Showing posts with label Mafia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mafia. Show all posts

25 January 2024

Giangiacomo Ciaccio Montalto - magistrate

Brave investigator murdered by the Sicilian Mafia

Onlookers gather round Ciaccio Montalto's car the day after the magistrate was killed
Onlookers gather round Ciaccio Montalto's car
the day after the magistrate was killed
The magistrate Giangiacomo Ciaccio Montalto was assassinated by Mafia gunmen in Valderice, a small town near the Sicilian city of Trapani, on this day in 1983.

Ciaccio Montalto, a state prosecutor who had been involved in every major organised crime investigation in western Sicily over the previous 12 years, was a short distance from his home in the early hours of the morning when his Volkswagen Golf was forced off the road.

Three men armed with machine guns and pistols opened fire, hitting Ciaccio Montalto multiple times, leaving his bullet-ridden body slumped in the driver’s seat. Used to hearing gunshots, none of the nearby residents ventured out to see what had happened and it was not until 7.15am that a passing carabinieri patrol came across the car and discovered the magistrate’s body. He was 41 years old.

The VW’s clock, which police believed stopped working because of the damage to the car, was showing 1.12am, which suggested that Ciaccio Montalto had been dead for just over six hours.

Ciaccio Montalto was an Italian magistrate who was a public prosecutor in Trapani, known for his investigations into the Mafia’s involvement in drug trafficking and their links to the local business and banking community and politicians.

Ciaccio Montalto's work was dedicated to fighting the Mafia in Trapani
Ciaccio Montalto was a formidable
adversary of the Trapani Mafia
He had played a part in every major Mafia investigation in the western part of the island since 1971. 

Speculation linked his killing either to an investigation in 1982 that led to arrest warrants being issued for 40 Mafia members and businessmen in the Trapani area, or to the arrest of two leading politicians - a regional Liberal party secretary and a noted member of the Republican party - on charges of granting illegal building contracts to Mafia figures. 

His death did not have the same impact as the slaying of Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino almost a decade later, but was nonetheless a severe blow for the fight against the Mafia in Sicily, robbing the judiciary of a courageous and dedicated magistrate.

It was the Mafia's second major strike against the Italian state in just a few months following the killing of the carabinieri chief General Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa and his wife in Palermo the previous September. 

Ciaccio Montalto was born into a family of legal professionals. His father, Enrico, was a judge in the Court of Cassation, and his grandfather, Giacomo Montalto, a notary and former mayor of Erice, an historic hill town in Trapani province. Giangiacomo’s younger brother, Enrico, was a political activist who died in a car accident at the age of 22.

Although he was born in Milan, Ciaccio Montalto soon dedicated himself to the fight against crime in the city of his roots. He returned to Sicily in 1971, a year after beginning his legal career in the north, and rapidly rose to the level of Deputy Prosecutor of the Republic of Trapani.

Among the high-profile investigations he led was one into the so-called “Marsala monster” that ended with Michele Vinci, who was convicted of kidnapping three girls, including his niece, and leaving them to die in a well, being sentenced to 28 years in jail. 

Ciaccio Montalto was due to be transferred to Florence
Ciaccio Montalto was due to be
transferred to Florence
He also broke new ground during an investigation into the involvement of the mafiosi of the province of Trapani in drug trafficking and their links with the business and banking world of Trapani. He was one of the first magistrates to use asset tracing to follow the flow of “dirty money” after becoming convinced that money being laundered through Trapani’s banks was being used to fund a clandestine laboratory for the production of drugs in the Trapani area.

And thanks to Ciaccio Montalto’s work, the Minore brothers, a Mafia clan who controlled Trapani from the 1950s to the late ‘70s and were heavily involved in drug dealing and arms trafficking, as well as being suspected of carrying out many murders, were effectively driven out of the area, brothers Antonino - known as ‘Totò’ - Calogero, Giuseppe and Giacomo being forced to live as fugitives after the magistrate issued an arrest warrant for Totò Minore in 1979 for weapons trafficking. 

Ciaccio Montalto was realistic enough to know his success would put his own safety under threat. Soon after the 40 Mafia members and entrepreneurs he ordered to be arrested in 1982 were released due to lack of evidence, a black cross was painted on the bonnet of the car in which he would ultimately be killed. Unlike some high-profile investigators in the long fight against the Cosa Nostra, he did not have the security of an armour-plated vehicle or a police escort.

Disappointed with the result of that investigation and others, Ciaccio Montalto asked for a transfer to Florence, hoping to investigate the activities of an enclave of Trapani mafiosi who had settled there. The request was granted, but he was killed before it could happen.

Initial investigations into Ciaccio Montalto’s death pointed towards the Minore clan.  Salvatore Minore, in fact, was sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia for ordering the killing and two mafiosi for carrying it out, although all three were later acquitted by an appeal court. It was later discovered that Minore himself had been killed a year before Ciaccio Montalto.

Ultimately, on the basis of evidence provided by new witnesses and Mafia informers, the killing was attributed to the notorious Corleonesi mobster Salvatore ‘Totò’ Riina, who was seen as the capo di tutti capi - boss of all bosses - on Sicily, along with another leading mob figure, Mariano Agate. Riina, by then already in jail serving several life sentences, was handed another, along with Agate. Two corrupt lawyers, one of whom tipped off Riina after learning of Ciaccio Montalto’s intention to tackle the Trapani gangs in Florence, were acquitted on the grounds of unreliable testimony.

