When you approach a book that deals with the theme of mafia the first spontaneous question is: what does it add to the considerable quantity of reports of the Parliamentary Commissions, of the books and articles already published, of the films and of the debates that have multiplied and stratified in the last decades of the last century and in the first three of the current one?
To answer, I think it is appropriate to start looking for the leitmotif of the book written by the General of the Carabinieri Army Corps, Joseph Governale, a professional life spent entirely in that Arma with increasing operational responsibilities, including the direction of the ROS - Special Operations Group and of the DIA - Anti-Mafia Investigation Directorate. A research, useful for grasping and adequately evaluating its real meaning and, above all, the value of the message that can be inferred from it.
"We already knew everything": history and current events of organized crime
In fact, in this case, in my opinion, as we will see later, there seem to be two common threads. The first, already identified in the title of the book ("We already knew everything") is indicative of a conviction of the author, according to which the theme of the mafia is certainly not new, even with all its evolutionary and innovative aspects, and its evaluation is been and (perhaps) continues to oscillate between that of an aesthetic type, which can be traced back to the man of letters Joseph Pitre, who lived at the turn of the XNUMXth century and the following, and the other of a functional type, essentially linked to a ferocious exercise of power. Interpretation, the latter, punctually supported by documents of a relatively distant past (XNUMXth century) and subsequently reconfirmed several times in recent times by other writings, which is reported in the book.
The style, agile and decidedly pleasant, facilitates reading, made even more enjoyable by the inclusion of numerous personal memories of the author, which not only report episodes of his professional life, but also touch on moments of private life of adolescence and early childhood. youth in terms of education received and, more generally, training.
The controversial roles of the ruling class in the fight against the mafia
The text is also enriched by significant references to historical documents and/or events in some cases tragically known, which make the reader understand well how public opinion, the ruling class and the Sicilian politics in the framework of the mafia phenomenon have oscillated between two evaluation aspects mentioned above. The outcome of this alternative attitude materialized in the contrast, well documented in this book, between the commitment, rigor and sacrifice of some politicians, priests, entrepreneurs and individual citizens in carrying out their activities, as opposed to the sense of resignation, acquiescence, connivance and, in some cases, admiration shown towards mafia exponents.
The commitment of Sicily and its citizens against crime
There is, then, a second common thread, which emerges overwhelmingly from this interesting and in some ways compelling narrative and which one realizes only after reading the book: the deep love of the author for the Sicilian land and for the population living there. A sentiment, which supports the goal of redemption to be grasped and implemented in our contemporary history to try to free the Sicilian reality and the country from the socio-economic and cultural burdens of the mafia; thus marking a decisive leap in quality in the enhancement of the territory and of the physical and human resources that potentially abound in it.
Ultimately, two common threads that amply justify the realization of this work and stimulate its reading, leaving to those who immerse themselves in it a vigorous and passionate message of civil virtues, of which the Sicilia and the whole country are certainly in need in this period marked, unfortunately, also by moral weakening and spiritual impoverishment, the result of the pandemic crisis from Covid-19.
