The enduring connection with the country is matched by an even more extraordinary stability which disposes of another stereotype: no only did the mafia grow mainly in western Sicily, but, with the exception of Catania, it has remained there to this very day. Leopoldo Franchetti was intrigued by this geographic rigidity as long ago as 1876 (p. 55). A map plotting the incidence of homicides a lupara based on reports from the newspaper L'Ora in 1956-7 (Map 2) shows an almost perfect overlap with the maps of the Prefects in 1874 and that of Cutrera (1900a; see Map 1 in Chapter 4). More importantly, this overlap extends to a Carabinieri report of 1987 indicating the towns and villages in Sicily where the mafia is particularly virulent (these are marked with a triangle in Map 1).

XREF: Connects to the broader scholarly debate on whether organized crime clusters persist geographically or migrate. Also bears on modern mafia studies that track current presence.

Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Busi…, loc. 662