Mafia's power wanes

John Allen's article on the church and the Mafia (NCR, Dec. 29) only partly explains the waning power of that organization in Sicily. The murders of Judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borselino galvanized most Sicilians against the mob. (The airport in Palermo is named after them.) In the last few years, the Mafia leaders Salvatore Riina and Bernardo Provenzano have been taken into custody and are imprisoned in an undisclosed location lest there be attempts to free them.

It is also to be noted that there is an anti-Mafia center in Corleone, founded by Gino Felicetti, who spent many years of his life in England and who speaks fluent Italian with a Cockney accent. The center has an extensive library that includes photos, newspaper articles and the complete transcripts of the trials of Mafia figures. It is the further purpose of the center to educate Sicilians away from their fear of or acceptance of the Mafia as a normal part of the Sicilian way of life. Since the apprehension of the two leaders was anything but glamorous, and poverty is decreasing, some say the back of the Sicilian Mafia has been broken. Others maintain that there is a considerable risk for young men without skills or education who might be tempted to join.

AARON W. GODFREY

Stony Brook, N.Y.

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