but not the most dangerous one. The true lethal blow to the Mafia will be delivered when we are able to make roundups not only among Prickly Pears, but in prefectures, police headquarters, employers' mansions, and why not, some ministries. In 1920, he returned to the mainland and served in Turin as quaestor, followed by Rome and Bologna. In 1921 he was prefect of Bologna, and was one of the few members of the forces of law and order to oppose the organised thuggery (squadrismo) of the Fascist movement. Mori was removed and sent to Bari. He retired with his wife to Florence in 1922, when the Fascist leader Benito Mussolini took over the government after the March on Rome. Appointed in Sicily His reputation as a man of action caused his recall to active service in 1924 by the Minister of the Interior, Luigi Federzoni. In the same year, Mori joined the Fascist Party. He was next appointed prefect of Trapani. Arriving in June 1924, he stayed there until 20 October 1925, when Mussolini appointed him prefect of Palermo, with special powers over the entire island of Sicily and the mission of eradicating the Mafia by any means possible. In a telegram Mussolini wrote to Mori: Your Excellency has carte blanche, the authority of the State must absolutely, I repeat absolutely, be re-established in Sicily. Should the laws currently in effect hinder you, that will be no problem, we shall make new laws. Mussolini's drive against the Mafia, the story goes, followed an official visit to Sicily in May 1924 during which he felt insulted by the Mafioso Francesco Cuccia, who publicly proclaimed that Mussolini did not need a police escort because the mere presence of Cuccia would protect him. Mussolini felt humiliated and outraged. However, according to scholar Christopher Duggan, the reason was more political rather than personal. The Mafia threatened and undermined his power in Sicily, and a successful campaign would strengthen him as the new leader, thus legitimising and strengthening his rule. Fight against the Mafia Mori took up his post in Palermo in November 1925 and remained in office until 1929. Within the first two months he arrested over five hundred men, a number that would only grow in the following years. In January 1926, he undertook what was probably his most famous action, the occupation of the village of Gangi, a stronghold of various