Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 28, 1964, Winnipeg, Manitoba The mafia. By Ninetta Jucker dome special the observer the sentence of five years forced residence in Northern Italy passed this week on Genco Russo the biggest mafia Boss in Sicily is the clearest indication yet that the Days of the old order Are numbered. All Italy watched the Case but the interest went deeper than Normal curiosity Over scandal about people in High places. This was the first head on clash Between the mafia and the Law since parliament set up the anti mafia commission last year. The Issue involved the prestige of the commission itself and its ability to press the Challenge it had thrown Down to the mafia. Russo is now an old Man of 71, broken in health and almost broken in spirit despite his threats. Only six months ago he was a Power in Sicily. His wealth in houses land and herds was considerable his political patronage immense. On his estates and in the farming co operatives he controlled he could Sway votes and make or destroy a candidate his occult influence As the presumed head of the mafia was even More decisive. Loses its grip. Sicilians Are easily persuaded to attribute More Power to the Grandi mafiosi than these people actually possess. Since the death seven or eight years ago of Don Calogero Vizzini the last recognized head of the mafia Russo had inherited some of his partly mythical authority and this despite the fact that sicilians know Well enough that the mafia is not a distinct corpor ate unit with a defined Hier Archy and rules. It is this Quality of the mafia that makes it so difficult to extirpate. Genco Russo s career is a typical mafia Story and per haps the last regenerate ver Sion of the great mafia leaders of the past. He was born in 1893 and began life As a Shepherd boy. By 1938 there were 12 penal charges against him for theft criminal association and Homi cide. On All these charges except one he was acquitted for Lack of proof. Sentenced to seven years in 1934 he served Only two. In 1944 he was officially rehabilitated by a sentence of the Appeal court of Caltanissetta like Many other mafiosi he Craf has a change of heart by Warner Trover Ottawa special Mili tary experts have historically predicted Victory to the Force reaching a Battlefield fastest with the the axiom was amply proved by Germany s motorized and airborne assaults of 1939 and 1940. In Canada 25 years later can characterize our capabilities As those of reaching fighting ground latest with the having one of the Best fight ing forces in the world is of Little use unfortunately when there Are grave doubts can Ada can deliver them at All let alone make them first on the scene. The Arm has retained the air transport role for itself flying and maintaining its own aircraft. In Canada that Job has been left to the Craf. The Craf clearly the service which has most effectively placed its views before the Cabinet and defence ministry in the past decade has shown no interest in providing an effective transport service for the army. Whatever the spurs to action they May be As simple As a fear the three services must co operate or integrate the Craf is developing an interest finally in doing the Job it has made Token Ges Tures toward in the past. With its present inadequate and obsolete transport aircraft the Canadian army is in much the same position Christian dior Canada s aloof air Arm takes interest in inter service co operation would have faced if he had been locked in a nudist Colony. With useful and usable trans port Canada can Hope to fill an adult role in the world of Bushfire wars and responsible alliances. Let s examine two of the air planes Canada will probably buy ignoring our trans Atlantic aircraft which Are almost cer Tain to be supplemented by a couple of do Sis our transport inventory consists of about 30 c119s, or flying boxcars four c130bs, or Hercules air planes and four Canadian built Cari Bou which were bought As much by mistake an by intent. The flying boxcars those twin boomed twin engine freighters which once seemed so curious a sight were bought in 1952. They Are old and Are costly to maintain they Are slow and neither their payload nor their Range is now considered Ade quate. Pilots prefer the Hercules Are the trans ports Best liked by Craf pilots. Because of greater pay Load and Speed and Range it s a reasonable comparison to say that 20 Hercules could do the work of 30 flying Box cars and better. A Good guess is that the air Force will buy about 20 c130s. But Canada will probably buy the c130e, a newer Model of the Hercules than the four it now has the 130e carries pounds More payload than its older brother and with external fuel tanks will carry its Load Miles further than the 130b. The Hercules Canada owns now Fly More hours than any other Craf planes in their roles of freighter troop earner Arctic and Atlantic supplier. In addition to airlifting supplies to re Mote weather stations the her Cules have been used to ferry Star fighters to tonal planes to replace re tired boxcars would be used As army support aircraft and in paratroop training and operations. Wit i its Stol Short take off and Landing character is tics the Hercules can Fly troops 92 at a time and supplies into Remote areas and rudimentary airstrips. The Hercules too is a relatively old plane but nothing newer or better is available. The Canadian developed Cari Bou built by de Havilland is probably the Best Stol army support air plane in the world. Smaller than the Hercules it. Carries pounds 400 Miles. Made invaluable business contacts with the Italo Ameri cans whom the allies unleashed upon Sicily at the end of the last War. After flirting briefly with the sicilian separatist movement Russo settled