At a mafia trial in 1969:

There were sixty-four defendants, all from the
town of Corleone. The charges related to a mafi…a war in Corleone that started in 1958,
and resulting in over …fifty murders. There was signifi…cant evidence tampering during the
trial, which experienced the …rst public intimidation act. In fact, as the jury retired in
July, they and the judge received an anonymous note that read:  To the President of the
Court of Assise, and members of the Jury: You have not understood, or rather, you don’t
want to understand, what Corleone means. You are judging honest gentlemen of Corleone,
denounced through caprice by the Carabinieri and Police. We simply want to warn you
that if a single gentleman from Corleone is convicted, you will be blown sky high, you will
be wiped out, you will be butchered and so will every member of your family. We think
we’ve been clear. Nobody must be convicted. Otherwise you will be condemned to death
– you and your families. A Sicilian proverb says: A man warned is a man saved. It’s up
to you. Be wise.” All sixty-four defendants were acquitted. Whilst there was undoubtedly
witness intimidation and evidence tampering, a lot of the evidence was fairly thin.

This is from the paper “Accomplice Witnesses, Organized Crime and Corruption: Theory and Evidence from Italy” by Antonio Acconcia, Giovanni Immordino, Salvatore Piccolo and Patrick Rey.  As I told Salvatore in Anacapri, with more data and a bit of work, this will be a cool paper.