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Pentito
''Pentito'' (; lit. "repentant"; plural: ''pentiti'') is used colloquially to designate collaborators of justice in Italian criminal procedure terminology who were formerly part of criminal organizations and decided to collaborate with a public prosecutor. The judicial category of ''pentiti'' was originally created in 1970s to combat violence and terrorism during the period of left- and right-wing terrorism known as the Years of Lead. During the 1986–87 Maxi Trial, and after the testimony of Tommaso Buscetta, the term was increasingly applied to former members of organized crime who had abandoned their organization and started helping investigators. Role and benefits In exchange for the information they deliver, ''pentiti'' receive shorter sentences for their crimes, in some cases even freedom. In the Italian judicial system, ''pentiti'' can obtain personal protection, a new name, and some money to start a new life in another place, possibly abroad. This practice is comm ...
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Camorra
The Camorra (; ) is an Italian Mafia-typeMafia and Mafia-type organizations in Italy
, by Umberto Santino, in: Albanese, Das & Verma, ''Organized Crime. World Perspectives'', pp. 82–100
and originating in the region of . It is one of the oldest and largest crimina ...
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Sicilian Mafia Commission
The Sicilian Mafia Commission (Italian: ''Commissione provinciale''), known as Commissione or Cupola, is a body of leading Sicilian Mafia members to decide on important questions concerning the actions of, and settling disputes within the Sicilian Mafia or Cosa Nostra. It is composed of representatives of a mandamento (Sicilian Mafia), mandamento (a district of three geographically contiguous Mafia families) that are called ''capo mandamento'' or ''rappresentante''. The Commission is not a central government of the Mafia, but a representative mechanism for consultation of independent Mafia families who decide by consensus. "Contrary to the wide-spread image presented by the media, these superordinate bodies of coordination cannot be compared with the executive boards of major legal firms. Their power is intentionally limited [and] it would be entirely wrong to see in the Cosa Nostra a centrally managed, internationally active Mafia holding company," according to criminologist Leti ...
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Giovanni Melluso
Giovanni Melluso (born 1956) was an Italian criminal. He became a significant informant against the Nuova Camorra Organizzata (NCO), a Camorra organization in Naples. He would be used by the Italian Justice Department to testify about the NCO's show business connections in Northern Italy, during the three-year-long Maxi Trial which began in 1983.Jacquemet, ''Credibility in Court'', pp. 76-79 However, many of his accusations were later proven to be unfounded. He is particularly infamous for the frame-up of the popular Italian talk show host, Enzo Tortora, whom he falsely accused of cocaine trafficking and NCO membership. Melluso was known by his multiple nicknames, ''"Gianni il Bello"'', or ''"Cha-cha-cha"'', both of which meant "beautiful" (the latter expression having that meaning in the Italian slang of the time). Biography Criminal career A native of Sicily, Melluso had migrated to Milan at the age of 18 in 1974. According to Melluso, Turatello had asked him to become a membe ...
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Francesco Marino Mannoia
Francesco Marino Mannoia (born 5 March 1951) is a former member of the Sicilian Mafia who became a pentito (government witness) in 1989. His nickname was ''Mozzarella''. He is considered to be one of the most reliable government witnesses against the Mafia. Antimafia magistrate Giovanni Falcone, who was first to interrogate him, recalled Marino Mannoia as an intelligent and reliable witness. Criminal career He was raised in Palermo, the capital of Sicily, and joined the Santa Maria di Gesù Mafia Family, headed by Stefano Bontade. He was highly sought after by all Mafia families for his skills in chemistry to be used to refine heroin for the Spatola-Inzerillo-Gambino ring.Stille, ''Excellent Cadavers'', p. 302-10 Marino Mannoia recalled having refined at least 1,000 kilograms of heroin for Bontade. He had learned how to refine heroin from Antonino Vernengo, alias ''u dutturi'' (the doctor), who was the first to set up a refinery in 1977. He was also suspected of being involved ...
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Salvatore Contorno
Salvatore Contorno (; born 28 May 1946), called Totuccio, is a former member of the Sicilian Mafia who turned into a state witness (''pentito'') against Cosa Nostra in October 1984, following the example of Tommaso Buscetta. He gave detailed accounts of the inner-workings of the Sicilian Mafia. His testimonies were crucial in the Maxi Trial against the Sicilian Mafia in Palermo and the Pizza Connection trial in New York City in the mid 1980s. Early Mafia career Contorno was born in Palermo. His father Antonino had been a mafioso from the later dissolved Corso Calatafimi Mafia family. Salvatore Contorno was a godson of Salvatore "Ciaschiteddu" Greco, who would go on to become the secretary of the Sicilian Mafia Commission. In 1975, the butcher ''Totuccio'' Contorno was initiated in the Santa Maria di Gesù Mafia family in Palermo, then led by Stefano Bontade, an influential member of the Sicilian Mafia Commission and a close ally of Ciaschiteddu. Contorno and Bontade used to be ...
