Until after the First World War there is virtually no record of church intervention or complaint against the mafia (for one exception, see Marino 1986: 235). Even under the Fascist regime, when the state became actively more sympathetic toward the church, the attitude of the clergy remained ambiguous. A few bishops in Sicily, after considerable delay, finally in 1927 gave formal support to Cesare Mori's fierce antimafia campaign, even though a number of priests were implicated in the ensuing trials

XREF: Contrasts with common assumptions about church-mob relations in works like The Godfather or broader Italian organized crime literature.

Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Busi…, loc. 129