The Inzerillo Mafia clan () is a

Sicilian Mafia The Sicilian Mafia, also simply known as the Mafia and frequently referred to as Cosa nostra (, ; "our thing") by its members, is an Italian Mafia- terrorist-type organized crime syndicate and criminal society originating in the region of Sici ...

clan, formerly among the most powerful in

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, for at least half a century they were considered the "aristocracy of

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for it ...

's mafia". The Inzerillo family was associated with the former American Mafia boss

Carlo Gambino Carlo Gambino (; August 24, 1902 – October 15, 1976) was an Italian-American crime boss of the Gambino crime family. After the Apalachin Meeting in 1957, and the imprisonment of Vito Genovese in 1959, Gambino took over the Commission of ...

and

his family ''His Family'' is a novel by Ernest Poole published in 1917 about the life of a New York widower and his three daughters in the 1910s. It received the first Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1918. Plot introduction ''His Family'' tells the story of ...

. In the modern era, the Inzerillo clan had been associated with

John Gambino Giovanni "John" Gambino (; August 22, 1940 – November 16, 2017) was an Italian-born American mobster. Born in Palermo, Sicily, he became a made member of the Gambino crime family in 1975 and a capodecina or captain, and head of the crime famil ...

through heroin trafficking, and also has links to the deceased former Gambino family boss,

Frank Cali Francesco Paolo Augusto "Frank" Cali (, ; March 26, 1965 – March 13, 2019), also known as "Franky Boy", was an American mobster and the eventual acting boss of the Gambino crime family. Law enforcement considered Cali to have been the Gambino ...

History

Founded in 1950s, by Salvatore "Totuccio" Inzerillo, the Inzerillo Mafia clan was a historical ally of

Stefano Bontade Stefano Bontade (23 April 1939 – 23 April 1981) was a powerful member of the Sicilian Mafia. His actual surname was Bontate. He was the boss of the Santa Maria di Gesù Family in Palermo. He was also known as the ''Principe di Villagrazia'' (Prin ...

, and were organizers of large trafficking of morphine from the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The te ...

. The Inzerillos were overwhelmed in the mafia war that exploded between 1981 and 1983 in the streets of Palermo. Salvatore was killed by Kalashnikov fire on 10 May 1981 in Palermo. After that, the

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 n ...

under

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 ...

killed his brothers Santo (who died in

) and Pietro (found dead in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

in the trunk of a car with $5 in his mouth and two dollars on his genitals), an uncle and the eldest son Giuseppe. Related to the Spatola, Mannino, Castellano, Gambino, and Di Maggio families, they first landed in the US in 1956, settling in Cherry Hills. Their protector in the US was the boss

, Inzerillo's cousin. The whole family fled to the United States except Filippa Spatola, Inzerillo's wife, and son Giovanni. Subsequently, the Sicilian Mafia Commission, under pressure from the

American Cosa Nostra The American Mafia, commonly referred to in North America as the Italian American Mafia, the Mafia, or the Mob, is a highly organized Italian American criminal society and organized crime group. The organization is often referred to by its memb ...

, decided to grant a pardon to the rest of the Inzerillo family, on the condition that none of them, nor their descendants, would ever return to Sicily. Gone for nearly 20 years, in early 2000 the Inzerillos were back in Palermo, and in the summer of 2007, murders in Palermo seemed to herald a new Mafia war. The first of the family to reappear was Franco, who had been thrown out of the US.

Giovanni Inzerillo Giovanni Inzerillo (born in Brooklyn, New York, April 30, 1972), is a construction entrepreneur and son of Salvatore Inzerillo, a notorious Sicilian Mafia boss who was killed in May 1981 on the orders of Mafia boss Salvatore "Totò" Riina during ...

, Salvatore's son, was later indicted and arrested on 7 February 2008, in

Operation Old Bridge Operation Old Bridge is the code name for the February 7, 2008 arrests in Italy and the United States that targeted the Gambino crime family; among the indicted were the reputed acting bosses Jackie D'Amico, Nicholas Corozzo and Joseph Corozzo ...

against the

Gambinos The Gambino crime family (pronounced ) is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Am ...

in New York and their connections in Palermo, involved in drug trafficking.Dozens Arrested in Italy and US in Major Mafia-busting Operation
''La Repubblica'', February 7, 2008
''La Repubblica'', February 7, 2008 Currently the regent of the family would be Giovanni Inzerillo. Other active members in Sicily affiliated with the family according to a police investigation would be Giovanni Bosco, relative of Salvatore Inzerillo, Alfonso Gambino, trusted man and spokesperson for Bosco in negotiations with other

mandamenti Within Cosa Nostra a mandamento is traditionally a district of three geographically contiguous Mafia cosche (families controlling a single land feud, or a city ward) in Sicily. A capomandamento represents the head of a territory, the mandamento, ...

, Ignazio Mannino, man of honor of the Torretta Mafia family, and Matteo Inzerillo, nephew of the boss Michelangelo La Barbera, in charge of maintaining relations with other members of the mandamento.

References

{{Mafia 1950s establishments in Italy Organized crime groups in the United States