A German-made board game about
Sicily's carbomb-strewm 1980s Mafia wars is spurring
controversy.
"La Famiglia - The Great Mafia War", produced by the German
Boardgame Atelier, recently won the As d'Or, one of the major
awards for games that is given out each year in France.
Recently translated into Italian and distributed on various
online sales platforms, the game invites participants to compete
for "control of the Sicilian mafia families' districts", using
"game tools" such as car bombs, killing "soldiers", building
drug laboratories and boats for transporting and smuggling
drugs.
The reaction of a regional parliamentarian of the centre-right
post-Berlusconi Forza Italia (FI) party, Alessandro De Leo, was
harsh.
De Leo sent a letter to Sicily Governor Renato Schifani, also
FI, saying: "It is unacceptable that a criminal phenomenon with
its burden of violence and suffering be turned into a board
game.
"This product not only offends the dignity of Sicilians, but
also devalues ;;the daily commitment of millions of citizens who
fight for legality and justice in our Region.
"Even more serious, from every point of view," continued the
Forza Italia representative, "is the trivialization of violent
elements such as the use of car bombs, reduced to simple game
tools."
De Leo asked Governor Schifani, a former top ally of Silvio
Berlusconi who has had to bat away unfounded Mafia informant
allegations, "to evaluate every possible action to counter the
spread of this game, following the example of those companies
and associations that have already mobilized against the
marketing of products that trivialize the mafia phenomenon."
The game in question allows up to four players to take control
of six different mafia families, each with "special abilities,"
to compete for the domination of Sicily.
It is a formula that, according to De Leo, "transforms one of
the most painful chapters in Sicilian history into
entertainment."
photo: BBC coverage of 2017 death of Mafia boss of bosses Totò
'The Beast' Riina
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