Rat Holes

Apparently the image of an all inclusive 'Italian Mafia" under a super Don Corleone is a bit of a myth ... in Italy for example, there are the Camorra, the Santa Corona Unita, the 'Ndragheta and of course the Cosa Nostra. All a based in Southern Italy, but with tentacles throughout the land (especially in Rome).

Mafia Clans In Southern Italy

Over the last 25 -30 yrs they have been forced increasingly on to the defensive by police forces such as the 'Hunters' ('Cacciatori'), or even the Carabinieri (paramilitary policemen), who have increasingly got on top of the hunt for the leaders of these clans.

Corleone - Mafia Town

So much so that they have apparently taken to building underground bunkers of various designs - such as welding two cargo containers together, fitting it out like a doges palace, adding clandestine telephone lines, then burying it underground - in which to hide for weeks or even months at a time.

Mafia Bunkers

There are believed to be hundreds and possibly thousands of such bolt holes across southern Italy, but they all have one fatal flaw .... the Don's have to stay near to their power bases, for fear of losing control or being ratted out (there's no honour amongst the 'men of honour'). One bunker for example was built under the main road of a town which a crime lord ran, with no report by the council or "citizens" to the police, even though it must have been very disruptive when it was being set up, such is the fear and or loyalty they inspire, but it was still found.

So slowly but surely, the police are smoking the crime lords out of their warrens, and digging them out of their dens, and although there are many hundreds of Mafia who were convicted in absentia, and who are still on the run, they are slowly getting caught. So in their efforts to avoid punishment, they are even imprisoning themselves in underground tombs which are not all that different from the prison cells they are trying to avoid.