Mafia Vendetta

In Italian cultural and political discussions, "the problem of the South" occurs as frequently as it does in America, though with quite a different meaning. Inevitably, such discussions must include Sicily, the island that gave to the languages of the world the two words which form the American title of Leonardo Sciascia's novella, along with that nearly untranslatable word omertd. The Italian South (and, especially, Sicily) means crime and violence and the corruption of public justice by a secret organization which cannot even be proved to exist -- since the code of omerto (which means, literally, "connivance") binds even the innocent to what Signor Sciascia calls "the conspiracy of silence." Americans were familiar with the impact of Sicily upon our own crime and justice long before last fall's news stories on the Cosa Nostra -- but when this little book appeared in ItaIy, it created a public sensation, even though the author's afterword describes the care with which he tried to conform