Thousands turn out for Sicilian anti-mafia concert Sat Dec 22, 3:18 PM ET



Thousands of people gathered for the finale of an anti-mafia concert Saturday in the Sicilian village of Corleone, the birthplace of some of the Cosa Nostra's most powerful bosses.

"Getting popular artists to come is the best way to raise people's consciousness, especially of young people, about the importance of the battle against the mafia," said Mayor Antonio Iannazzo.

"Ten years ago, organising such an event here would have been unthinkable," he said. "No one would have dared support such an initiative."

Organised by the municipality, anti-mafia association Libera and MTV Italia, the three-day event was held at the Falcone Borsellino square, named in honor of judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, killed in 1992 by the Cosa Nostra. They have since become symbols of the anti-mafia battle.

The concert, broadcast on MTV, also included relatives of mafia victims who spoke on stage.

Some young people in the crowd wore shirts proclaiming, "Me, I don't want to be in the mafia."

Corleone is about 30 kilometres (19 miles) south of the Sicilian capital Palermo. Author Mario Puzo named the central crime family in his seminal book "The Godfather" after the town.

The village was the birthplace of Mafia bosses Luciano Leggio, who died in 1993, Salvatore "Toto" Riina, arrested the same year, and Bernardo Provenzano, who was arrested in April 2006 after 43 years on the run.