A board game set in the mafia wars that ravaged Sicily in the 1980s has caused controversy in Italy after the sister of murdered anti-Mafia judge Giovanni Falcone said the game Offended to all those fighting to rid Italy of organized crime.

"La Famiglia: The Great Mafia Wars" produced by German company Boardgame Atelier won last year's championship gold medalor the Golden Ace, a prestigious award given at France's annual gaming festival.

Described by its producers as "a clash game set against the backdrop of mafia feuding in Sicily," it was recently translated into Italian and released on various online retail sites.

The basic premise of the game is that players representing different mafia families compete against each other to take control of Sicily and "dominate as many areas as possible" using tools such as car bombs.

Brutal mafia fighting devastated much of Italy's southern island in the 1980s. In the first two years of the decade, more than 1,000 people were killed, including many civilians who were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Infamous Mafia boss Totò Riina also rose to prominence in the 1980s and ordered the car bomb murders of Falcone and fellow anti-Mafia judge Paul Bo in 1992 Paolo Borsellino.

Maria Falcone told Corriere della Sera: "I don't understand how anyone could think of this game, which exploits the feelings of people who gave their lives in service to their country." "Mafia "It has caused deaths only in Sicily and Italy. Such games violate the memory of all those who contributed to the liberation of this land."

Alessandro Del Rio, a politician from the Forza Italia party founded by the late former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, has written to Sicilian President Renato Schifani. "This product not only violates the dignity of Sicilians, it also belittles the daily commitment of millions of citizens who fight for legitimacy and justice in our region," he wrote.

Game designer Maximilian Maria Thiel said: "First of all, if anyone feels hurt or offended by this game, I'm very sorry. This was not our intention. In this game, It's just gangs killing each other so I don't see the problem - besides the theme, which seems to be a trigger for some people, the game is intentionally kept very abstract (blocks rather than numbers) so that these murders are in play. will not be realized."

Thiel said he was living in Italy at the time of the Falcone and Borsellino murders, adding: "Many people associate the Mafia Wars with Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino The deaths were linked to the fact that they were killed ten years after the mafia feud ended, or whatever. The mafia was still active and killing people, but the murders of all of these people had nothing to do with the intra-mafia war depicted in the game."