Cesare Mori: Mussolini’s Iron Prefect vs. The Mafia

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Now, back to today’s video. The Sicilian Mafia has long been considered an unstoppable force, whose grip on territory and the lives of honest citizens cannot be vanquished by the state. The aura of invincibility has taken on legendary overtones, as we often see Mafia dons celebrated as folk heroes in film and fiction. But what about the individuals who dedicated their energies, sanity, and lives to defeat this monster?

In today’s biographics, we will chart the rise, struggles, and controversial methods of one such figure—a little-known historical figure outside his native Italy—a man who, in the early 1920s, was pulled out of retirement for one last job: a mandate from Mussolini himself to crush the Mafia, whatever it took. This is the story of Cesare Mori, better known as the Iron Prefect.

On December 22, 1871, a boy was born in Paleo, Northern Italy. His parents abandoned him at birth, and he was raised in a local orphanage under the name Primo Derby. His natural parents acknowledged him only in 1879, changing his name to Cesare Mori. This difficult start to life bred a young man accustomed to harsh and disciplined environments. Cesare enrolled in Turin’s military academy, and after a stint in the army, he joined the police.

After serving in Northern Italy, the young officer was put to the test with a transfer to Sicily in 1904. This is when Mori first gained firsthand knowledge of the criminal organization known as the Mafia, or “Cosa Nostra.” Mafia gangs had been around for at least 40 years, initially born as private security companies protecting the interests of wealthy landowners. Gradually, they branched out into criminal activities like kidnappings, robberies, and cattle rustling, establishing a monopoly on armed violence mainly in rural Sicily. They exploited this position by imposing crippling protection rackets, virtually undisturbed in their activities, shielded by a network of corrupt officials and the “omertà” of common citizens—a code of silence bred by generations of mistrust in public authorities and fear of criminal reprisals.

Mori would not let himself be intimidated by Mafia threats, nor was he discouraged by a lack of cooperation. To him, Mafiosi were just ordinary bandits and should be treated as such. He distinguished himself by conducting several high-profile arrests in Western Sicily, but eventually, he got on the wrong side of his superiors, who judged his methods to be too heavy-handed and frequently accused him of abuse of power. In January 1915, he was transferred to Florence, where he was promoted to deputy commissioner.

However, a man of his skill could not be kept away from the real action for long. In May 1915, Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary and entered World War I. Thousands of young Sicilians were called to arms, but many went AWOL and joined bandit gangs. Not all of these gangs were affiliated with Cosa Nostra, but they shared similar methods and a tight grip on the territory.

The Ministry of the Interior had the right man for the job: Deputy Commissioner Mori. One example of Mori’s strategy and tactics occurred in 1916 when he set his sights on a gang led by Grisafi. It only included five bandits, but they were heavily armed and had a network of allies. Mori’s strategy consisted of two stages: first, destroy the enemy’s supply and support network; second, surround the foe and force them into a firefight or surrender.

In the Grisafi case, Mori and his men descended upon the town of Calter Belotta in Southwestern Sicily and rounded up around 300 allies of the bandits. The outlaws made a huge mistake by hoisting a black flag above their mountain hideout, signifying their will to fight on. Mori took up the gauntlet and launched a surprise attack, surrounding the enemy base. When Mori entered their cave, he found that Grisafi and his associates had escaped through a secret passage, leaving behind their horses and a military-grade arsenal.

Mori ordered his men to set the horses free and follow them. The horses naturally led them to a farmhouse, which turned out to be a second layer for the gang. Mori’s men surrounded the house at night, ready for stealth action, but the outlaws spotted the police force and opened fire. An intense firefight ensued, with Mori directing concentrated volleys of rifle rounds against the doors and windows of the farmhouse. The building was almost demolished by the bullets, but luckily, no casualties were reported. Eventually, the gang surrendered.

This and other successes made Mori a household name and a hero celebrated by the press. Yet, the lawman was far from happy. He knew he had dealt a crippling blow to some of the foot soldiers fighting for Cosa Nostra, but he was also aware that the organization’s leaders and patrons were still hiding in high places.

Following his promotion, Mori was transferred again, ending up in Bologna, where he served from February 1921 to August 1922. On this occasion, he was appointed prefect in the Italian civil service. The prefect is the representative of the government for a province and has the authority to coordinate police strategy and activities. Mori landed in Bologna at a tumultuous time, as the Fascist Party was on the rise, with members organized in paramilitary squads of black shirts engaging in violent actions against communist workers and left-leaning farmers.

Mori would not tolerate this. On May 25, a hundred black shirts led by former navy captain Cabardoni laid siege to the town of Santa Viola, attacking farm laborers and factory workers with hand grenades. Mori’s response was decisive; he sent an attachment of Carabinieri, a militarized police force, to disperse the fascists, arresting many of them. However, Cabardoni escaped, and later that night, his body was found in Bologna, torn apart by a grenade. His fellow party members alleged he had been killed by communists, but a police inquiry led by Mori found that Cabardoni had died by accident while assaulting a farmer’s cooperative.

