I was bare-handed, except for my camera, against them with all of their weapons” – Letizia Battaglia In 1970s Sicily, the Mafia could not be proven to exist. No one spoke about it, no one claimed to know about it, and one thing was for sure – no one would admit to ever having seen it.

The Cosa Nostra, as the Sicilian Mafia came to be known, had cleverly enforced a strict code of silence known as omertà, which ensured it could continue to run its criminal organisation and infiltrate Sicilian life without so much as a whisper.