Corleone wants to lay Mafia past to rest Its crooked, cobbled streets crammed up against mist-shrouded mountains, the town of Corleone has long been synonymous with the Sicilian M afia, becoming infamous as the Tombstone town that gave birth to its most ferocious godfathers. But at the state funeral on Thursday of Placido Rizzotto, a trade unionist murdered by the Mafia in 1948, crowds of Corleone's inhabitants turned out in the hope that the honour finally granted to their local hero would deal another blow to "Cosa Nostra" - even as it mutates into a multinational conglomerate that some call Mafia Inc. It has taken more than 64 years to lay Rizzotto to rest; his remains were only recovered in 2009 from the deep mountain fissure where he was dumped. Giorgio Napolitano, head of state, and Mario Monti's technocrat government have seized the occasion to reassure an Italy fretting about a resurgence of political and criminal violence that, this time, the state will not be absent. The state must always be present. We have never thought the Mafia was finished. It will finish but is not finished yet," Mr Napolitano told reporters as the state funeral concluded in Corleone's cathedral. A day earlier, at commemorations in the Sicilian capital of Palermo marking the 20th anniversary of the Mafia killing of Giovanni Falcone, an anti-Mafia prosecutor, Mr Napolitano darkly warned of possible attempts by organised crime to return to an era of stragismo, possibly the most feared word in the Italian political vocabulary, meaning a destabilising strategy of terror. The government, officials explained, was not just worried about Mafia violence, but about how deep economic recession coupled with a severe weakening of public confidence in Italy's mainstream parties could unleash extremist forces. Earlier this month, suspected anarchists in Genoa shot the director of a state-controlled nuclear energy company in the legs. A bomb attack last week killed a 16-year-old girl and wounded 10 other students outside a school in Brindisi, although no one has yet claimed responsibility. Justice and jobs are the demands of many in Corleone, particularly among speakers at Rizzotto's funeral, and the fear is that Italy's mainstream parties are not capable of delivering either, with elections to replace Mr Monti's technocrat government due in less than a year. Angelo Rizzotto, nephew of the Socialist unionist who was killed for leading a campaign to implement a law that would allow peasants to gain land rights, reminded mourners in church that the Mafia had slain more than 40 union activists between 1946 and 1956 and that none were convicted. "None of these heroes, in their struggle for the rights of workers, received justice," he said. The state should have done more. Instead, for years, it was completely absent. Such fears linger today. Magistrates in Sicily are still investigating suspected dealings between senior figures and the Mafia that led to the killing of Falcone in May 1992 and Paolo Borsellino, also an anti-Mafia prosecutor, two months later. "It is the connections between organised crime and local and national politics which distinguish Italy from any comparable western democracy," commented James Walston, a political scientist in Rome. Mr Monti promised in Palermo that the state would not rest in its "search for truth." He also said tougher scrutiny was needed to prevent organised crime from penetrating elected office at all levels. Several members of parliament in Rome are currently on trial or under investigation for suspected Mafia ties, while enjoying immunity from arrest. More broadly, about 100 parliamentarians are either on trial, under investigation or had trials timed out under the statute of limitations for crimes in general. Cosa Nostra's last campaign of terror - launched with the killings of Falcone and Borsellino and followed by indiscriminate bombings in Florence, Rome and Milan that killed 10 people - ended in failure. The arrest of Corleone's Bernardo "the tractor" Provenzano in 2006 after 43 years on the run was one of many that severely weakened the organisation. The last main boss on the run is Matteo Messina Denaro, wanted in connection with some 50 killings. But, as Mr Monti noted in Palermo, the Mafia has proved capable of "reinventing itself," and its reach extends well beyond Sicily as it penetrates and infiltrates politics and the economy. Two years ago police in Sicily made their biggest ever seizure of Mafia assets, valued at €1.5bn, that were linked to Mr Denaro, including profits from wind farms and solar energy. Separate confiscations of supermarkets, property, retail and construction businesses amounting to more than €1bn demonstrate how the Mafia has evolved beyond more traditional sources of income such as narcotics, weapons and extortion rackets. This more business-minded and less confrontational Mafia has brought calm to Corleone. Indeed the clans may even profit from the town's attraction for foreign tourists drawn by its name with its "anti-Mafia" museum, souvenir shops and even a "Don Corleone" local liquor. As Rizzotto's cortege passed slowly through the narrow streets, followed by a long procession of residents and trade unionists from across Italy, one onlooker said it was time for the town to move on with its image. Let's hope this chapter is closed. How long does Corleone have to live in infamy?" he asked.