Salvo was a mafioso, but he did not traffic in narcotics, he did not run weapons, he did not kill anyone and he did not take part in the 'ordinary' mafia activities.

Antonio Salvo was a business man, one of the wealthiest business men in Sicily. He took an interest in all important lines of business and had close political connections at the highest levels in Rome. Antonio Salvo represented another, but not less important side of the mafia. He was a central part of the far-reaching network of economic and political interests that dominated Sicily through decades. All the threads of the network came together in one place: the mafia.

This book analyses the economic and political activities of the mafia on the basis of the latest source material and explains how the mafia has succeeded in surviving, protecting, and flourishing in post-war Italy.