deported to Italy. American writer, Gore Vidal once remarked that Sicily was liberated by Lucky Luciano, Vito Genovese, and the American army. Genovese, Lucianos second-hand man in New York, and a major drug trafficker of the day, ended up in Italy at the same time. He then took the job of official interpreter and adviser to the U.S. military governor. Not everyone who is in with Costa Nostra is Mafioso. People dont talk about the Mafia in Sicily but they talk a lot about friends (Robb 24). When a Sicilian mentions friends they certainly mean friends of friends, or powerful people who have a direct link to the Mafia. There are innumerous examples of friends, but the most mentionable are the politicians. Guilio Andreotti became a cabinet minister in 1947 when he was only twenty-eight. Although he had been a member of almos...
