In Italy's Puglia region, women take the lead in challenging the local mafia at great personal risk
Puglia is known for its olive groves, white-washed houses and spectacular coastlines that will provide the backdrop when Premier Giorgia Meloni hosts Group of Seven leaders for their annual summit this week
LECCE, Italy (AP) — It was a scene straight out of “The Godfather.” On the night of Feb. 1, a bloody goat head with a butcher’s knife through it was left on the doorstep of Judge Francesca Mariano’s home in southern Italy, with note beside it reading, “like this.”
Mariano had already received threats, including notes written in blood, after she issued arrest warrants for 22 members of a local mafia clan that operates in southern Puglia, the heel of Italy’s boot.
Puglia is known for its olive groves, cone-shaped “trulli” white-washed houses, and spectacular coastlines that will provide the backdrop when Premier Giorgia Meloni hosts Group of Seven leaders for their annual summit this week.
But the region is also home to the Sacra Corona Unita, Italy’s fourth organized crime group. It is far less well-known than Sicily’s Cosa Nostra, the Calabrian ‘ndrangheta or the Camorra around Naples, but just as effective in infiltrating everything, from local businesses to government.