Ciaccio Montalto was granted a state funeral, conducted by the bishop of Trapani, Monsignor Emanuele Romano, at the cathedral of San Lorenzo, where 20,000 people gathered outside.

He was survived by his wife, Marisa La Torre, who would later be appointed deputy mayor of Trapani, and their three daughters Maria Irene, Elena and Silvia. 

The territory of Valderice includes mountain scenary and a sweep of coastline
The territory of Valderice includes mountain
scenary and a sweep of coastline 
Travel tip: 

The small town of Valderice, where Giangiacomo Ciaccio Montalto lived and sadly died while investigating crimes in Trapani province, has gone under that name only since 1958. It was previously known as Paparella but was renamed following the division of the Monte San Giuliano municipal area. Valderice, which is 8km (five miles) northeast of Trapani and about 95km (60 miles) west of Palermo, includes several scenic areas such as the stunning Zingaro Nature Reserve with its 7km of wild cliff top walks and the remains of a stone age settlement, and three beach areas: Bonagia, Lido Valderice and Rio Forgia.  In the town, the churches of Santa Maria della Misericordia, built in 1637, and Sant’Andrea Apostolo are among the oldest in the area. The Molino Excelsior is an old mill now converted to the Centro di Cultura Gastronomica, which every year provides gastronomic events, workshops and lessons to promote local customs and traditions. 

Erice is one of Sicily's most beautiful towns with an abundance of picturesque narrow streets
Erice is one of Sicily's most beautiful towns with
an abundance of picturesque narrow streets
Travel tip:

Dating back 3,000 years, Erice is one of Sicily’s most beautiful towns, a mediaeval gem that nestles some 2,464 feet above the sea, surrounded by vineyards in the mountains behind Trapani.  It is a fortified town with charming, narrow streets, echoing with history and blessed with a pace of life from a different age. Erice is watched over by an impressive 12th-13th century Norman castle, the Castello di Venere, where visitors can stroll around the grassy interior courtyard, flanked by an impressive stone wall allegedly built by Daedalus, the architect of Greek mythology. The castle offers spectacular panoramic views.  Erice has many churches and chapels, including the Norman-style church of San Martino, the church of Sant’Albertino degli Abbati and Chiesa Madre, dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta, with its quadrangular bell tower. One of the most attractive parts of Erice is the Spanish quarter, said to have been built in the period of Spanish domination to house Spanish soldiers, a requirement for every Sicilian city.

Also on this day:

1348: The Friuli earthquake

1755: The birth of physician Paolo Mascagni

1852: The birth of explorer Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza

1866: The birth of operatic baritone Antonio Scotti

1982: The birth of singer-songwriter Noemi


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6 January 2023

Piersanti Mattarella - assassination victim

President’s brother assumed to have been killed by Mafia

A newspaper front page reports the murder of the politician amid claims of terrorist involvement
A newspaper front page reports the murder of the
politician amid claims of terrorist involvement
The politician Piersanti Mattarella, whose brother, Sergio, is the current President of Italy, was shot dead on this day in 1980.

The 44-year-old Christian Democrat, who was president of the regional government of Sicily, was about to drive to Epiphany mass from his home in Via della Libertà in Palermo when a gunman or gunmen appeared at the side of his car.

Mattarella was shot at point blank range in front of his wife, Irma, their daughter Maria, and his wife’s mother, who were passengers in his Fiat 132. Sergio, at that time a lecturer at the University of Palermo, was called by his nephew, Bernardo, who had not been in the car. He was one of the first on the scene after the shooting and took his brother to hospital. His efforts were in vain; Piersanti was already dead.

Yet the identity of his killers was never established and doubts surrounding the motives for the attack never completely removed.

There was every reason to suspect Piersanti had been the victim of a Mafia assassination because of his drive to clean up political corruption on the island. His ambition was to break the cosy relationships the Mafia enjoyed with too many politicians, mostly in his own party. 

Piersanti had vowed to clean
up corruption in Sicily
His late father, also called Bernardo, who served as a government minister on the mainland in six administrations between 1953 and 1963, was himself accused on more than once occasion of having links with the Cosa Nostra, although none was ever proved.

Piersanti was aware that public works contracts inevitably went to Mafia-linked companies. He passed a law forcing Silician contractors to adhere to the same building standards used in the rest of Italy, which had the effect of making many of the Mafia's building schemes illegal.

But shortly after the murder had taken place, a claim for responsibility was reportedly made on behalf of a right-wing terrorist group, Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari, which later in the year would be blamed for the worst terrorist atrocity in Italian history, the bombing of Bologna railway station, which killed 85 people.

Vehemently anti-communist, NAR might have had a credible motive, too. Mattarella had been an admirer of Aldo Moro, the politician who had been a central figure in the so-called Historic Compromise that brought about a political accommodation between the Christian Democrats and the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in the 1970s. Moro was kidnapped and killed in 1978.

Mattarella had sought and gained support from the PCI in Sicily when, as newly elected president in 1978, he sought to govern as head of a centre-left coalition. Although the role of the PCI was at that time external, their involvement in any form was viewed in Sicily, as on the mainland, as a step closer to direct participation in government, which those on the far right in Italian politics were determined to prevent.

Mattarella's Fiat 132 car, its windows blown out by gunshots, at the side of Via della Libertà
Mattarella's Fiat 132 car, its windows blown
out by gunshots, at the side of Via della Libertà
It was this hypothesis that formed the basis of an investigation into the killing by Giovanni Falcone, the anti-Mafia magistrate who would himself be murdered in 1992. He concluded that the killing of Piersanti Mattarella was carried out by Giuseppe Valerio Fioravanti and Gilberto Cavallini, two prominent NAR operatives.

