Word: palermo
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...killers struck earlier this fall, in an episode that had all the makings of a chase seen out of The Godfather, Friday, September 3rd, 9 p.m.--General Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa, prefect of Palermo, emerges from his office after another full day of work. Waiting outside, at the usual time, is his wife Emmanuel, seated behind the wheel of their Autobianchi. The couple heads back to home at Villa Paino: several vehicles (police don't know how many) follow close on. At the appointed intersection, automatic weapons spray 40 rounds of ammunition at the car from point blank range...
Dalla Chiesa's death robbed Italy of its most charismatic para-military leader in years. The 62-year-old general had just come off a brilliantly successful campaign against the Red Brigades terrorist network in Rome when he was named prefect of Palermo last April. No better choice could have been made for this mission impossible--to fight the Sicilian Mafia on its own turf--than the selection of Dalla Chiesa. Having vanquished the kidnappers of U.S. Gen. James Dozier and the killers of former Prime Minister Aldo Moro, Dalla Chiesa stood for everything efficient, uncorrupted and powerful in Italian...
Eager to assert the authority as duce of law enforcement, the prefect needlessly put his own life on the line. During the Red Brigade campaign. Dalla Chiesa kept on the move all the time, never sleeping in the same place for more than one night: But in Palermo, the routines changed drastically; in order to be among the townspeople, to inspire confidence and a sense of civic security, Dalla Chiesa led a highly visible and regular lifestyle. He could be seen many an afternoon, cheat out, in lightly colored tailored suit and shades boldly swaggering down the streets of Palermo...
...have been known to dominate local justices in peasant areas. Many believe the Mafia may even control the votes of up to 30 parliamentary deputies. With that much at stake, it is hardly surprising that since 1981,222 people have been identified as victims of organized crime executions in Palermo alone...
...Italian people have reacted with a fury never before seen in such cases. At the funeral in the Basilica of San Domenico in Palermo, Prime Minister Giovanni Spadolon and his cabinet were heckled and abused by an angry crowd impartent with the government's seemingly ineffectual stand against violence. The long-over-due response came from Rome almost immediately. The President of the Republic promulgated a law granting broad powers of investigation to a newly created office of high commissioner against organized crime. The acts allows for a variety of lactics, including phone taps, extensive examination of personal bank records...