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Bernardo Provenzano
Bernardo Provenzano (; 31 January 1933 – 13 July 2016) was an Italian mobster and chief of the Sicilian Mafia clan known as the Corleonesi, a Mafia faction that originated in the town of Corleone, and ''de facto'' the boss of bosses (''il capo dei capi''). His nickname was ''Binnu u tratturi'' ( Sicilian for "Bernie the tractor") because, in the words of one informant, "he mows people down."Profile: Bernardo Provenzano , BBC News, 11 April 2006. Another nickname was ''il ragioniere'' ("the accountant") due to his apparently subtle and low-key approach to running his crime empire, at least in contrast to some of his more violent predecessors. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Corleone
Corleone (; scn, Cunigghiuni or ) is an Italian town and ''comune'' of roughly 11,158 inhabitants in the Metropolitan City of Palermo, in Sicily. Several Mafia bosses have come from Corleone, including Tommy Gagliano, Gaetano Reina, Jack Dragna, Giuseppe Morello, Michele Navarra, Luciano Leggio, Leoluca Bagarella, Salvatore Riina and Bernardo Provenzano. It is also the birthplace of several fictional characters in Mario Puzo's 1969 novel '' The Godfather'', including the eponymous Vito (Andolini) Corleone. The local mafia clan, the Corleonesi, led the Mafia in the 1980s and 1990s, and were the most violent and ruthless group ever to take control of the organization. Corleone municipality has an area of with a population density of 49 inhabitants per square kilometer. It is located in an inland area of the mountain, in the valley between the Rocca di Maschi, the Castello Soprano and the Castello Sottano. Corleone is located at above sea level. History Etymology ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salvatore Riina
Salvatore Riina (; 16 November 1930 – 17 November 2017), called (, Totò being the diminutive of Salvatore), was an Italian mobster and chief of the Sicilian Mafia, known for a ruthless murder campaign that reached a peak in the early 1990s with the assassinations of Antimafia Commission prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, resulting in widespread public outcry and a major crackdown by the authorities. He was also known by the nicknames ''la belva'' ("the beast") and ''il capo dei capi'' (Sicilian: '''u capu di 'i capi'', "the boss of bosses"). Riina succeeded Luciano Leggio as head of the Corleonesi criminal organisation in the mid 1970s and achieved dominance through a campaign of violence, which caused police to target his rivals. Riina had been a fugitive since the late 1960s after he was indicted on a murder charge. He was less vulnerable to law enforcement's reaction to his methods, as the policing removed many of the established chiefs who had tra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beretta Model 38/42
The MAB 38 (''Moschetto Automatico Beretta Modello 1938''), ''Modello'' 38, or Model 38 and its variants were a series of official submachine guns of the Royal Italian Army (1940–1946), Royal Italian Army introduced in 1938 and used during World War II. The guns were also used by the German, Romanian, and Argentina, Argentine armies of the time. History Originally designed by Beretta's chief engineer Tullio Marengoni in 1935, the ''Moschetto Automatico Beretta'' (Beretta Automatic Musket) 38, or MAB 38, was developed from the Beretta ''Modello'' 18 and 18/30, derived from the Villar-Perosa aircraft submachine gun, Villar Perosa light machine gun of World War I. It is widely acknowledged as the most successful and effective Italian small arm of World War II and was produced in large numbers in several variants. Italy's limited industrial base in World War II was no real barrier toward the development of advanced and effective small arms, since most weapons of the time required ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calogero Bagarella
Calogero Bagarella (; January 14, 1935 – December 10, 1969) was an Italian criminal and member of the Sicilian Mafia. He was from the town of Corleone and belonged to the Mafia clan of Corleonesi. Biography Calogero Bagarella was born in Corleone to a family of Mafiosi that gave Cosa Nostra various affiliates. He was the second son of Salvatore Bagarella and Lucia Mondello, who moved to the town of Corleone after marriage. This union produced six children which other than Calogero, included Giuseppe, Leoluca, Antonietta and Maria Giovanna. The family lived without any problems for a short while, until Salvatore Bagarella was sent to confinement in Northern Italy from 1963 to 1968 for Mafia-related crimes. Calogero's brother, Giuseppe would eventually meet the same fate, eventually dying in prison in 1972. His mother was thus forced to work from home to support the family, while the children went to school. As a boy, Calogero worked at a mill with his childhood friend Bernardo P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
First Mafia War
The Ciaculli massacre on 30 June 1963 was caused by a car bomb that exploded in Ciaculli, an outlying suburb of Palermo, killing seven police and military officers sent to defuse it after an anonymous phone call. The bomb was intended for Salvatore "Ciaschiteddu" Greco, head of the Sicilian Mafia Commission and the boss of the Ciaculli Mafia family. Mafia boss Pietro Torretta was considered to be the man behind the bomb attack. The Ciaculli massacre was the culmination point of a bloody Mafia war between rival clans in Palermo in the early 1960s—now known as the First Mafia War, a second started in the early 1980s—for the control of the profitable opportunities brought about by rapid urban growth and the illicit heroin trade to North America.Schneider & Schneider, ''Reversible Destiny'', p. 65-66Stille, ''Excellent Cadavers'', p. 103-04 The ferocity of the struggle was unprecedented, reaping 68 victims from 1961 to 1963. Preceding events During the 1950s, the ''Mafia'' ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michele Cavataio