Fioravanti, more often known as Giusva, was in Palermo at the time and his description matched that provided by Irma Mattarella, Piersanti’s widow, of one of the two involved in the attack.

But when, in 1995, Fioravanti and Cavallini eventually came to court to face charges, they were both acquitted for lack of evidence.

Meanwhile, during the 1993 trial of former prime minister Giulio Andreotti over alleged Mafia associations, a Mafia pentito - turncoat - by the name of Francesco Marino Mannoia, named four mafiosi - Salvatore Federico, Francesco Davì, Santo Inzerillo and Antonio Rotolo - as the killers, and pointed the finger at the 10 members of the Sicilian Mafia Commission, which purported to control criminal activity on the island, for ordering the murder. Andreotti, Mannoia said, had privately appealed to Mafia bosses not to kill Mattarella.

However, although all the members of the Commission, including the notoriously ruthless Salvatore ‘Toto’ Riina (whose elevation to capo di tutti capi - boss of all bosses - on the island began a bloody campaign to eliminate high-profile opponents), were convicted of the murder in 1995, Mannoia’s evidence was considered unreliable and none of the alleged physical killers was convicted.

Speculation remains that both the Mafia and the NAR were involved, with the latter perhaps carrying out the assassination on behalf of the mob in return for money or favours. But the theory remains unproven.

Sergio Mattarella, who was elected President of the Italian Republic for the first time in 2015 and re-elected in 2022, has said he decided to enter politics after his brother’s assassination, having previously been content with his career as a lawyer and academic. 

A memorial was placed close to the spot where Piersanti Matterella was killed
A memorial was placed close to the spot
where Piersanti Matterella was killed 
Travel tip:

Via della Libertà, where Piersanti Mattarella lived, is a long, straight road in the centre of Palermo, the Sicilian capital, linking the junction of Viale della Croce Rossa and Viale Diana with Via Dante. Stretching for just over 2.5km (1.2 miles), it passes the Parco Piersanti Mattarella, formerly called the Giardino Inglese, an area of gardens that dates back to 1851 and has been subsequently renamed in memory of the former politician. A memorial to Mattarella has been mounted at the side of the road close to his former home. Flowers are placed there at a ceremony each year on the anniversary of his death.

The harbour at Castellammare del Golfo, where Piersanti Mattarella was born
The harbour at Castellammare del Golfo,
where Piersanti Mattarella was born
Travel tip:

Castellammare del Golfo, where Piersanti Mattarella was born, is a fishing town and tourist resort in the province of Trapani on the northern coast of Sicily, about 65km (40 miles) by the coast road to the west of Palermo. Although Mattarella was on the side of law and order, the town is noted for having been the birthplace of many American Mafia figures, including Salvatore Maranzano, Stefano Magaddino, Vito Bonventre, John Tartamella and Joseph Bonanno. It takes its name from its castle overlooking a gulf, which dates back to the Arab occupation of Sicily in the ninth century and was fortified by the Normans in the 11th century. It originally sat right on the edge of the gulf at sea level, surrounded by water and connected to the land by a drawbridge.

Also on this day:

1695: The birth of oboe player Giuseppe Sammartini

1819: The birth of painter Baldassare Verazzi

1907: The first Montessori school opens in Rome

1938: The birth of singer Adriano Celentano

2016: The death of actress Silvana Pampanini

Befana - Italy’s 6 January tradition


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16 September 2022

Sette e mezzo: The Palermo revolt of 1866

Insurgents took control of city after a major uprising 

Sicily had seen previous uprisings in the 19th century, such as this depicted in 1860 during the unification campaign
Sicily had seen previous uprisings in the 19th century,
such as this depicted in 1860 during the unification campaign
The Sette e mezzo revolt - so named because it lasted seven and a half days - began in Palermo, the capital of Sicily, on this day in 1866.

The uprising - five years after the island became part of the new Kingdom of Italy - brought to the surface the tensions that existed in southern Italy following the Risorgimento movement and unification.

It was put down harshly by the new government of Italy, who laid siege to the city of Palermo, deploying more than 40,000 soldiers under the command of General Raffaele Cadorna.

It is not known exactly how many Sicilians were killed before the revolt was subdued. Several thousand died as a result of a cholera outbreak that swept through Palermo and the surrounding area, but it is thought that more than 1,000 may have been killed as a direct consequence of the siege.

Sicily did not take well to the imposition of a national government, bringing with it plans to modernise the traditional economy and political system. New laws and taxes and the introduction of compulsory military service caused resentment. There was a feeling also that the industrialisation of Italy was too heavily concentrated in the north, with little investment being made in the south.

Government officials installed in new municipal offices were almost exclusively from the north and many seemed to regard Sicilians almost as barbarians.

General Raffaele Cadorna led the troops who were ordered to crush the revolt
General Raffaele Cadorna led the troops
who were ordered to crush the revolt
The local ruling elites frequently tried to undermine attempts by the national government to establish a police force and a liberal justice system and from 1861 onwards there were a series of small uprisings, often encouraged by local brigands who feared for the future of their own criminally acquired wealth.

On the morning of September 16, 1866, however, something much bigger and organised took place, with thousands of people from villages around Palermo gathering at the edge of the city, under the command of some of the island’s disenfranchised former political leaders.

