Palermo, Italy
Sicilians re-elected Salvatore Cuffaro as governor this week, even though he is on trial for helping the Mafia. Cuffaro, known as “Kiss-Kiss” for his habit of kissing everyone, is accused of alerting a friend, who was under investigation for Mafia links, that his phone was being tapped. Cuffaro’s opponent in the election was Rita Borsellino, an anti-Mafia crusader whose brother was a magistrate who was murdered after prosecuting Mafia members. “We’ve gone backwards a lot,” Borsellino said. “The Mafia is a presence in politics again.” Cuffaro’s fellow Christian Democrats said he had been unfairly “slandered, denigrated, and attacked.”
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