BRIT COMEDY BABES BARE THE MAFIA THEIR FUN BAGS

SICILIAN Mafia boss Giovanni Brusca, whose grisly crimes include having a victim’s body dissolved in acid, has been released from prison after 25 years.

Dubbed the “people slayer”, Brusca has confessed to his part in more than 100 killings, including the murder of Italy’s top anti- Mafia prosecutor Giovanni Falcone.

We’ve all heard about the Mafia. But what do we really know about the world’s most famous criminal gang?

Here are some facts… 1

THE Mafia arose in Sicily during the late Middle Ages, where it possibly began as a secret organisation dedicated to overthrowing the rule of the various foreign conquerors of the island, like the Saracens,

Normans and Spaniards. 2

IT owed its origins and drew members from the many small private armies, or mafie, that were hired by absentee landlords to protect their landed estates from bandits in the lawless conditions that prevailed over much of Sicily.

3

THE Mafia’s code is called omerta, the obligation never, under any circumstances, to apply for justice to the legal authorities and never to assist in any way in the detection of crimes committed against oneself or others.

4

IN the early 1920s Benito Mussolini’s Fascist regime came close to eliminating the Mafia by arresting and trying thousands of suspected mafiosi and sentencing them to long jail terms.

5

WHEN the Allies invaded Sicily in 1943, the Mafiosi were released as Mafia members had helped with the invasion. The organisation was then revived.

6

DURING the late 1970s the Mafia in Palermo became deeply involved in the refining and shipment of heroin bound for the US.

The enormous profits sparked some fierce competition between various clans within the Mafia and a war which led to a new crackdown. 7

SICILIAN immigrants established Mafia clans in the US. By the early 1930s they had beaten exiting Irish and Jewish gangs into submission.

8

IN the United States, the organisation adopted the name Cosa Nostra, which is Italian for “Our Affair”.

9

IN the US Mafia, the heads of the most powerful families make up a commission to mediate between the clans. At the head of each family is a “boss” or “don” whose authority can be challenged only by the commission. Each don has an underboss, who functions as a vice president or deputy director, and a consigliere, or counsellor, who has considerable power and influence.

10

BUT you knew that already from The Godfather films, based on the books by Mario Puzo.

THERE are not many people in the world of comedy who you could genuinely call a genius, but for me Caroline Aherne was one of them.

Her Mrs Merton character was, and still is, just absolutely sublime.

But Mrs Merton was not an instant success, you know.

She was originally portrayed as ‘ Mrs. Murton’ in a pilot for Yorkshire TV which wasn’t picked up.

Caroline went away and retooled the character, making her older, and recorded a second pilot in 1993 for Granada TV who commissioned it.

The series ran from February 10, 1995, to April 2, 1998, and was produced by Granada and aired on the BBC.

The writers included Caroline, Craig Cash, Dave Gorman and Henry Normal.

Nobody will ever forget the question asked of Debbie McGee: “So, what first attracted you to the millionaire Paul Daniels?”

But Caroline’s best creation had to be The Royle Family, a sitcom based in the scruffy living room of a working class Manchester family.

As sitcoms go, they just don’t get any better than that.