ROME – The Italian government believes Mafiosi have infiltrated the local administration of Corleone, the Sicilian town which inspired the fictional crime clan's name in "The Godfather" novel and movie.
Premier Matteo Renzi's Cabinet on Wednesday dissolved Corleone's municipal government and put its City Hall under temporary control of the interior ministry.
Interior Minister Angelino Alfano had proposed the action. Corleone's mayor also voiced worries about Mafia infiltration.
Using intimidation, Sicily's Cosa Nostra frequently influences decisions and public contract bidding or backs local politicians sympathetic to the Mafia's economic interests.
City halls in Italy's south, and, lately, increasingly also in the north, are sometimes put under Rome's control to wrest them from mobsters' influence.
Corleone was the stronghold of convicted mobster and reputed chieftain Bernardo Provenzano, who recently died.
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