Gore Vidal once wrote that Sicily was "liberated by Lucky Luciano, Vito Genovese, and the American army," and it might not be that wrong. In fact, the more you dig into it, the wilder it gets.
It's 1943. Operation Husky. 160,000 Allied troops are about to storm the beaches of Sicily. But before a single boot hits the sand, the U.S. Navy has already cut a deal with one of the most powerful mob bosses in America -- Charles "Lucky" Luciano -- who is, at this point, sitting in a New York prison cell serving 30-to-50 years for running prostitution rings.
The deal was called Operation Underworld. Luciano's organization had already been protecting the New York docks from sabotage and strikes since 1942. Now the Navy wanted more: Sicilian contacts, maps of harbors, photos of coastlines, names of resistance figures on the island. Luciano delivered. From his cell. Using Meyer Lansky as his go-between.
Meanwhile, Vito Genovese -- Luciano's acting boss back in Italy -- would later install himself as the official interpreter for Charles Poletti, the Allied military governor in charge of Palermo and Naples. The Mafia didn't just help with the invasion; they embedded themselves in the postwar administration. The Allies needed people who could manage Sicilian territory, and the Mafiosi were only too happy to volunteer.
Now, historians debate how much the Mafia actually influenced the military outcome. The Liberation Route Europe foundation flatly states "this pact never existed" in the way popular myth describes it -- no yellow flags with black "L"s on Allied vehicles, no Calogero Vizzini coordinating troop movements. But what IS documented is that Luciano's sentence was commuted, he was deported to Italy in 1946, and Mafia-connected figures were appointed as mayors of Sicilian towns under Allied occupation.
Vidal, who lived in Italy for decades and understood its layered political darkness better than most American writers, wasn't making a simple claim. He was pointing at something uncomfortable: that liberation and corruption arrived on the same boat.
That's the thing about history. The liberators and the gangsters were sometimes the same people. And Sicily is still living with the consequences.
(Photos: On top row, Gore Vidal, Lucky Luciano, and Vito Genovese; bottom row, Allies arrive, English soldier reading about their next target.)
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