Many were armed, some as the result of storming small government army garrisons. More than 4,000 attacked the prefecture and police headquarters, killing the inspector general of the Public Security Guard Corps. 

Similar violence took place in neighbouring towns as word of the Palermo uprising spread, including Monreale, Altofonte and Misilmeri. It is thought that there were possibly as many as 35,000 insurgents in Palermo and its province.

On September 22, seven and a half days after the rioters had begun to mobilise around Palermo, the fighting ceased.  The rioters had control of the city and the organised nature of their campaign became clear when a Revolutionary Committee was formed. The secretary was Francesco Bonafede, a follower of the northern revolutionary, Giuseppe Mazzini, and its membership included many figures from the traditional Sicilian aristocracy, including princes, barons and even clergymen, among them the Archbishop of Monreale, Monsignor Benedetto Purchase.

Yet the response of the new national government was uncompromising. On September 27, ships of the Italian Royal Navy bombarded Palermo, destroying the homes of hundreds of citizens, after which the cholera outbreak only accelerated, eventually claiming almost 4,000 victims.

Bandit groups were blamed for stirring up anti-government sentiments
Bandit groups were blamed for stirring
up anti-government sentiments
The  bombardment paved the way for 40,000 troops to be landed in the city, a force ultimately too powerful for the insurgents. House-to-house fighting destroyed still more buildings and rioters were rounded up and summarily executed. Almost 2,500 citizens were arrested, although fewer than 200 were ultimately convicted.

Army casualties were put at just over 200, along with 42 policemen. The number of insurgents killed is unknown and the estimated figure of 1,000 is probably an under-estimate.

Although this uprising was ultimately quelled, Sicily’s problems did not go away. Outbreaks of less organised violence continued, often blamed on local bandits, and the island’s economic difficulties led to increased emigration, particularly to the United States. Left-wing political groups gained popularity.

Yet Italy’s politicians on the mainland never effectively dealt with the economic imbalance between the north and south and this can be blamed, along with the dismantling of the traditional structures of society, for the growth and influence of organised crime in the shape of the Sicilian Mafia, as well as the Camorra in Naples and its surrounds, the ‘Ndrangheta in Calabria and other groups.

Palermo's magnificent Cathedral of the  Assumption of the Virgin Mary
Palermo's magnificent Cathedral of the 
Assumption of the Virgin Mary
Travel tip:

Although Palermo has long been associated with the Mafia and organised crime, visitors to the city would normally witness nothing to suggest that the criminal underworld has any influence on daily life.  The Sicilian capital, on the northern coast of the island, is a vibrant city with a wealth of beautiful architecture bearing testament to a history of northern European and Arabian influences.  The church of San Cataldo on Piazza Bellini is a good example of the fusion of Norman and Arabic architectural styles, having a bell tower typical of those common in northern France but with three spherical red domes on the roof, while the city’s majestic Cathedral of the Assumption of Virgin Mary includes Norman, Moorish, Gothic, Baroque and Neoclassical elements. Palermo’s opera house, the Teatro Massimo is the largest in Italy and the third biggest in Europe.

The Cathedral of Santa Maria Nuova at Monreale is described as the finest Norman building in Sicily
The Cathedral of Santa Maria Nuova at Monreale
is described as the finest Norman building in Sicily
Travel tip:

Monreale, which was also the scene of an uprising in 1866,  is an historic hill town about 12km (7 miles) west of Palermo. Its Cathedral of Santa Maria Nuova and the adjoining cloisters have been described as the finest Norman buildings in Sicily, its extravagant features in part down to the competition with Palermo to build the island’s greatest cathedral. The buildings have their origin in the 12th century, commissioned by the Norman ruler William II. Mosaic making is still taught in Monreale today, with many workshops around the town. The local cuisine is a mix of traditional Sicilian and cookery of Arab origins. 

Also on this day:

1797: The birth of Sir Anthony Panizzi, librarian at the British Museum

1841: The birth of revolutionary politician Alessandro Fortis

2005: The arrest of Camorra boss Paolo di Lauro


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28 March 2022

Vincenzo Capone - prohibition agent

'War hero'-turned-lawman hid his family identity

When Vincenzo Capone became a town marshal in Nebraska, he called himself Richard James Hart
When Vincenzo Capone became a town marshal
in Nebraska, he called himself Richard James Hart
Vincenzo Capone, older brother of the notorious mobster Al Capone, was born on this day in 1892 in Angri, a town in Campania located between Salerno and Naples.

While Al drifted into crime as a teenager, Vincenzo wanted a different life. After running away to join a circus, he changed his name and invented a new background to conceal his true identity. He acquired a reputation as a war hero before forging a career in law enforcement, notably pitting himself against the criminal gangs of his brother’s world as an agent for the Bureau of Prohibition.

The first in a family of nine children, Vincenzo had just one sibling, his brother Ralph, when his father, Gabriele, a barber, and his mother, Teresa, emigrated to the United States in 1895. His father continued to work as a hairdresser, while Teresa’s skills as a seamstress enabled her to find a job. They settled in Brooklyn.

Over the years that followed, the family grew and Vincenzo and Ralph were joined by Frank, Alphonse, Ermina, John, Albert, Matthew and Mafalda. Sadly, Ermina did not survive her infancy.

As they grew up, most of his younger brothers became involved with petty crime. By contrast, Vincenzo, who had already adopted James as his “American” first name and would often take the ferry to Staten Island, where the fields and woods offered an escape from the overcrowded streets of the city. 

