I think conditions have been bad there much longer than 100 years and long before there was an international commerce in illegal drugs. I remember reading something from the early 1800s by someone from the town of Tropea in Calabria complaining about the horrible conditions there then—I forget if Mafia-type organizations were part of the problem but I wouldn’t be surprised.
My grandmother said Sicily was taken over by so many different countries for centuries, that they formed their own quasi government to stay as a cohesive group to do what they needed to do.
My ‘family’ had great respect for them. One of my aunts had a gun safe, they all carry guns but when they went to her house she would not let them sit at the table armed.
Exciting group.