Benedetto Santapaola (; born 4 June 1938), better known as Nitto, is a prominent Italian
mafioso 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 ...
, the main city and industrial centre on
Sicily
Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...
's east coast. Santapaola was considered one of the most powerful and bloodthirsty mafia bosses in Cosa Nostra until his arrest in 1993.
His nickname is ''il Cacciatore'' ("The Hunter") because of his passion for shooting game.
Early years
Nitto Santapaola was born in the degraded neighbourhood of San Cristoforo, in
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 ...
, into a poor family together with his brothers Salvatore, Antonino, Natale and numerous cousins, such as the Ferrera clan, the Ercolano clan and the Romeo clan, all members or associates of
Cosa Nostra
The Sicilian Mafia or Cosa Nostra (, ; "our thing"), also referred to as simply Mafia, is a criminal society and criminal organization originating on the island of Sicily and dates back to the mid-19th century. Emerging as a form of local protect ...
, and the future nucleus of the
Santapaola-Ercolano Mafia family.
At the beginning of the 1960s, Santapaola was introduced by his cousin
Francesco Ferrera into the
Catania Mafia family, at the time under the command of
Giuseppe Calderone. Santapaola's first denunciation was in 1962 for theft and criminal conspiracy. In 1970 he was sent into internal exile and in 1975 he was denounced for
cigarette smuggling.
Ally of the Corleonesi
While
Giuseppe Calderone was elevated to the
Regional Commission of Cosa Nostra in 1975, his underboss Santapaola took over the illicit business in Catania for the
Mafia family and became the ''capo famiglia'' of the clan. Santapaola managed the interests in heroin trafficking and acted as chief enforcer for the leading businessmen. Meanwhile, he carefully built a private faction within the family that was loyal to him – and strengthened relations with
Totò Riina and the
Corleonesi.
While Riina was a fugitive, he frequently spent time in and around Catania and often went hunting with Santapaola around the local mountains. Riina decided to support Santapaola's faction to replace Calderone, an ally of
Stefano Bontade from Palermo and
Giuseppe Di Cristina from Caltanissetta.
Giuseppe Calderone was killed on 8 September 1978 by his former close friend, Santapaola. Santapaola took over the command of the Catania Mafia Family. These skirmishes were just a prelude to the
Second Mafia War that started after the murder of
Stefano Bontade in 1981.
Catania Mafia wars
Santapaola's command over the Catania Mafia was not unchallenged. He had to fight a war against another independent group that was not part of the Mafia in
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 ...
, known as
Cursoti, which waged war in order to control gambling and cigarette smuggling. He was also involved in a bitter feud with the faction of
Alfio Ferlito, who had been a close friend of
Giuseppe Calderone. The war involved gun battles in the streets and dozens of murders.
On 6 June 1981 and on 26 April 1982, Santapaola was seriously wounded when ambushed by Ferlito and his men. When Ferlito was arrested, Santapaola planned his revenge. On 16 June of the same year, Ferlito was killed in an ambush when he was being escorted by the
Carabinieri
The Carabinieri (, also , ; formally ''Arma dei Carabinieri'', "Arm of Carabineers"; previously ''Corpo dei Carabinieri Reali'', "Royal Carabineers Corps") are the national gendarmerie of Italy who primarily carry out domestic and foreign poli ...
during a transfer between two prisons, the
Circonvallazione massacre. The gunmen were from
Totò Riina.
The murder of General Dalla Chiesa
Santapaola paid back the service by sending a hit team from Catania to Palermo to kill
Carabinieri
The Carabinieri (, also , ; formally ''Arma dei Carabinieri'', "Arm of Carabineers"; previously ''Corpo dei Carabinieri Reali'', "Royal Carabineers Corps") are the national gendarmerie of Italy who primarily carry out domestic and foreign poli ...
general
Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa, his wife
Emanuela Setti Carraro and the escort agent Domenico Russo on 3 September 1982, in the Via Carini in
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 ...
. Swapping hit teams proved to be a successful way to distract police investigations. Dalla Chiesa had just been appointed
prefect
Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area.