The local section of the nationalist Fascist Party intensified their actions against communists and socialist organizations, declaring war on the prefect. Twenty thousand black shirts convened in Bologna, demanding Mori’s resignation. The tough lawman responded by barricading the prefecture and police headquarters, resisting attacks from militiamen and political pressure to quit his job. Eventually, in August, the Ministry of the Interior transferred Mori to Bari in Southern Italy, allowing the black shirts to have free rein over Bologna.

A few weeks later, at the end of October 1922, the Fascist Party staged their march on Rome, and King Victor Emmanuel III appointed Benito Mussolini as Prime Minister of the new coalition government. With the new cabinet in place, Mori was quickly dismissed and sent into early retirement in Florence, but it wouldn’t last long.

In May 1924, Mussolini traveled to Sicily for an official visit, aware of the blight of Cosa Nostra. The Mafia had backed fascists and their allies in local elections, a common practice inherited from previous political systems. During his visit, Mussolini declared that it should not be tolerated any longer that a few hundred delinquents overwhelm and damage a magnificent people. The last straw was drawn by Mayor Don Francesco Cutzi of a small town near Palermo, who told Mussolini’s bodyguards, “You are with me; you are under my protection. What do you need all these cops for?”

Mussolini was furious. How could a two-bit don believe he could be above the law? He resolved to crush Cosa Nostra and needed a lawman with a proven track record and knowledge of the territory—someone who would not be intimidated by a powerful opponent. That’s when Mori received the call. Retirement was over.

On June 2, 1924, Mori was appointed the prefect for the Mafia-riddled province of Trapani. Mussolini gave him clear instructions: “You have carte blanche. The authority of the state must be absolutely re-established in Sicily. If the laws in force hinder you, this will be no problem; we will draw up new laws.”

Mori immediately applied stage one of his strategy: undermine the power base of the Mafia. He focused on weakening the military strength of local gangs by withdrawing all permits to carry firearms and heavily regulating the recruitment of “campieri,” armed watchmen looking after large estates, many of whom were hired as foot soldiers by Cosa Nostra. All campieri had to be scrutinized and appointed by a provincial commission.

Mori then targeted the most profitable criminal enterprise around Trapani: cattle rustling. He identified likely routes where criminals could find freshwater, food, and shelter for the cattle. With accurate maps in hand, the police and Carabinieri were able to ambush hundreds of cattle rustlers red-handed. Mori continued to repress organized crime well into 1925, but his methods were harsh, even brutal. A delegation of fascists from Trapani wrote a petition to Mussolini demanding that Mori be transferred elsewhere, but the petition ended up in the bin, and its signatories were expelled from the party.

Mori not only continued to operate but was even promoted. On October 20, 1925, he was appointed the prefect of Palermo, the regional capital, giving him authority to fight the Mafia across the entire island. The Iron Prefect took to the task with a grand strategic plan: to conquer the hearts and minds of Sicilians, restore their trust in institutions, and demolish the fear and respect that ordinary citizens had for Mafiosi.

Operationally, he approached the task as a military campaign, assembling an army he dubbed the Inter-Provincial Police Squad—a force of around 800 policemen and Carabinieri with jurisdiction over all of Sicily, answering only to him. He took great care in recruiting officers who were local to the Mafia-infested areas so they could easily blend in and collect intelligence.

The Inter-Provincial Police would target one town, village, or entire district at a time. First, undercover officers identified local Mafiosi and their allies, then left the area to allow the waters to quiet down. Finally, uniformed officers surrounded and cordoned off the area of operations, and Mori’s men swept in, carrying out massive roundups that resulted in hundreds of arrests.

This method required the targeted criminals to occupy the same area at the same time. If this did not happen naturally, Mori resorted to a clever tactic: he forged messages from the Mafia’s “dome,” asking subordinates to meet in a secret location. These meeting places were not secret to the Inter-Provincial Squads, who descended upon their quarry in force.

Mori preferred to confiscate goods and arrest the network of allies and families rather than engage in open firefights with the outlaws. Such methods were heavy-handed, resulting in the arrest of innocent civilians and the destruction of their property. Mori even encouraged his younger policemen to move in with the wives of bandits on the lam, threatening their honor—an affront that no full-blooded Sicilian would tolerate. Many men left their lairs with vendettas in mind, only to be immediately arrested.

In some cases, arrests were not easy. Leaders of gangs did not fall into Mori’s traps and opened fire, resulting in pitched battles with the police force. For those occasions, Mori had issued specific instructions: if confrontation happened at night, shoot only if absolutely necessary. They had to exploit darkness and stealth to creep in on their targets. If shots were fired during the day, it was a whole different story. Mori’s men were trained to encircle the enemy in tight formation while keeping cover, then open fire in a concentrated fashion. This approach stunned the outlaws on most occasions, leading them to accept surrender.

