criminal gangs. Using carabinieri and police forces he ordered house-to-house searches, picking up bandits, small-time Mafia members and various suspects who were on the run. Due to the necessity of the nature of the mafia, he was forced to discreetly collect large amounts of evidence and subsequently make arrests en masse to avoid large numbers of mafiosi going into hiding. As he poetically states, "These operations were carried out in considerable numbers and on a large scale: and the rapidity with which they succeeded one another and the exactness of evidence on which they were based completely strangled the criminal associations which for so many years had flourished with impunity. And the whole island chanted a hymn of liberation." These sweeping mass arrests, earned him the nickname of "Iron Prefect". Mori understood the basis of Mafia power. In order to defeat the phenomenon, he felt it necessary to "forge a direct bond between the population and the state, to annul the system of mediation under which citizens could not approach the authorities except through middlemen..., receiving as a favour that which is due them as their right." Mori's methods were sometimes similar to those of the Mafia. He did not just arrest the bandits, but sought to humiliate them as well. If he could display a strong central authority to rival the Mafia, people would see that the Mafia was not their only option for protection. He often found evidence of how the Mafia operated, and seized their property and cattle. Mori's inquiries brought evidence of collusion between the Mafia and influential members of the State apparatus and the Fascist party. His position, however, became more precarious. Some 11,000 arrests are attributed to Mori's rule in Palermo. That led to massive amounts of paperwork in order to prepare for the trials, which may have been partially responsible for his dismissal. Mussolini had already nominated Mori as a senator in 1928, and in June 1929 he was relieved of his duties. The Fascist propaganda proudly announced that the Mafia had been defeated. Final years As a senator, Mori continued to follow Sicilian affairs closely, and made sure he was always well informed; but he no longer had much political influence. He wrote his memoirs in 1932. Five years later he openly expressed concerns about Mussolini's new alliance with Hitler, and was isolated inside the Fascist Party from that time on. He