Leonardo Vitale (; 27 June 1941 – 2 December 1984) was a member of the

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 ...

who was one of the first to become an

informant An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a "snitch", "rat", "canary", "stool pigeon", "stoolie", "tout" or "grass", among other terms) is a person who provides privileged information, or (usually damaging) information inten ...

, or ''

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 ...

'', although originally his confessions were not taken seriously. Vitale was a " man of honour" or member of the Altarello di Baida '' cosca'' or family, Altarello being a small village just outside

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 ...

Background

In 1960, at the age of 19, Vitale was affiliated with the clan mafia of Altarello, which was led by his uncle Giovanbattista "Titta". Vitale carried out

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit (e.g., money or goods) through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, although making unfounded ...

s of construction companies on the orders of his uncle and his associate Giuseppe Calò, later being promoted to capodecina. In 1972, Vitale was arrested on suspicion of being implicated in the kidnapping of the manufacturer Luciano Cassina but was released after a week of isolation in the prison of Asinara. Whilst held in custody, he showed signs of depression that led to coprophagia and practised self-mutilation as his own act of contrition; doctors subjected him to

electroconvulsive therapy Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a psychiatry, psychiatric treatment that causes a generalized seizure by passing electrical current through the brain. ECT is often used as an intervention for mental disorders when other treatments are inadequ ...

. On 29 March 1973, Vitale walked into a Palermo police station and declared that he was a member of the Mafia and confessed to various acts of

, arson and two

homicide Homicide is an act in which a person causes the death of another person. A homicide requires only a Volition (psychology), volitional act, or an omission, that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from Accident, accidenta ...

s.Stille, ''Excellent Cadavers'', p. 92 In front of police officers he explained how a Mafia family is organised and revealed the existence of the Sicilian Mafia Commission, more than a decade before

Tommaso Buscetta Tommaso Buscetta (; 13 July 1928 – 2 April 2000) was a high-ranking 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 p ...

exposed Mafia secrets to judges who were prepared to listen.Dickie, ''Cosa Nostra'', pp. 265-268 In explaining why he had turned himself in, something that was unheard of from a mafioso at that point, Vitale claimed to have had a spiritual crisis and wanted to unburden himself. In 1977, Vitale's testimony led to 28 defendants being indicted, all of whom were acquitted due to lack of evidence and the doubt surrounding Vitale's mental state by pointing out his erratic behaviour, except for himself and his uncle who were imprisoned. While testifying against his fellow Mafiosi, Vitale reminisced about his life: ''"I have made a fool of my life, by the evil that has rained on me from the time I was a child... My sin was having being born into a Mafia family and of having lived in a society where everyone is a Mafioso and are respected for it; while those who are not are treated with contempt."''Stille, ''Excellent Cadavers'', p. 176Jonathan White, ''Italy: The Enduring Culture'', Continuum International Publishing Group, 2006,
Google Print, p. 268
/ref> Vitale spent most of his time in a mental asylum, before being released in June 1984. On 2 December 1984, he was shot dead as he left a church after attending

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

with his mother and sister.Stille, ''Excellent Cadavers'', p. 150

Legacy

Later in 1984,

became an informant and gave a vast amount of information on the Mafia in Sicily that subsequently backed up a lot of Vitale's own testimony. Vitale's original written testimony was used in the Maxi Trial several years later, where Magistrate Giovanni Falcone declared that "it is to be hoped that at least after his death Vitale will get the credence he deserved." According to Falcone, the Mafia understood the importance of Vitale's revelations much better than the Italian justice system at the time and killed him when the moment was most opportune.

References

* Dickie, John (2004), ''Cosa Nostra. A history of the Sicilian Mafia'', New York: Palgrave MacMillan, * Stille, Alexander (1995). ''Excellent Cadavers. The Mafia and the Death of the First Italian Republic'', New York: Vintage *
Biographies of Mafia bosses
*
"L’importanza di Leonardo Vitale"
by Giovanni Falcone, Antimafia duemila, June 2003. {{DEFAULTSORT:Vitale, Leonardo 1941 births 1984 deaths Gangsters from Palermo Pentiti Murdered Mafiosi People murdered in Sicily