Shock Therapy

Taking on the Mafia

"While in Rome they pondered what to do, the city of Saguntum was vanquished by enemies," intoned an impassioned Salvatore Cardinal Pappalardo, borrowing a line from the Roman historian Sallust. In his own words, Pappalardo added: "Yet this time it is not Saguntum, but Palermo! Our poor Palermo!"

It was the harshest indictment yet of the Rome government's inability to halt the epidemic of brutal criminal violence that has gripped Italy in recent years. The Archbishop of Palermo was presiding over a highly emotional memorial service for Carabinieri General Carlo Alberto...

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