Italy's Top Mafia Boss Arrested

Bernardo Provenzano, the #1 mafia boss in Italy, was arrested today in Sicily. Slowly, Italy is ridding itself of the once-untouchable Cosa Nostra. Citizens even screamed "Bastard! Murderer!" as Provenzano was taken into police headquarters--words no Sicilian would have dared say to a mafia boss just a decade or two ago.

Someday, when I have more time, I plan to post a series about the mafia and its mystique. From the U.S. government's collaboration with mafia bosses during and after World War II to the organization's collapse under the duel pressure of stepped-up law enforcement and increased competition from criminal networks across the globe, the mafia's story is the clay from which great analogies are formed.