As a lawman, Capone modelled
himself on William "Two Gun" Hart
He offered to help out in stables and learned to ride horses. His father secured a job for him there after witnessing his son’s fascination with Buffalo Bill Cody and the Wild West Shows that were popular at the time.

It may have been his fascination with the wild west that led to his decision at the age of 16 to run away from home. It has been speculated that Alphonse, who was eight at the time, wanted to go with him but that Vincenzo told him to go home. The family knew nothing about where he had gone until a letter arrived from Vincenzo a year later, saying he was in Kansas, travelling with a circus.

The author Jeff McArthur, who wrote a book about Vincenzo, says that he joined the Miller Brothers Ranch Wild West Show and called himself James Hart, which is thought to have reflected his admiration for the silent movie actor William S Hart, who often starred in Westerns. He worked to shed his Brooklyn accent and explained away his swarthy southern Italian skin colour by claiming he was half American Indian.

His determination to adopt a new identity was confirmed when he joined the military under the name Richard James Hart, insisting he was born in Indiana and had worked as a farmer.  

Accounts vary of his time in service.  Some say that he fought in France in World War One, achieved the rank of lieutenant, was made a military policeman and was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross for ‘extraordinary heroism in action’. However, another story says that he joined the veterans organisation the American Legion after the war was over but was later expelled when it was found that the Department of the Army had no record of any war service. 

Al Capone - Vincenzo's younger brother - was head of the Chicago crime syndicate
Al Capone - Vincenzo's younger brother -
was head of the Chicago crime syndicate
Regardless of which version is true, Capone returned to America and changed his name legally to Richard James Hart. He married Kathleen Winch in 1919, and they had four sons, Richard, William, Sherman, and Harry. They made their home in Homer, Nebraska, where he became a town marshal and soon afterwards a federal prohibition agent. 

He was among the more eccentric agents. Mimicking the persona of his hero, William S Hart, he wore leather cowboy boots with spurs and a 10-gallon hat, carried two pearl-handled pistols and rode around on a horse, even though he owned a car.  After a series of successful raids against bootleggers, he gained the nickname of "Two-Gun" Hart - the same moniker the silent movie business bestowed upon his idol.  It was somewhat ironic that, at the time Vincenzo was locking up bootleggers under his new identity, Al Capone’s control of the illegal booze market in Chicago was a major part of his crime empire.

As Hart, Vincenzo joined the Bureau of Indian Affairs, where he was charged with investigating criminal activity on Indian reservations. He built further on his larger-than-life reputation and arrested at least 20 murderers in addition to smashing a number of moonshine liquor operations, although he was himself convicted of manslaughter after killing a man he claimed was refusing to surrender.

It did not stop him continuing to serve as a town marshal and a justice of the peace but when the Great Depression arrived in the 1930s his life began to unravel. Caught shoplifting from a grocery store, he was dismissed from both positions.  Soon, struggling to support his family, he contacted his brother Ralph - a key member of the Capone crime family - asking for financial help. He even attended a reunion at Ralph’s house when Al Capone was released from prison on parole in 1939, eight years into his jail sentence for tax evasion. 

In 1951, Ralph himself was tried for tax evasion in 1951. It transpired that he had been laundering money through Hart since 1941 and when Hart testified during his trial, he did so as James Vincenzo Capone. 

Hart was subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury in Chicago, on a date set in 1952. By this time, he was suffering from diabetes and could only walk with a stick. Shortly after testifying he died of a heart attack at the age of 60.

The Castello Doria in Angri, once ruled by the powerful Doria family from Genova
The Castello Doria in Angri, once ruled by the
powerful Doria family from Genova
Travel tip:

Vincenzo Capone’s hometown of Angri, which is also the birthplace of the mobster Frank Nitti, who worked for Al Capone, is situated where the urban sprawl that fans out around Vesuvius meets the Lattari mountains at the beginning of the Sorrentine Peninsula. It is rich in history. The scene of the battle that marked the victory of the Eastern Roman Empire over the Goths in 552, it became an important town under Bourbon rule and in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in the 19th century.  The Castello Doria, notable for its two concentric towers, is an example of the town’s rich architectural heritage, dating back to the period between the 17th and 18th centuries in which Angri was controlled by the Doria family of Genova.

Hotels in Angri by Booking.com

Palm trees line the waterfront at Salerno, a city often overlooked by visitors to Campania
Palm trees line the waterfront at Salerno, a city
often overlooked by visitors to Campania
Travel tip:

Salerno, situated some 25km (16 miles) from Angri, has a population of about 133,000. It is a city with a reputation as an industrial port and is often overlooked by visitors to Campania, who tend to flock to Naples, Sorrento, the Amalfi coast and the Cilento. Yet it has an attractive waterfront and a quaint old town, at the heart of which is the Duomo, originally built in the 11th century, which houses in its crypt the tomb of one of the twelve apostles of Christ, Saint Matthew the Evangelist. It is also a good base for excursions both to the Amalfi coast, just a few kilometres to the north, and the Cilento, which can be found at the southern end of the Gulf of Salerno. Hotels are also cheaper than at the more fashionable resorts.

Also on this day:

1472: The birth of Renaissance painter Fra Bartolommeo

1918: The birth of operatic baritone Anselmo Colzani

1925: The birth of film producer Alberto Grimaldi


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22 November 2021

Joe Adonis - Mafia boss

Boy from mountainous Campania who became powerful New York mobster

The mug shots of Joe Adonis held in the files of the New York police department in the 1930s
The mug shots of Joe Adonis held in the files of
the New York police department in the 1930s
The Mafia criminal Joe Adonis, who at one time was effectively America’s senior gangster as chairman of the so-called ‘Commission’, was born Giuseppe Antonio Doto on this day in 1902 at Montemarano, a small town in mountainous Campania.

