Francesco Paolo Varsallona or Varsalona was a
Sicilian bandit
Banditry is a type of organized crime committed by outlaws typically involving the threat or use of violence. A person who engages in banditry is known as a bandit and primarily commits crimes such as extortion, robbery, kidnapping, and murder, e ...
who operated on the island around the turn of the 20th century. He is considered to be the last great bandit of the pre-
fascist era.
[Hess, ''Mafia & Mafiosi'', p. 9] He hailed from
Castronovo and was the son of a bandit that had belonged to the notorious band of
Angelo Pugliese, better known as "Don Peppino il Lombardo", credited with introducing kidnapping people for money in Sicily.
[Lupo, ''Storia della mafia'', p. 194]
Outlaw
Varsallona became an outlaw in 1893 after he killed a witness in the trial about his brother Luigi Varsallona's murder. His brother, a bandit as well, had been killed in 1892 over a dispute about the booty of his band’s actions. The witness did his best to provide the defendants with an alibi. Varsallona took justice in its own hands and in an act of vendetta killed the witness.[Badolati & Dodaro, ''Il Mammasantissima'', p. 26][Lewis, ''The Honoured Society'', p. 47-48]
He became a fugitive and his hide-out was in the Cammarata
Cammarata is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Agrigento in the Italian region Sicily, located about southeast of Palermo and about north of Agrigento on the eponymous mountain Mount Cammarata, which has an elevation above sea lev ...
mountains.[Caruso, ]
Da cosa nasce cosa.
' He assembled a band of fellow fugitives which became involved in robberies and cattle rustling roaming the province of Caltanisetta and the neighbouring areas of the provinces of Palermo
Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...
and Agrigento
Agrigento (; or ) is a city on the southern coast of Sicily, Italy and capital of the province of Agrigento.
Founded around 582 BC by Greek colonists from Gela, Agrigento, then known as Akragas, was one of the leading cities during the golden ...
.[
]
Popularity
He soon acquired a popular reputation for challenging the law and its agents, according to the ''New York Times''. From his hide-out in the mountains, he “dominated great territories, imposing ransoms which were regularly paid, administering justice according to their own ideas, and living quite secure, as the shepherds and peasants – partly through fear, and partly from satisfaction in that open rebellion against what is the personification of that Government which they have hated for centuries – never let them lack ammunition or food and carefully informed them of every move of the police by signals.”[Unusual Outbreak Of Crime In Italy]
The New York Times, September 8, 1907
Modernizing brigandage
Varsallona is credited with modernizing brigandage
Brigandage is the life and practice of highway robbery and plunder. It is practiced by a brigand, a person who is typically part of a gang and lives by pillage and robbery.Oxford English Dictionary second edition, 1989. "Brigand.2" first recorded ...
in Sicily. Instead of bands roving the countryside and abducting people, he introduced tribute payments in return for guaranteed safety for the landlords and their caretakers and lease-holders (''gabelotto'' or bailiff
A bailiff is a manager, overseer or custodian – a legal officer to whom some degree of authority or jurisdiction is given. There are different kinds, and their offices and scope of duties vary.
Another official sometimes referred to as a '' ...
), while freelancing bands were suppressed.[Lupo, ''Storia della mafia'', p. 195] He also supplied manpower to noble landowners to repress farmers' revolts. Another innovation was to arrange for his men to be mobilized and demobilized according to the circumstances. They went quietly to a planned operation and then afterwards slipped back to their everyday occupations.[ The future ]Sicilian Mafia
The Sicilian Mafia or Cosa Nostra (, ; "our thing"), also referred to as simply Mafia, is a secret society, criminal society and criminal organization originating on the island of Sicily and dates back to the mid-19th century. Emerging as a form of ...
boss, Calogero Vizzini
Calogero Vizzini (; 24 July 1877 – 10 July 1954), also commonly known as "Don Calò", was a Sicilian Mafia boss of Villalba, Sicily, Villalba in the province of Caltanissetta, Sicily. He was considered to be one of the most influential and leg ...
, enrolled in the band when he was still a young and aspiring criminal.[ In the decades to come he would be considered to be the "boss of bosses" – although such a position does not exist in the loose structure of Cosa Nostra.
]
Capture
In 1902, an elaborate search for Varsallona was undertaken by the Carabinieri. During one raid in Cammarata in November, 60 people were arrested, including a Marquis, a Mayor, several doctors and lawyers, but the bandit remained at large.[Elaborate Search For A Brigand In Sicily; Sixty Persons, Including a Marquis and a Mayor, Arrested]
The New York Times, November 14, 1902 Some 600 persons were jailed charged with hiding Varsalona during several dragnets in the area.[Brigandage in Italy (Notes of "The Observer" In Rome)]
The New York Times, December 14, 1902 Varsallona’s band finally fell into a trap set up by the police and stood trial for "association to commit a crime". Vizzini was one of the few to be acquitted.[
According to some sources, Varsallona was a "man of honour" – a member of the Mafia.][
]
Biography
* Cutrera, Antonino (1904). ''Varsallona, il suo regno e le sue gesta delittuose'', Rome
* Lo Scrudato, Vito (2004). ''L'ultimo brigante. Nel latifondo siciliano tra '800 e '900'', Frankfurt: Lang, Peter Lang,
References
* Badolati, Arcangelo & Stefano Dodaro (1985).
Il Mammasantissima. La strage di Villalba e il processo calabrese a Calogero Vizzini
', Cosenza: Pellegrini Editore,
* Caruso, Alfio (2000).
', Milan: Longanesi
*Hess, Henner (1998).
Mafia & Mafiosi: Origin, Power, and Myth
', London: Hurst & Co Publishers,
Review
* Lewis, Norman (1964/2003).
The Honoured Society: The Sicilian Mafia Observed
', London: Eland,
* Lupo, Salvatore (1993).
Storia della mafia dalle origine ai giorni nostri
', Rome: Donzelli editore
External links
Norman Lewis, Der Spiegel 52/1964 vom 23.12.1964
{{DEFAULTSORT:Varsallona, Francesco Paolo
19th-century Italian people
Sicilian bandits
Sicilian rebels