INTRODUCTION

In the span of 52 days in 1992, two horrific bomb attacks in Palermo killed Sicilian judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, Falcone's wife Francesca Morvillo, and eight police agents who were part of their armed escorts. The murders provoked mass demonstrations against the mafia in Italy and marked the beginning of a stunning escalation of violence by the Sicilian mafia against the Italian state. Tensions culminated with a terrorist bombing campaign on the mainland in 1993, when bombs planted in Florence, Milan, and Rome killed ten people and wounded more than 70 (CPIFCOMS, 2010a, pp. 10-11). The impressive amount of explosives used in these ‘military-style’ actions provoked public astonishment and harsh law enforcement countermeasures, unprecedented in the contemporary history of Italian mafia operations.

The Sicilian mafia, like similar organized crime groups based in Italy, has always adopted violence as a last resort, namely when preferred alternatives-such as non-violent displays of strength or threats—cannot achieve the same results. Yet the professionalized use of firearms and explosives remains a characteristic feature of mafia organizations. The use of violence and intimidation against competitors and opponents enables these groups to enhance their reputation and acquire privileged positions in the markets in which they operate, whether legal or illegal. Thus, mafia-type organizations have generally relied on the availability of weapons.