Doto became a friend and associate of the powerful Charles ‘Lucky’ Luciano, who would head one of the New York Mafia’s powerful Five Families.  As Adonis, Doto would emerge as a powerful figure in his own right in Brooklyn and Manhattan and later New Jersey.

Accounts of his arrival in the United States as a child vary. Many suppose that he travelled with his family among thousands of migrants from Italy who left for a new life in America in the 1900s, their names recorded at the immigrant inspection station on Ellis Island in 1909.

Others suggest that he arrived in 1915, having travelled as a stowaway on a liner from Naples. Either way, he appears to have settled in Brooklyn, where he quickly turned to crime, making money through stealing and picking pockets. 

It was in partnership with Luciano and two up-and-coming figures in the Jewish-American underworld, Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel, that he became involved in bootlegging soon after the National Prohibition Act made the sale of alcohol illegal. Doto, who had a natural charm, found numerous clients among the actors, writers and producers that frequented the Broadway theatre scene.

Charles 'Lucky' Luciano, pictured in Rome in the  1940s, was a close friend of Adonis during his heyday
Charles 'Lucky' Luciano, pictured in Rome in the 
1940s, was a close friend of Adonis during his heyday
It is thought that it was around this time that Doto, who was something of a lothario and notoriously vain, changed his name to Joe Adonis, which was supposedly a nickname given to him by a chorus girl in the Ziegfeld Follies he was dating at the time.

Seeking to advance their careers as the Italian and Jewish gangs expanded their reach in the New York crime scene, Adonis became an enforcer for Frankie Yale, a Brooklyn racketeer, while Luciano took on a similar role working for Giuseppe Masseria.

Masseria became embroiled in a bloody battle for power with Salvatore Maranzano known as the Castellammarese War. By this time Adonis was working for Masseria. When ultimately, it became clear that Maranzano would prevail, Luciano secretly offered his services to Maranzano.

Word of this betrayal reached Masseria, whose immediate reaction was to want Luciano dead. He made the mistake, however, of asking Adonis to arrange the killing. Loyal to Luciano, Adonis warned his friend, who came up with a counter plot to eliminate Masseria.

This involved arranging a meeting with Masseria at a restaurant on Coney Island on 15 April, 1931, at one point in which Luciano excused himself to go to the bathroom. In his absence, Adonis, Siegel and two others - Vito Genovese and Alberto Anastasia - entered the restaurant and simultaneously opened fire on Masseria.

Salvatore Maranzano was ultimately killed by the ruthless Luciano
Salvatore Maranzano was ultimately
killed by the ruthless Luciano
With Masseria gone, Maranzano decided that to avoid future wars, the New York gangs should agree on territorial boundaries, from which agreement the Five Families were born. But his decision to anoint himself as the overall boss - the capo di tutti capi - irked Luciano, who did not disguise his dissatisfaction. 

Now Maranzano wanted Luciano out of the way but again Luciano was tipped off and instead, on 10 September, 1931, it was Maranzano who was killed, gunned down in his office in Manhattan by Luciano loyalists.

Adonis and Luciano presided over a lucrative bootlegging operation in Brooklyn and Midtown Manhattan, Adonis also moving into car sales and buying vending machines which he filled with stolen cigarettes. Luciano built on Masseria’s ideas for organising the New York crime scene by setting up a national committee, known as the 'Commission' or the 'Syndicate', as an umbrella organisation for gang activity across the whole of North America. 

Meanwhile, Adonis helped protect himself and Luciano from attention by bribing politicians and high-ranking police officers. 

Not everyone could be bought, however, and their luck ran out in 1936 when Thomas E Dewey, a state prosecutor, secured a conviction against Luciano on charges relating to his prostitution rackets that put him in jail for 30 years.

Genovese briefly took control of the Luciano family but fled to Italy to avoid prosecution in 1937, leaving Frank Costello as the new Luciano family capo, with Adonis at the head of the 'Syndicate'.

Luciano was released from prison in 1946 after helping the United States military plan their invasion of Sicily in 1943, but only on condition he was deported to Italy. Nonetheless, Luciano tried to hang on to his operations in New York and met with Adonis and other crime bosses in Havana, Cuba in 1946, with the intention of using the island as his base. Within less than a year, however, he was sent back to Italy after US authorities put pressure on the Cuban government to expel him.

Adonis pictured around the time he was deported to Italy
Adonis pictured around the
time he was deported to Italy
Meanwhile, Adonis, whose operations had now shifted largely to New Jersey, after New York mayor Fiorello LaGuardia's crackdown on illegal gambling, found himself summoned to appear before a US Senate commission on organised crime, chaired by Senator Estes Kefauver. He refused to testify, invoking his Fifth Amendment privileges against self-incrimination, but the exposure in televised hearings brought his activity in New Jersey into the spotlight.

Convicted in 1951 on charges of operating three illegal gambling rooms in New Jersey, he was handed a two-to-three year jail sentence, during which it was established that he had never obtained American citizenship and was deported as an illegal alien, eventually leaving after his last appeal against the deportation order was thrown out in 1956.

He managed to move enough money to bank accounts in Italy to live out the next decade or so in comfort, with an apartment in Milan and a villa outside Naples. Although Luciano also lived in the Naples area, they never met. Adonis did attend his former associate’s funeral in 1962, however.

