Mafia

Mafia in the novel is both a presence in the criminal landscape and a suspected power behind political violence, but never a neatly demonstrated explanation for it. Its influence is suggested through bargaining, intimidation, and the possibility of murder by intermediaries; the investigation’s final account remains unproven, leaving the reach of Mafia power entangled with political maneuvering and uncertainty.

Presence in the Criminal Landscape

The opening establishes that violence and organized crime are part of ordinary public life in Vigàta. On the morning the temporary ecological agents Pino Catalane and Saro Montaperto are assigned to the Pasture, their colleagues Peppe Schèmmari and Caluzzo Brucculeri are absent: they have been arrested after attempting an armed supermarket robbery. The episode does not identify the two men as Mafia members, and their case should not be mistaken for proof of the organization’s involvement. It does, however, place armed crime alongside precarious municipal work, political string-pulling, and a landscape already associated with illicit activity.

Later, television reports a shoot-out between petty Mafia members on the outskirts of Miletta. The brief announcement gives the criminal world a visible, immediate presence even as the investigation into Luparello’s death unfolds through less direct signs. Across these scenes, the novel distinguishes between criminal violence that can be reported as an event and the more consequential question of whether a particular killing was ordered or carried out by Mafia actors.

Political Bargaining and Leverage

The strongest account of Mafia influence comes through Inspector Jacomuzzi’s conjecture about Luparello’s death. He argues that Luparello, who left his study alone early in the morning and picked up someone he knew along the way, would not have given a ride to a stranger. Jacomuzzi thinks the passenger was a Mafia figure. In his interpretation, Mafia representatives had raised their demands, as they habitually did, while politicians were not always able to meet them. He offers a second possibility: after Luparello’s appointment made him feel more powerful, he may have made a political mistake and been made to pay for it.

This reasoning places Mafia power inside a negotiation with politicians rather than outside politics as a separate criminal sphere. The organization’s leverage is described as pressure over demands and the capacity to punish; politicians, in turn, may be constrained by what they can provide. But Jacomuzzi presents competing possibilities, not a verified reconstruction. His suggested connection between Luparello’s new position and a possible fatal miscalculation remains speculation, and the account does not identify who the passenger was.

Violence, Intermediaries, and Competing Explanations

Jacomuzzi also reads the manner of Luparello’s killing as evidence. He describes a sequence of humiliation and execution: the victim was kicked, made to kneel, shot at the back of the neck. For Jacomuzzi, the violence points toward a Mafia killer. The details make the hypothesis concrete, but they do not establish the killer’s identity or prove that the organization ordered the death.

The theory returns when Montalbano explains why his colleagues in Montelusa believe Pietro Rizzo was killed by the Mafia. Rizzo had made many enemies: Montalbano describes a broad field of people, respectable and otherwise, who might have wanted him dead, personally or through intermediaries. That abundance of possible perpetrators weakens any simple attribution even as it makes Mafia involvement plausible. Montalbano has not told his colleagues his own account of Rizzo’s death, so their working theory persists without the information that might challenge it.

The investigation also exposes a different use of criminal intermediaries. Montalbano says Rizzo conceived a plan to disgrace Luparello and compromise Angelo Cardamone by making the discovery at the Pasture appear connected to Ingrid Sjostrom. Rizzo called on men he regarded as violent enforcers; Angelo Nicotra, known in their circles as Marilyn, is named as one of them. The account does not establish that these men were Mafia members. Their role instead shows how political actors could use coercive associates and a staged scandal, while the boundary between such operators and the Mafia remains suggestive rather than proven.

Political Succession and the Limits of Proof

Luparello’s death is followed by a rapid succession. The party secretariat convenes in Montelusa unusually soon after his passing and unanimously elects Angelo Cardamone, a long-standing internal rival, as provincial secretary. The broadcast presents the change as an urgent response to political conditions and describes Cardamone’s different position on the governing coalition and dialogue with the left. It does not report a Mafia role in the election. Set beside Jacomuzzi’s account of political demands and pressure, however, the succession shows the contested political environment in which theories about Mafia influence take shape.

Montalbano’s final position keeps suspicion distinct from proof. He tells Livia that his colleagues’ Mafia explanation for Rizzo’s death is plausible, but he has not disclosed what he believes happened. The competing account he withholds points to a different killer and motive, while the official investigation remains open to its own interpretation. Mafia therefore functions not as a solved culprit but as a credible source of coercion and a ready explanation for deaths in a political world crowded with enemies. That gap between apparent influence and demonstrable responsibility is central to the organization’s portrayal: its power is felt through fear and bargaining, while certainty remains just out of reach.