A prefect' ...
of Palermo to end the violence that was the result of a war between rival Mafia families. In his last public interview, it had become clear that Dalla Chiesa had started to focus on the emerging role of the Catania Mafia.
Dalla Chiesa had noticed that four mighty real estate developers that dominated the construction industry on
Sicily
Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...
were building in
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 ...
with the consent of the Mafia. The four entrepreneurs,
Carmelo Costanzo,
Francesco Finocchiaro,
Mario Rendo and
Gaetano Graci, were granted the honorary title
Cavaliere del Lavoro (Knight of Labour) by the Italian government as a reward for special merit to the Italian economy.
Links with business and politics
After Dalla Chiesa's murder, investigating magistrate
Giovanni Falcone
Giovanni Falcone (; 18 May 1939 – 23 May 1992) was an Italian judge and prosecuting magistrate. From his office in the Palace of Justice in Palermo, Sicily, he spent most of his professional life trying to overthrow the power of the Sicilian ...
found a note that indicated that Dalla Chiesa had discovered that Santapaola was on the payroll of Costanzo. Falcone encouraged Colonel
Elio Pizzuti of the Italian Financial/Customs Police (
Guardia di Finanza
The Guardia di Finanza (; G. di F. or GdF; or ) is an Italian militarised law enforcement agency under the Ministry of Economy and Finance (Italy), Ministry of Economy and Finance, instead of the Ministry of Defence (Italy), Ministry of Defence ...
) to look into their financial records. Pizzuti found ample evidence of corruption and political influence peddling by the four Knights that tied together the local Mafia, high finance and political figures.
Santapaola had been a guest at the wedding of Costanzo's nephew and had been hiding in one of Costanzo's luxury hotels near Catania. He also had access to the private game reserve of another one of the Knights, Gaetano Graci. Mario Rendo bought all his cars from Santapaola's car dealership, while wiretaps revealed Rendo's executives discussing subcontracting with various mafiosi.
Pizzuto also discovered a massive tax fraud by the Knights through phoney receipts and a list of payoffs to politicians and magistrates. Rendo told inspectors that the false receipts were necessary to create a slush fund for government contracts. (A prelude to the scandal of political bribery known as
Tangentopoli
(; ) was a nationwide judicial investigation into political corruption in Italy held in the early 1990s, resulting in the demise of the First Italian Republic and the disappearance of many political parties. Some politicians and industry leade ...
that would emerge ten years later in 1992.) Rendo discussed the investigations of Pizzuti with his boss, Treasury minister
Rino Formica of the
Italian Socialist Party
The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a Social democracy, social democratic and Democratic socialism, democratic socialist political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the longest-living parti ...
(PSI). Pizzuti was promoted and sent to
Triest in
North Italy
Northern Italy (, , ) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy. The Italian National Institute of Statistics defines the region as encompassing the four northwestern regions of Piedmont, Aosta Valley, Liguria and Lomb ...
– as far away as possible from Sicily.
Later, photographs turned up showing the mayor and members of the Catania city council with Santapaola, while a clan war bloodied the streets at the time. One picture showed Santapaola in a friendly embrace with
Salvatore Lo Turco, a member of the Sicilian parliament's
Antimafia Commission.
The Catanese Mafia was generally able to learn about arrest warrants before they were issued and sometimes have names crossed off the list. The police released Santapaola after only a few routine questions when his bulletproof car had been found at the scene of a vicious shoot-out in which several people had been killed. Moreover, they continued to grant him a license to bear arms, despite his well-known criminal record.
Ties with the 'Ndrangheta
Santapaola had strong ties with some
'Ndrangheta
The 'Ndrangheta (, , ) is a mafia-type organized crime, criminal syndicate originating from the Calabria region of Italy. Gratteri & Nicaso, ''Fratelli di Sangue'', pp. 65–68 This body, also referred to as the Commission in reference to the ...
clans, in particular with
Natale Iamonte, the head of the Iamonte
'Ndrina based in
Melito di Porto Salvo
Melito di Porto Salvo (; or ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria in the Italian region Calabria, located about southwest of Catanzaro and about southeast of Reggio Calabria; and is also the southernmost m ...
on the Ionic coast of
Calabria
Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...