Michele Cavataio (18 March 1929 – 10 December 1969), also known as ''Il cobra'' (The cobra) was an Italian mobster and powerful member of the Sicilian Mafia. He was the boss of the Acquasanta mandamento in Palermo and was a member of the first Sicilian Mafia Commission. Some sources spell his surname as Cavatajo. Cavataio was one of the most feared mafioso gangsters of his time. His nickname ''The Cobra'' allegedly came from his favorite firearm, the Colt Cobra, a six-shot revolver.Mafia Boss Provenzano Accused of 1969 Palermo Murders Bloomberg, November 29, 2007 He was described as a cunning killer with a -like face.Longrigg, ''Boss ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cattle Raiding
Cattle raiding is the act of stealing cattle. In Australia, such stealing is often referred to as duffing, and the perpetrator as a duffer.Baker, Sidney John (1945) ''The Australian language : an examination of the English language and English speech as used in Australia'' Angus and Robertson, Ltd., Sydney, p. 32, In North America, especially in the Wild West cowboy culture, cattle theft is dubbed rustling, while an individual who engages in it is a rustler. Historical cattle raiding The act of cattle-raiding is quite ancient, first attested over seven thousand years ago, and is one of the oldest-known aspects of Proto-Indo-European culture, being seen in inscriptions on artifacts such as the Norse Golden Horns of Gallehus and in works such as the Old Irish '' Táin Bó Cúailnge'' ("Cattle Raid of Cooley"), the ''paṇis'' of the '' Rigveda,'' the '' Mahabharata'' cattle raids and cattle rescues; and the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, who steals the cattle of Apollo. Ir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Article 41-bis Prison Regime
In Italian law, Article 41-bis of the Prison Administration Act, also known as carcere duro ("hard prison regime"), is a provision that allows the Minister of Justice or the Minister of the Interior to suspend certain prison regulations. Currently it is used against people imprisoned for particular crimes: Mafia-type association under 416-bis (''Associazione di tipo mafioso''), drug trafficking, homicide, aggravated robbery and extortion, kidnapping, terrorism, and attempting to subvert the constitutional system.Long Distance Proceedings Through Videoconference: The Italian Experience , Ministry of Justice (Italy) at the Tenth [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paolo Borsellino
Paolo Emanuele Borsellino (; scn, Pàulu Borsellino; 19 January 1940 – 19 July 1992) was an Italian judge and prosecuting magistrate. From his office in the Palace of Justice in Palermo, Sicily, he spent most of his professional life trying to overthrow the power of the Sicilian Mafia. After a long and distinguished career, culminating in the Maxi Trial in 1986–1987, on 19 July 1992, Borsellino was killed by a car bomb in Via D'Amelio, near his mother's house in Palermo. Borsellino's life parallels that of his close friend Giovanni Falcone. They both spent their early years in the same neighbourhood in Palermo. Though many of their childhood friends grew up in the Mafia background, both men fought on the other side of the war against crime in Sicily as prosecuting magistrates.Stille, ''Excellent Cadavers'', pp. 22–27 They were both killed in 1992, a few months apart. In recognition of their tireless effort and sacrifice during the anti-mafia trials, they were both awarded ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giovanni Falcone
Giovanni Falcone (; 18 May 1939 – 23 May 1992) was an Italian judge and prosecuting magistrate. From his office in the Palace of Justice in Palermo, Sicily, he spent most of his professional life trying to overthrow the power of the Sicilian Mafia. After a long and distinguished career, culminating in the Maxi Trial in 1986–1987, on 23 May 1992, Falcone was assassinated by the Corleonesi Mafia in the Capaci bombing, on the A29 motorway near the town of Capaci. His life parallels that of his close friend Paolo Borsellino. They both spent their early years in the same neighbourhood in Palermo. Though many of their childhood friends grew up in the Mafia background, both men fought on the other side of the war as prosecuting magistrates.Stille, ''Excellent Cadavers'', pp. 22–27 They were both killed in 1992, a few months apart. In recognition of their tireless effort and sacrifice during the anti-mafia trials, they were both awarded the Gold Medal for Civil Valor and we ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Via D'Amelio Massacre
The via D'Amelio bombing ( it, Strage di via D'Amelio) was a terrorist attack by the Sicilian Mafia, which took place in Palermo, Sicily, Italy, on 19 July 1992. It killed Paolo Borsellino, the anti-mafia Italian magistrate, and five members of his police escort: Agostino Catalano, Emanuela Loi (the first Italian female member of a police escort and the first to be killed on duty), Vincenzo Li Muli, Walter Eddie Cosina, and Claudio Traina. The so-called ''agenda rossa'', the red notebook in which Borsellino used to write down details of his investigations and which he always carried with him, disappeared from the site in the moments after the explosion. A ''carabinieri'' officer who was present when the explosion occurred reported he had delivered the notebook to Giuseppe Ayala, the first Palermo magistrate to arrive at the scene. Ayala, who said he had refused to receive it, was later criticized for saying escorts to anti-mafia judges should be reduced, despite evidence of fur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Capaci Massacre
The Capaci bombing ( it, Strage di Capaci) was a terror attack by the Sicilian Mafia that took place on 23 May 1992 on Highway A29, close to the junction of Capaci, Sicily. It killed magistrate Giovanni Falcone, his wife Francesca Morvillo, and three police escort agents, Vito Schifani, Rocco Dicillo and Antonio Montinaro; agents Paolo Capuzza, Angelo Corbo, Gaspare Bravo and Giuseppe Costanza survived. Salvatore Cancemi, who later turned ''pentito'', described the Mafia's victory celebration that followed the Capaci bombing; Totò Riina ordered champagne while they toasted.Stille, ''Excellent Cadavers'', p. 404-05 Santino Di Matteo, who also later turned ''pentito'', revealed all the details of the assassination: who tunnelled beneath the motorway, who packed the 13 drums with TNT and Semtex, who hauled them into place on a skateboard, and who pressed the button. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