Adonis himself died in 1971. Arrested by Italian police as part of a general round-up of Mafia suspects, he was moved to Serra de' Conti, a small town near the Adriatic, along with more than 100 other mobsters for questioning over the murder of Pietro Scaglione, the public prosecutor in Palermo, Sicily. Under interrogation, Adonis suffered a heart attack and died in hospital in nearby Ancona.

Despite having declared him an alien, the US government acceded to requests from Adonis’s family, who had remained in New Jersey, to have his body flown back to America and, after a small funeral attended only by immediate family, he was buried at Madonna Cemetery in Fort Lee, New Jersey, under the name of Joseph Anthony Doto.

A view of the town of Montemarano, situated in the hills of inland Campania, near Avellino
A view of the town of Montemarano, situated in
the hills of inland Campania, near Avellino
Travel tip:

Giuseppe Antonio Doto’s home town of Montemarano, situated about 30km (19 miles) east of the city of Avellino by road, is a good example of a typical town in Irpinia, the inland area of Campania that clings to ancient traditions. The area produces famous Campania wines such as Fiano di Avellino, Greco di Tufo, and Taurasi and among several festivals taking place annually in Montemarano is the Festa del Vino. Another is the Festa del Bosco, dedicated to woodlands produce such as chestnuts, mushrooms, and truffles. The annual Carnevale di Montemarano features the tarantella montemaranese, the town’s own version of the traditional southern Italian folk dance.

A view over the largely rebuilt city of Avellino, which suffered war and earthquake damage
A view over the largely rebuilt city of Avellino,
which suffered war and earthquake damage
Travel tip:

The city of Avellino has its origins in the ancient Roman settlement, Abellinum, although the present city was founded by the Lombards and ruled at different times by the Byzantines, Normans, Swabians, Angevin, Aragonese, the Viceroy of Spain, the Austrians and the Bourbons.  Heavily bombed during World War Two by Allied planes attempting to cut off the retreat of German panzer units, it suffered further massive damage in the huge earthquake that affected the area in 1980. Nonetheless, it has a cathedral, dedicated to the Madonna dell 'Assunta, that was built in the 12th century and has a neoclassical facade redone in 1891.

Also on this day:

1533: The birth of Alfonso II d’Este, the last Duke of Ferrara

1710: The death of Baroque composer Bernardo Pasquini

1947: The birth of football coach Nevio Scala

1949: The birth of businessman Rocco Commisso 

1954: The birth of former prime minister Paolo Gentiloni 


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18 October 2021

Theft of Caravaggio masterpiece

Fate of Nativity taken from Palermo church remains a mystery

Caravaggio's painting Nativity with St Lawrence and St Francis
Caravaggio's painting Nativity with
St Lawrence and St Francis
One of the most notorious art crimes in history was discovered on this day in 1969 when a housekeeper at the Oratory of Saint Lawrence in Palermo arrived for work to find that the Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence, painted by the Renaissance master Caravaggio in 1609, had been stolen.

The painting sat above the altar in the Oratory, which is situated in Via Immacolata in the centre of the Sicilian capital, adjacent to the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, but when the housekeeper, Maria Gelfo, opened up with her sister on the morning of 18 October, they were confronted with an empty frame.

Worth an estimated £20 million (€23.73 million; $27.52 million), the painting has never been found, leaving half a century’s worth of theories about its fate to remain unproven.  Most of the theories link the theft to the Sicilian Mafia.

It is assumed that the painting was taken during the night of the 17-18 October, although the weather was reportedly awful, with a lightning storm raging for much of the night and Palermo suffering a deluge of rain, hardly ideal conditions for carrying a valuable work of art from a church to a waiting vehicle.

The thieves broke into the Oratory and seemingly headed straight for the Caravaggio. The painting appeared to have been cut from its frame using a sharp blade. Maria Gelfo also told police that a rug was also missing, which led to speculation that the canvas was removed from the church rolled up inside the rug.

The empty frame above the altar,  pictured soon after the theft
The empty frame above the altar, 
pictured soon after the theft
Yet what happened to the painting is shrouded in mystery, not least because files containing statements made to police by key witnesses mysteriously disappeared, along with a report on the state of the premises ordered after Benedetto Rocco, the parish priest at the time of the theft, had raised concerns about security with the local state official for works of art, Vincenzo Scuderi.

Rocco had also raised concerns about Scuderi allowing RAI, the state broadcaster, to film a programme on hidden treasures inside the oratory - including Caravaggio’s painting - which was broadcast in August 1969. 

Gelfo, meanwhile, had expressed her worries about the security of a street-level window that could have been forced by an intruder, as well as reporting an unusually large number of strangers wanting to see the Caravaggio in the weeks leading up to its disappearance.

When the investigation into the crime was reopened in 2017 by the government’s anti-Mafia commission, following supposedly credible information supplied by Mafia pentiti Marino Mannoia and Gaetano Grado, the statements from Rocco and Gelfo had vanished.

Mannoia and Grado said that the painting was in Switzerland, albeit having been cut up, after Mafia boss Gaetano Badalamenti, who had made his money from trafficking heroin to the United States and had supposedly commissioned its theft, decided he no longer wanted it on his hands. The involvement of Badalamenti tallied with an interview given by Rocco in 2001 in which he claimed that Badalamenti was the perpetrator and had attempted to open a negotiation with the Catholic Church for its return, cutting off a small section of the canvas and sending it to Rocco to prove he had it.

