Little Italian mafia worshippers on Facebook stir anti-movement

In 1993, Rita Borsellino’s brother was killed by a mafia car bomb – ordered by mob bosses Toto Riina – aka The Beast – and Bernardo Provenzano.

In 2009, Borsellino is a leading figure in Italian anti-mafia activism. Her main concern? Facebook fan groups for Provenzano and the likes.

Hundreds of young admirers discuss the bloody practices of the Cosa Nostra. Whereas some people are fanboys of Don Corleone, his sons, and other fictional mobster figures, these guys admire the very people that have torn their country apart for so many years.

Even though we’re talking about kids who like to idolize the bad guys – it’s not like they really want to become professional criminals, I can imagine Borsellino and the rest of her lobby hate the fact that a large group of youngsters worship men who represent pure evil and caused them much pain.

Borsellino gets a lot of support, with an equal amount of anti-mafia groups popping up. However, she told Reuters that “an instrument like Facebook, which is universal and can be used by anyone, should make an examination of conscience and give itself some rules instead of making heroes out of these murderers.” I think that the anti-mafia groups show that a community regulates itself. That other sound probably makes the young idolizers aware of the negative consequences of their mafia-worshipping. Already one group, devoted to The Beast, was shut down.