The Sicilian Mafia was less active during the era of Fascist Italy and it was fought by Benito Mussolini's government.
According to a popular account that arose after the end of World War II, as prime minister of the Kingdom of Italy, Mussolini had visited Sicily in May 1924 and passed through Piana dei Greci, where he was received by the mayor and Mafia boss Francesco Cuccia.
At some point Cuccia expressed surprise at Mussolini’s police escort and is said to have whispered in his ear: "You are with me, you are under my protection.
[2][3] However, according to scholar Christopher Duggan, the reason was more political rather than personal: the Mafia threatened and undermined his power in Sicily, and a successful campaign would strengthen him as the new leader, legitimising and empowering his rule.
The Italian state had difficulty administering protection and enforcing the law which created a power vacuum that was gradually filled by the Mafia.
[4] Although the Sicilian community considered the Mafia to be a “social plague”[4] due to their control in the agricultural sector, they were hard to compete with politically.
Additionally, the Mafia had a negative effect on the Sicilian economy; in response Mussolini enacted Mezzogiorno policies in an effort to counteract their impact.
[4] Mussolini's Minister of the Interior, Luigi Federzoni, recalled Mori to active service and appointed him prefect of Trapani.
[14] In order to destroy the Mafia, Mori felt it necessary to "forge a direct bond between the population and the state, to annul the system of intermediation under which citizens could not approach the authorities except through middlemen..., receiving as a favour that which is due them as their right.
Mori's inquiries brought evidence of collusion between the Mafia and influential members of the Italian government and the Fascist Party.
Some 11,000 arrests were attributed to Mori’s rule in Palermo,[16] creating massive amounts of paperwork which may have been partially responsible for his dismissal in 1929.
[22] As Fascist mayors were deposed, the Allied Military Government of Occupied Territories (AMGOT) simply appointed replacements.
[26] In 1926, the Fascist government of Italy passed a law which allowed anyone to denounce someone as being a member of a criminal organization, and the accused could then be imprisoned or forcibly resettled elsewhere in the country without trial.