Down As a Christian Democrat and be came a local party Secretary and municipal councillor of his Home town. He also became president of two Large farming co opera Tives which were supposed to rent farms to sex servicemen. Instead of taking pounds Miles. But it needs a rum Way. Only a bit More than five times its own length and is Ideal for carrying jeeps troops and supplies into Jungle or Arctic or desert airstrips and evacuating casualties. The Cari Bou can carry 32 soldiers or 26 paratroopers or 22 stretch ers. Like the Hercules it is relatively easy to maintain and can Fly on one of its two rugged engines. Under fire used under fire by the . Army in Viet Nam the Cari Bou has been modified for Spe Cial conditions. A variable pitch propeller has been added for example since it. Was found the massive wheel brakes did not provide enough braking Power during Jungle landings on mud strips. The Craf is not Likely to buy any of the. Caribou. Two a Turbine prop version of the air plane now being developed to give greater pay Load capability since air Force experts prefer the her Cules for bigger jobs. But a defence department order for a dozen or 15 of the Caribou one seems a virtual certainty for this Spring. Question Why does t the Canadian aircraft Industry at tempt development of a new Stol transport combining Caribou flexibility with her Cules payload and Range we be undertaken More difficult jobs ill the and succeeded. Only a fraction of the land seems to have been Farmed out and the rest was exploited by Russo and his nominees. Russo s political influence enabled him to avoid having this land expropriated Fay the sicilian land Reform act of 1950. Only in 1961 did a left Centre government in Sicily finally assign the farms out right to the peasants who worked on them. But even this decree remained a dead letter until last year. Meanwhile numerous re ports about Russo s dubious morality were sent by the Carabiniero command to the que Stura police Headquarters of Caltanissetta where All traces of them disappeared until december 1963 when the anti mafia commission asked the Central government to re Call the Deputy chief of police of Caltanissetta who had been in that office for 15 years. This was the beginning of the end of Genco Russo s career. Now he has been sentenced to five years forced residence in Lovere a Little Village in North Italy. The wind from the ent now blows Chilly for the mafia. Copy Glit 1964 observer foreign news service sicilian mafia Boss Guiseppe Cento Russo 71, sentenced in first. Head on clash with the Law Viet Nam wallows in despair by Denis Warner Saigon special As news of fresh incidents and reports flow in from the provinces it becomes More and More apparent that something in the nature of a Miracle will be needed if the anti communist forces Are not to go Down in de feat to the communist Viet Cong. Yet the tanks out at night around the joint eral staff Are not there to protect Headquarters from the Viet Cong but from the ambitions of generals who feel that they too know How to run the country and ought to have the Chance. The generals coup and the Viet Cong capture. On a Street Corner in Sai gon i recently met a . Major who is just finishing his tour of duty. His Job has been to Fly vietnamese com Bat troops into action. Morale just in t going he. Sajid. It has crashed. Once the troops would go in and fight. They Don t joined by priest we were joined by a priest who brought a report of a Small Mutiny among troops in the prov Ince of Vinh Long in the Central Mekong Delta. Five minutes later a Friend put a report in an envelope be fore passing it across his desk to me. You might say this is he said. Sensi Tive was scarcely the word for it. It contained a sur vey of opinion among secondary school students be tween the Ages of 11 and 22 in Kien Hoa province South of Saigon. Picking through it there Are such bombshells As this if it is meaningful to use the word collapse in the Case of a province where at least 70 per cent of land and population alike Are Al ready under Viet Cong control or in areas of Viet Cong Ascendancy today what is left of Kien Hoa province shows signs of be ing close to the Brink of a totally disastrous collapse of both popular and cadre morale. Unless there is dramatic improvement within a very Short period of time what is left of Kien Hoa outside of District towns Ben tre the and possibly part of Rural Binh Dai District will very Likely slide under Viet Cong control. Burden of proof the Burden of proof in the eyes of the people will continue to rest with the government rather than with the Viet Cong. There is much More of it along with the All too familiar tale of incompetence injustice cowardice and neglect. Self defence corps men steal chickens pigs and Rice local officials Are because of forced labor and forced contributions to the strategic Hamlet program. Security has deteriorated and is continuing to deteriorate. President Ngo Dinh diem inherited a vacuum from the French and he left a vacuum when he died. There has been warlord ism and dacoits and for nine years Rule by a family and its a coif prices in South Viet Nam but there has never been anything that could re Motely be described As government. Now Well past the eleventh hour with the Viet Cong knocking at the Gates of Saigon this is still a Prim Ary need. The . Never had any real influence with or. Diem. But he at least had a mind of his own. Today . Influence with the bit Terly divided generals re Mains the tyranny of or. Diem has been re moved but Only the anarchy of ambition has taken its place. A wide new world of taste for filter smokers everywhere new Gold Leaf King size to Day s taste to Day s tip to Day s tall size in cigarettes a full King size ;