Giuseppa Vitale (born in Partinico, 1972), better known as Giusy, is the sister of
Mafia
"Mafia", as an informal or general term, is often used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the Sicilian Mafia, original Mafia in Sicily, to the Italian-American Mafia, or to other Organized crime in Italy, organiz ...
bosses Leonardo, Michele and
Vito Vitale from
Partinico
Partinico ( Sicilian: ''Partinicu'', Ancient Greek: ''Parthenikòn'', Παρθενικόν) is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Palermo, Sicily, southern Italy. It is from Palermo and from Trapani.
Main sights
*Church of ''San ...
, Sicily. Giusy took over the command over the clan when her brothers were in prison or fugitives, despite the formal Mafia rule that excludes the participation of women in the criminal organisation.
[Mafia showdown averted]
BBC News, June 26, 1998 As such she was considered one of a new breed of 'bosses in skirts'.
['La prima donna boss' Vitale tells court of her Mafia family life]
The Independent on Sunday, July 3, 2005 Later she became a
pentita, a state witness breaking the "
omertà
Omertà () is a Southern Italian code of silence and code of honor and conduct that places importance on silence in the face of questioning by authorities or outsiders; non-cooperation with authorities, the government, or outsiders, especially ...
," or code of silence, testifying against her own family.
Mafia heritage
She was raised in a traditional Mafia family in Partinico, 40 kilometres from
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 ...
. The Vitale clan had taken over the Partinico
mandamento from
Nenè Geraci
Antonino Geraci (Partinico, 2 January 1917 – Partinico, 6 February 2007), better known as Nenè or ''il vecchio'' (the old one), was the historical boss of the Mafia in Partinico, in the Metropolitan City of Palermo. Geraci sat on the Sicili ...
in 1991–92.
[ At the age of six she started to visit prison regularly when her brother Leonardo was jailed. "Life for me was with my brothers," she told a court after she became a state witness. "It was impossible to have any relationship with people of my own age. I had absolutely no idea of how to live a different life."]["Mamma spiegami cos'è la mafia?" Così il boss divenne una pentita]
La Repubblica, June 18, 2005
At the age of 13 she left school. Her brother Leonardo, who was 17 years her major and acted as her father, was jealous, she explained. "I'd reached the third year of middle school but he wouldn't let me go any further."[ She knew her brothers were men of honour in Cosa Nostra and they kept her informed.][
]
Capo mandamento
Her brothers became fugitives and, later, were arrested and both given long jail sentences for murder. Leonardo and Vito turned to Giusy to keep the clan moving and exchange messages while they were separate. While not a "man of honour" in both senses – women are not allowed to enter the Mafia as made members – Giusy Vitale became the regent of the mandamento after the arrest of her brother Vito in April 1998 and managed the affairs of the Vitale clan, although she could not participate in Mafia meetings.[
Her brothers had several reasons to give her the position: their sister was already fully aware of all the secrets of the family because she had been the go-between for the members inside and outside jail.][
She showed remarkable resourcefulness and autonomy. The court attributed to Vitale a decisively different role from the one that Mafia women had performed in the past. She took part in the decisions her brothers made in prison, personally contacted leading Mafia personalities, such as Corleone bosses ]Leoluca Bagarella
Leoluca Bagarella (; born 3 February 1942) is an Italian criminal and member of the Sicilian Mafia. He is from the town of Corleone. Following his brother-in-law Salvatore Riina's arrest in early 1993, Bagarella became the head of the strategist ...
and Giovanni Brusca
Giovanni Brusca (; born 20 February 1957) is an Italian mobster and former member of the Corleonesi clan of the Sicilian Mafia. He played a major role in the 1992 murders of Antimafia Commission prosecutor Giovanni Falcone and businessman Ig ...
. Such an essential position had never been seen involving a woman.[Fiandaca, ''Women and the Mafia'', p. 286] Other Mafia bosses accepted the nomination by her brothers, and she could be considered a veritable ''donna d'onore''.[
]
Arrest
Two months after she has assumed the leadership of the mandamento, she was arrested in June 1998.[ she was sentenced to six years. In December 2002, she was released, but arrested again in March 2003 for ordering a murder.][L’altra metà della Cupola]
, by Teresa Principato, Narcomafie, October 2005
Pentita
While in jail, Giusy, mother of two, met a 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 ...
, Alfio Garozzo, a former head of the Cursotti clan from Catania
Catania (, , , Sicilian and ) is the second-largest municipality on Sicily, after Palermo, both by area and by population. Despite being the second city of the island, Catania is the center of the most densely populated Sicilian conurbation, wh ...
. Her husband, Angelo Caleca, was serving time for a killing that she allegedly ordered. In February 2005, she became a state witness ( pentita), from behind bars.[La donna boss si pente: lo faccio per i figli]
Corriere della Sera, March 26, 2005
The Daily Telegraph, April 17, 2005
La Repubblica, April 8, 2005[ "While I was in jail, they brought my son, who is now 12, to see me. He was about six then.
She petitioned for divorce, violating yet another of the Cosa Nostra's strict rules, which forbids adultery. Vitale today lives outside Sicily under Italy's witness protection programme, and is making a new life for herself with her children.][
]
Biography
* Vitale, Giusy & Camilla Costanzo (2009), ''Ero cosa loro'', Milan: Mondadori,
Notes
References
*Fiandaca, Giovanni (ed.) (2007),
Women and the Mafia: Female Roles in Organized Crime Structures
', New York: Springer
Further reading
*
External links
* Retrouvez d'autr
«Femme mafieuse»
sur mafieux.fr – 2015
1972 births
Living people
People from Partinico
Sicilian mafiosi
Italian female gangsters
Italian gangsters
Pentiti
{{Mafia