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Antonino Calderone
Antonino Calderone (October 24, 1935January 10, 2013) was a Sicilian Mafioso who turned state witness (''pentito'') in 1987 after his arrest in 1986. Antonino was born in Catania, the brother of Giuseppe Calderone, the boss of the local Mafia. Antonino's memoirs, ''Men of Dishonor: Inside the Sicilian Mafia'', were published in 1992 with Antimafia sociologist Pino Arlacchi and are considered a handbook for understanding Cosa Nostra and the life of a mafioso. It was translated into many languages. Mafia career Originally, Catania was not a traditional Mafia area such as the western part of Sicily. According to Antonino Calderone, the first Mafia family in Catania was started by Antonio Saitta. He had been prosecuted by Mussolini’s ''Iron Prefect'', Cesare Mori. One of his daughters was the mother of Giuseppe and Antonino Calderone. Another uncle had helped the Mafia get back on its feet after World War II, organizing the black market in contraband cigarettes. Antonino Caldero ...
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Corleonesi
The Corleonesi Mafia clan was a faction within the Corleone family of the Sicilian Mafia, formed in the 1970s. Notable leaders included Luciano Leggio, Salvatore Riina, Bernardo Provenzano, and Leoluca Bagarella. Corleonesi affiliates were not restricted to mafiosi of Corleone. During the Second Mafia War in the early 1980s, the Corleonesi clan opposed the faction of the Palermitans represented, among others, by Gaetano Badalamenti, Stefano Bontate and Salvatore Inzerillo. The victory of the Corleonesi, and in particular the rise of Totò Riina, marked a new era in the history of the Sicilian Mafia. Between 1992 and 1993, the Corleonesi initiated a season of attacks against the state, followed by the State-Mafia Pact. History Beginnings In February 1971, the Corleonesi clan's first boss, Luciano Leggio, ordered the kidnapping for extortion of Antonino Caruso, son of the industrialist Giacomo Caruso, and also that of the son of the builder Francesco Vassallo in Palermo. Leggio w ...
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Leonardo Messina
Leonardo "Narduzzo" Messina (born San Cataldo, September 22, 1955) is a Sicilian former mafioso who became a government informant or "pentito" in 1992. His testimony led to the arrest of over 200 mafiosi during the so-called "Operation Leopard" ( it, Operazione Leopardo). Messina has implicated several politicians and government officials with ties to Sicilian Mafia, in particular Giulio Andreotti, seven times Prime Minister for Italy. Early career Born in San Cataldo, Caltanissetta, Messina was from a family of mafiosi going back a few generations.Stille, ''Excellent Cadavers'', p. 362 "I represent the seventh generation belonging to Cosa Nostra," he said. "I was affiliated not because I was a robber or because I was able to kill, but because I was bound to become a member by family tradition." He left elementary school and became involved in burglary. He was imprisoned several times. In April 1982 after serving four years for armed robbery he eventually became a "man of hono ...
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Tommaso Buscetta
Tommaso Buscetta (; 13 July 1928 – 2 April 2000) was an Italian mobster and a member of the Sicilian Mafia. He became one of the first of its members to turn informant and explain the inner workings of the organization. Buscetta participated in criminal activity in Italy, the United States and Brazil before being arrested and extradited from Brazil to Italy. He became disillusioned with the Mafia after the murders of several of his family members, and in 1984, decided to cooperate with the authorities. He provided important testimony at the 1986/87 Maxi Trial, the largest anti-Mafia trial in history. After the murder of the judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, Buscetta gave further testimony to the Antimafia Commission linking Italian politicians to the Mafia. Buscetta entered the Witness Protection Program in the United States, where he remained until his death in 2000. Early life Tommaso Buscetta was born on 13 July 1928, in Palermo, Sicily, the youngest of 17 chil ...
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Maxi Trial
The Maxi Trial ( it, Maxiprocesso) was a criminal trial against the Sicilian Mafia that took place in Palermo, Sicily. The trial lasted from 10 February 1986 (the first day of the Corte d'Assise) to 30 January 1992 (the final day of the Supreme Court of Cassation), and was held in a bunker-style courthouse specially constructed for this purpose inside the walls of the Ucciardone prison. Sicilian prosecutors indicted 475 mafiosi for a multitude of crimes relating to Mafia activities, based primarily on testimonies given as evidence from former Mafia bosses turned informants, known as '' pentiti'', in particular Tommaso Buscetta and Salvatore Contorno. Most were convicted, 338 people, sentenced to a total of 2,665 years, not including life sentences handed to 19 bosses; the convictions were upheld on 30 January 1992 by the Supreme Court of Italy, after the final stage of appeal. The importance of the trial was that the existence of Cosa Nostra was finally judicially confirme ...
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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 ...
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Enzo Tortora
Enzo Tortora (30 November 1928 – 18 May 1988) was an Italian TV host on national RAI television, who was unjustly convicted of being a member of the Camorra and drug trafficking in 1985, and sentenced to 10 years in jail. He was acquitted of all charges by the Supreme Court of Cassation (Italy), Cassation Court in 1987. Early career Tortora was born in Genoa, Italy. After taking a degree in journalism in his native city, he worked in theatre with Paolo Villaggio before joining the RAI – Italy's state radio and television corporation – as a radio announcer. In 1956, he first appeared on television and presented programmes such as ''Domenica Sportiva'' and ''Jeux Sans Frontières, Giochi senza frontiere''. In 1969, he was fired by RAI when he described the company's managers as a group of boy scouts trying to pilot a supersonic jet plane unsuccessfully. Subsequently, he worked for several private TV stations and various newspapers, before returning to RAI in 1977.
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