Boris Giuliano

Giorgio Boris Giuliano (; 22 October 1930 – 21 July 1979) was a police chief from Palermo, Sicily. He was the head of Palermo's Flying Squad. He was killed by the Sicilian Mafia while investigating heroin trafficking and money laundering. Not long before his death he had been one of the first Italian policemen to have attended the FBI academy at Quantico, Virginia.Sterling, ''Octopus'', p. 215-16''A Palermitan diary: Twenty years of reporting at the foot of Italy'', by Attilio Bolzoni inIl sacrificio di Boris Giuliano
La Sicilia, July 21, 2013 His son Alessandro became head of the Milan Flying Squad and arrested old guard Mafioso Gaetano Fidanzati in 2009; as part of the same operation, Gianni Nicchi was captured in Palermo.Mafia, presi due superlatitanti
La Repubblica, December 5, 2009Don Vito and the Mafia: Living with My Father's Secrets by Massimo Ciancimino, Francesco La Licata, N.S. Thompson () P 316

Early years

Before becoming a police officer, Giuliano had many other professions: as a dishwasher in London, where he learned English, while studying at the university in Messina; as a seller of neckties in Milan; as the manager in a factory in Lombardy. As a boy he had lived in the Italian colonies of Africa, where his father served as an officer of the Italian Navy. In 1963, after joining the police, Giuliano was assigned, at his request, to the Flying Squad of Palermo. These were the years of the so-called First Mafia War between the Grecos and the brothers Salvatore and Angelo La Barbera.Biografia di Boris Giuliano
, Antimafia Duemila N°18, December 2001/January 2002

In 1973 he became deputy police chief under Bruno Contrada, who had created the section investigating the Mafia. They were dubbed 'B&B', Bruno and Boris. Together, they radically changed investigating methods: two meetings per day with all the officials to take stock of the ongoing investigations and share information. (Contrada was later arrested and convicted for aiding and abetting the Mafia).

Giuliano was involved in the investigation in the disappearance of journalist Mauro De Mauro in September 1970.De Mauro ucciso per uno scoop scoprì il patto tra boss e golpisti
La Repubblica, June 18, 2005 He focused on the lead of De Mauro's investigations into the death of ENI president Enrico Mattei, prompted by the disappearance a few pages of notes and a tape with the last speech given by Mattei from De Mauro's office.Mauro De Mauro
by Antonella Romano, in: ''Giornata della Memoria dei giornalisti uccisi da mafie e terrorismo'', Rome: Unione Nazionale Cronisti Italiani, 2008, pp. 28-35 The investigations were seriously hampered due to deviations by people within the Italian police forces and secret services. According to Giuliano there was "someone at the ministry in Rome that does not want to go to the bottom of the death of De Mauro." An order to scale down the investigation was issued by the head of the secret service, Vito Miceli, allegedly involved in the neo-fascist Borghese coup.Omicidio De Mauro, assolto Totò Riina
La Repubblica, June 10, 2011

Pizza Connection

In 1976 he became the head of Palermo's Flying Squad. During the late 1970s he was investigating drug trafficking by various members of the Sicilian Mafia including the boss Stefano Bontade, as well as a series of armed robberies linked to ''Corso dei Mille'' boss Filippo Marchese. Bontade was closely linked to the Spatola-Inzerillo-Gambino network involved in heroin trafficking since the mid-1970s until the mid-1980s when US and Italian law enforcement were able to significantly reduce the heroin supply of the Sicilian Mafia (the so-called Pizza Connection). The Bontade-Spatola-Inzerillo traffickers supplied the Gambino Family – through John Gambino – in New York City with heroin that was refined in laboratories on the island from Turkish morphine base.Sterling, ''Octopus'', p. 199-201 The investigation started when Giuliano found a suitcase at Palermo's Punta Raisi Airport with half a million dollars neatly wrapped in freshly laundered pizza aprons.Italy Awaits Mafia War Of Succession
Chicago Tribune, December 20, 1987

According to Giovanni Falcone, the investigating magistrate, the group had made about US$600 million. The proceeds were re-invested in real estate through the banker Michele Sindona. Giuliano discovered cheques and other documents which indicated that Sindona through the Vatican Bank had been recycling the proceeds from heroin sales by the Mafia to his Amincor Bank in Switzerland. He coordinated his investigations with the lawyer Giorgio Ambrosoli, appointed as liquidator of Sindona's banks, that had been declared insolvent due to mismanagement and fraud, involving losses in foreign currency speculation and poor loan policies.Account Settled
Time magazine, April 7, 1980 Ambrosoli was murdered on 11 July 1979 in Milan.Sterling, ''Octopus'', p. 194

Killed by the Mafia

Ten days later, on 21 July 1979, Giuliano was shot dead in the Lux Bar in Palermo taking a ''cappuccino'' while waiting for his car to take him to work early in the morning. The material killer was future Corleonesi boss Leoluca Bagarella.Reputed Head of the Mafia Is Arrested in Palermo Chase
The New York Times, June 26, 1995 Bagarella shot Giuliano in the neck with a 7.65 handgun, three times and, standing over the body, fired four bullets into Giuliano's back before making his escape in a getaway car.Mafia killer with a code of cruelty
The Independent, June 26, 1995

Giuliano was investigating Bagarella after he had discovered his hiding place. Bagarella had managed to escape in time, but inside Giuliano discovered weapons, four kilogrammes of heroin and false documents with photographs depicting Bagarella.
, Antimafia Duemila N°14, July–August 2001 Bagarella, who had been arrested on 24 June 1995, received a life sentence for the killing.Primo ergastolo per Bagarella
Corriere della Sera, March 1, 1997 The murder was sanctioned by the Sicilian Mafia Commission; its members Salvatore Riina, Bernardo Provenzano, Michele Greco, Francesco Madonia, Giuseppe Calò, Bernardo Brusca, Nenè Geraci and Francesco Spadaro also received a life sentence.Delitto Dalla Chiesa: ottavo ergastolo a Riina
Corriere della Sera, March 18, 1995

In popular culture

A miniseries was made in 2016 called ''Boris Giuliano - Un poliziotto a Palermo'' directed by Ricky Tognazzi where Giuliano is played by Adriano Giannini.

The Giuliano murder was also represented in Pif's 2016 series '' The Mafia Kills Only in Summer''.

See also

* List of victims of the Sicilian Mafia
* Il Capo dei Capi

References

*Sterling, Claire (1990). ''Octopus. How the long reach of the Sicilian Mafia controls the global narcotics trade'', New York: Simon & Schuster,
* Stille, Alexander (1995). ''Excellent Cadavers. The Mafia and the Death of the First Italian Republic'', New York: Vintage
* has a chapter on Giulano's murder

External links

Boris Giuliano: "un eroe semplice e allegro"
Obituary on the site of the Italian State Police


by Saverio Lodato, l'Unità, June 25, 2005

{{DEFAULTSORT:Giuliano, Boris
1930 births
1979 deaths
Deaths by firearm in Italy
Italian murder victims
Italian police officers killed in the line of duty
People from Piazza Armerina
People murdered by the Corleonesi
People murdered in Sicily