The Sicilian mafia has a strong presence on Malta. A local told me that when Italy cracked down hard on the mafia, many moved their base of operations there, es

The Sicilian mafia has a strong presence on Malta. A local told me that when Italy cracked down hard on the mafia, many moved their base of operations there, especially to launder money. As a result, Malta has seen a lot of mafia-related violence the last decade [1], with 2013-2016 seeing a record 16 murders, almost all of them unsolved. The violence is crazy considering how tiny the country is, and its urban area is mostly confined to a 10-mile stretch of the east coast. You have to assume, at this point, that the mafia is tightly intertwined with local politics. [1] http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2016-11-01/local-news/A-look-at-Mafia-style-murders-in-Malta-in-the-last-decade-6736165961 http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2016-11-01/local-news...