t every Italian government after that date, he had never gotten to be prime minister. He lacked a wide electoral base and so helacked clout in the party and if he stayed that way he would never head the government.It was natural that a figure so whollyconsumed by the hunger for power asAndreotti should want to enlarge his electoralbase and it was natural that he should lookto Sicily to do it(25 Robb).In Sicily, Andreotti got more votes than almost all other Italian politicians. A farmer in his district once uttered on his deathbed, Dont sell the land, and vote for Andreotti. He became prime minister in 1972, and gained the nickname Mr. Italy. Most of the aid of him becoming prime minister came from Savo Lima, who was to become Andreottis right hand man in Sicily. Leoluca Orlando, the famous former mayor of Palermo (known for his radical anti-Mafia standing), once remarked, Everybody knew that Andreotti was the protector of Lima. And everyone knew that Lima was the voice of the mafia. Throughout the postwar years the most powerful leader in Sicily was Salvo Lima, and Salvo Lima was more than a friend. He was a fully inducted member of the Cosa Nostra, bound by a lifelong vow to protect the interests of the Mafia. As the mayor of Palermo and one of the most important politicians in Sicily, he was therefore one of the more important people in Italy. The mafia has mostly been known for its money laundering, but in postwar Palermo, construction and real estate were their main business. Italy, for decades, consumed more cement per capita than any other country in the world and in Sicily, construction was in the hands of Cosa Nostra. Nearly three-quarters of the permits for new buildings were given to five obscure figures, illiterate or retired, who were fronts for the Mafia. Lima eventually crossed the wrong man, although no is sure who exactly, and his car was overtaken by two youths on Honda motorbikes. As he scrambled out of th...