. Iamonte and his ally
Paolo De Stefano secured arms and drug transports when the harbour of Catania was controlled too strictly.
[Mancini, il giudice nega l' arresto]
Corriere della Sera, October 7, 1993[Mafia, 'ndrangheta e "l’oro grigio"]
, ''Calabria Notizie'', April 11, 2008 In return Santapaola helped the Iamonte clan to get subcontracts for the construction of rail works with the Costanzo firm.
in ''I Siciliani'', April 1993
Murder of Giuseppe Fava
Santapaola has been convicted for the murder of the journalist
Giuseppe Fava on 5 January 1984. Fava, founder and editor-in-chief of the magazine ''I Siciliani'', exposed the links between the Catania Mafia and the world of business and politics. In the first edition of ''I Siciliani'' Fava published an article ''I quattro cavalieri dell'apocalisse mafiosa'' (The four horsemen, or knights, of the Mafia apocalypse), denouncing the links of the entrepreneurs with the Mafia.
In 1994,
Maurizio Avola, a nephew of Santapaola, confessed to the killing of Fava, and became 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 ...
. He also confessed to some 70 other murders. Avola said that his uncle Nitto Santapaola had ordered the killing of the journalist.
Arrest and life convictions
On 17 December 1987, Santapaola was convicted ''
in absentia
''In Absentia'' is the seventh studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released on 24 September 2002. The album marked several changes for the band, with it being the first with new drummer Gavin Harrison and the f ...
'' to life imprisonment as part of the
Maxi Trial
The Maxi Trial () was a criminal trial against the Sicilian Mafia that took place in Palermo, Sicily. The trial lasted from 10 February 1986 (the first day of the Corte d'Assise) to 30 January 1992 (the final day of the Supreme Court of Cassati ...
for the murder of Ferlito. On 18 May 1993, he was arrested in a farmhouse hideout outside
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 ...
after being on the run for 11 years.
[Busting the Mafia: Italy Advances in War on Crime]
The New York Times, June 27, 1993 His wife,
Carmela Minniti, was killed on 1 September 1995, by 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 ...
for revenge of Santapaola posing as a policeman. They called at her house, pushed past her daughter and shot her dead.
["As Code of Silence Cracks, Mafia Changes Rules"]
''The New York Times'', October 11, 1995 "She ran his affairs," said Liliana Madeo, author of a book on the Mafia's new women. "If she was just a little woman, she wouldn't have been killed."
Santapaola's rival
Giuseppe Ferone (who had become 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 ...
) was one of the killers. Nitto Santapaola forgave his wife's killer in a letter he publicly read in court. Ferone's son and father had been killed on the orders of Santapaola.
In 1998, Santapaola and
Aldo Ercolano were convicted for ordering the killing of Giuseppe Fava. Santapaola was also given life sentences for the murders of
Giovanni Falcone
Giovanni Falcone (; 18 May 1939 – 23 May 1992) was an Italian judge and prosecuting magistrate. From his office in the Palace of Justice in Palermo, Sicily, he spent most of his professional life trying to overthrow the power of the Sicilian ...
and
Paolo Borsellino.
Santapaola allegedly continues to run his clan from inside prison with the help of a string of "regents". On 4 December 2007, his son
Vincenzo Santapaola, who allegedly succeeded his father, was arrested.
[Raids net 38 as Sicily police aim to stamp out the mafia]
''The Guardian'', December 5, 2007 Vincenzo had been in and out of jail since 1992 on various charges. He now faces charges of trying to reorganise his father's business.
References
Books
*
*
*
External links
Biography
*
', by
Giuseppe Fava in ''
I Siciliani'', January 1983.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Santapaola, Benedetto
1938 births
Fugitives wanted by Italy
Living people
People from Catania
Sicilian Mafia Commission
Sicilian mafiosi
Italian people convicted of murdering police officers
20th-century Italian criminals
Italian people convicted of manslaughter
Italian people convicted of murder
People convicted of murder by Italy
Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Italy
Sicilian mafiosi sentenced to life imprisonment
Catania Mafia family