One of Mori’s most celebrated accomplishments was the siege of the town of Gangi. At the end of 1925, Mori planned to score a spectacular success to increase the prestige of his forces and show the Sicilian people that the state could be relied upon. On January 1, 1926, Mori chose Gangi, home to a gang of 130 strong. He first ordered his squads to surround a circular area around Gangi with a 20-kilometer radius. As expected, many suspects flocked to the town, and once this happened, the force moved closer, occupying farms owned by Mafiosi and their supporters, confiscating goods and slaughtering cattle.

The bandits felt the noose tighten and went into hiding, occupying well-stocked, well-concealed layers underneath street level. At this stage, Mori received reinforcements from Palermo, including units of his old black shirt foes. With this formidable force, Mori and his right-hand man, Police Commissioner Espanol, completely cordoned off Gangi. Mori sent a telegram to the mayor, relayed to the other inhabitants via a town crier, summoning the fugitives and bandits in the territory to give themselves up within 12 hours, after which he would proceed to extreme measures.

The ultimatum went unheeded, and so came the measures: more animals were slaughtered and sold to townsfolk at bargain prices, all the wells supplying Gangi with water were shut down, and many houses belonging to Mafiosi were occupied by Mori’s and Espanol’s squads. There were even allegations that these men raped the wives and daughters of the fugitives. The locals, while not happy with what amounted to military occupation, began to lose respect for the made men they had feared and supported just a few days earlier. After ten days of tense standoff, one by one, the Mafiosi of Gangi surrendered to the man the press called the Iron Prefect.

Following the victory at Gangi, Mori replicated the approach in other Mafia strongholds. In a subsequent roundup, the Inter-Provincial Squads arrested Don Vito Cascio Ferro, a high-ranking boss considered the inventor of the protection racket. Mori also cracked down on a widespread practice in rural areas where mid and large estate owners were cowed by Mafiosi into renting out their lands and properties at ridiculously low prices. These lands remained largely unproductive, and landlords suffered heavy financial losses.

While not as exciting as a siege or a roundup, Mori’s instigation of a large-scale review of tenancy contracts ended with these nefarious tenants being pushed out of the countryside. As Mori’s methods were praised by Fascist propaganda, they also came under question for being too brutal and downright illegal. Allegations landed on Mussolini’s desk that the prefect and his men indulged in rape, torture, and hostage-taking. Nonetheless, the Iron Prefect and Commissioner Espanol pressed on with their crusade, backed by a third ally: the judicial system.

This was State Attorney and Head Prosecutor Luigi Giampietro, who collected thousands of witness accounts and was able to drag some pretty big fish to court. For example, the prefect and the prosecutor built a dossier against Fascist MP Alfredo Cucco, who was accused of receiving kickbacks and favors from Mafia families. The trial started in November 1927, and Cucco was initially found guilty and expelled from the party. However, this apparent victory turned sour for the Iron Prefect when Cucco appealed his sentence, and the trial dragged on into 1929.

In the meantime, Cucco’s dismissal created a power vacuum within the Sicilian section of the Fascist Party, which was quickly filled by large estate owners cozy with the Mafia. Pressure grew for Mussolini to remove Mori from his duties. Enough was enough, and Mussolini obliged, sweetening the pill with an appointment as senator. By 1929, Mori had achieved significant results: 11,000 people were dragged to court, many of them innocent civilians caught in the indiscriminate roundups of Mori’s squads. Many more were acquitted after key witnesses were threatened or killed, but 1,200 Mafiosi were given sentences ranging from a few months in prison to life—an unprecedented result.

More importantly, crime rates had plummeted. When Mori took charge in 1925, the province of Palermo recorded 268 homicides, 298 robberies, and 45 acts of cattle rustling. By 1929, there had been only five murders, three robberies, and a mere two cases of stolen herds. It looked as though Cosa Nostra had been thoroughly and utterly crushed. This was confirmed by a former Mafioso turned informant, who stated that the Mafia hardly existed anymore.

However, while Mori had won many battles, he had not won the war. Most of the foot soldiers and many mid-level bosses had been wiped out, but the top-level dons had barely been touched. Many of them fled the country, contributing to the rise of organized crime in the U.S. Additionally, Mori had failed to address the socio-economic conditions that pushed many youngsters into the arms of organized crime, and if anything, those conditions worsened. After landowners were freed from the scourge of bargain-price leases, they took advantage of the situation by increasing rent by a thousand percent, affecting most rural workers and sharecroppers.

In his later years, Senator Mori continued to voice his views on Sicily and the Mafia, insisting that the government still needed to invest more time and resources into solving the problems of the land. However, few were eager to listen to his complaints. The once-lauded Iron Prefect died in relative obscurity on July 5, 1942. His memoirs were published in 1932 with the title “The Last Struggle with the Mafia,” but the title proved to be wishful thinking.

On July 9, 1943, Allied forces landed in Sicily, driving out Axis forces in a matter of weeks. Following the invasion, the Allies appointed civil servants with no ties to fascism, but many had ties to Cosa Nostra, or members of the old families returned from exile in the States. In many cases, these former bosses and made men had even collaborated with Anglo-American forces, providing useful intelligence and contacts. The work of the Iron Prefect had been undone in less than 15 years, and Cosa Nostra would return to plague the land, more powerful than ever.