An irony: Mussolini ruthlessly suppressed the Sicilian Mafia. According to one account I read: Early in his career as Il Duce, Mussolini was to give a speech in a Sicilian town. The local gaboletto told Mussolini to get rid of his security detail--he, the gaboletto, would guaranty Mussolini's safety. The Duce refused his offer. The day of the speech, Mussolini found the town square, where he was to speak, empty. The gaboletto, to assert his power, had ordered all the local people to stay home. This reinforced Mussolini's fear that the Mafia in Sicily constituted a threat to his power. He sent his military commander to Sicily with an army to drive the Mafia underground, where they remained until the Allied invasion.