We also should not underrate the role of J. Edgar Hoover, who denied the existence of the Mafia till 1957, while the FBI knew of the Havana Conference in 1946 and other big meetings.
Hoover is a whole different mistery. There are lots of myths surrounding his life and work, but there are also more than few unanswered questions. The biggest laugh I had regarding this situation was when the FBI arrested and labelled a band of Sicilian Mafiosi from the early 1930s as "Sicilian communists" Lol
