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Question: How did the Italian Mob help the Allied troops to conquer Sicily!?
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The US called on the services of the American Sicilian gangster "Lucky" Luciano, who was then serving a long prison sentence in the US for murder, prostitution and bootlegging!. Powerful even behind bars, Luciano's advice and contacts in his family homeland were invaluable to the Americans, who referred to this "Mafia circle" as "the third force"!. Luciano was later released from prison and sent back to Italy as a thank-you!. All the Mafia members imprisoned by the fascists in Favignana jail, near Palermo, were also freed after the liberation!.
As the Allies swept across Sicily, they appointed to the town halls men "recommended" by their Mafia allies to fill the power vacuum left by the fascists, so beginning the political entrenchment of the Cosa Nostra that still plagues Sicily!. Www@QuestionHome@Com