Gaetano Badalamenti, a Mafia boss accused of ordering the theft
Gaetano Badalamenti, a Mafia
boss accused of ordering the theft
However, the police were unable to find the files relating to the crime, including Rocco’s statements. Rocco, Gelfo and Badalamenti are all now dead.

Mannoia had previously told the anti-Mafia magistrate Giovanni Falcone that the Mafia had commissioned the theft after agreeing a price with a buyer, but that when the buyer saw the painting, it was so badly damaged he called the deal off.  Experts have since said that, had the painting been rolled up to be smuggled out inside a rug, it is likely that large amounts of paint would have cracked and fallen off.

Other explanations of its fate are that the painting was eaten by pigs after being kept in a barn, that it was buried by another mafioso, Gerlando Alberti, after he had failed to sell it, and that it was transported to Campania to be sold to the Naples Camorra only to be buried under rubble during the 1980 earthquake.

Another theory, put forward by a Mafia expert in Palermo, is that the theft was actually carried out by highly-skilled professional art thieves working independently of the local Mafia and that the multiple claims of Cosa Nostra responsibility were false, issued somewhat in panic by local gang bosses embarrassed that a crime of such magnitude had taken place under their noses without their knowledge. 


Detail from Giacomo Serpotta's stucco work in the Oratory
Detail from Giacomo Serpotta's
stucco work in the Oratory
Travel tip:

The Oratory of Saint Lawrence was founded in around 1570 by the Company of Saint Francis of Assisi, a baroque church built over the remnants of an ancient church dedicated to Saint Lawrence (San Lorenzo). It is located in the La Kalsa or Tribunali district of Palermo near Corso Vittorio Emanuele, next door to the basilica of Saint Francis (San Francesco d'Assisi).  In addition to Caravaggio’s masterpiece, the setting of which, above the altar, is now occupied by a reproduction of the original, the Oratory is also notable for the brilliant stucco decorations by Giacomo Serpotta, born in the neighbourhood but considered by many to be one of Sicily’s greatest artists.

Palermo's beautiful cathedral, viewed across the its square in the Monte di Pietà district of the city
Palermo's beautiful cathedral, viewed across the
its square in the Monte di Pietà district of the city
Travel tip:

Although the Mafia have long cast an unwanted shadow over Palermo, thankfully most visitors know it as an attractive tourist destination, a vibrant city with a wealth of history, culture, art, music and food. It has many outstanding restaurants as well as fine examples of Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque churches, palaces and buildings.  Attractions include the extraordinary Cappella Palatina, featuring Byzantine mosaics decorated with gold leaf and precious stones, the Teatro Massimo, the largest opera house in Italy and the third biggest in Europe, and a beautiful cathedral that blends Norman, Moorish, Gothic, Baroque and Neoclassical styles.  Although the Sicilian Baroque style is strongly represented in the city’s architecture, the streets around Via Libertà and the seaside resort of Mondello, just outside the city, feature many examples of Stile Liberty, the Italian variant on Art Nouveau, in villas built for the well-to-do of Palermo in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Also on this day: 

1634: The birth of painter Luca Giordano

1833: The birth of entrepreneur Cristoforo Benigno Crespi

1933: The birth of racing driver Ludovico Scarfiotti

The Feast Day of St Luke the Evangelist


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4 September 2021

Rita Atria - witness of justice

Tragic teenager who broke Mafia code of omertà

Rita Atria defied her family by talking to anti-Mafia investigators
Rita Atria defied her family by
talking to anti-Mafia investigators
Rita Atria, the girl from a Mafia family in southwest Sicily who famously went to the police after her father and brother were both killed by criminal rivals, was born on this day in 1974 in Partanna, in the province of Trapani.

She was just 11 years old when her father, Vito, ostensibly a shepherd but in reality a local Mafia boss, was shot dead by a hit man hired by a rival family. 

The killing took place in 1985, nine days before her brother, Nicolò, was due to be married. He vowed to avenge his father’s death and spoke openly about knowing who was responsible.

He and his bride, Piera Aiella, a local girl, were both 18 at the time of their marriage. Piera, who had known Nicolò since he was 14, did not wish to marry him but Vito had thought she would make his son a suitable wife, and had made it clear to her that she had little choice in the matter.  They had a child in 1988 and in 1991 moved to the nearby village of Montevago, where Nicolò set up a pizzeria.

The day he opened for business, in June, 1991, he and Piera invited a few friends to a modest celebration party. After the guests had left, Nicolò was clearing the tables when two hooded men armed with shotguns walked into the restaurant and shot him, continuing to pump bullets into his body even after he had fallen to the ground. Piera, who was standing only a few feet away with their three-year-old daughter, rushed to him but there was nothing she could do to save him and he died in her arms.

There were no witnesses, at least none who would come forward. The assumption was that Nicolò had been killed by a rival gang for speaking once too often about who he believed had murdered his father.

Paolo Borsellino became almost a father figure to Rita Atria
Paolo Borsellino became almost
a father figure to Rita Atria
By this time, Rita had become close to both her brother and his wife. When Piera - now a deputy in the Italian parliament - decided to take the dangerous step of going to the police to name her husband’s killer, she began to consider doing the same in the hope that the evidence she could give might lead to convictions for both Nicolò’s killer and her father’s.

It took her several months to find the courage, but in November 1991 she contacted the police, who put her in touch with the anti-Mafia magistrate, Paolo Borsellino. Alongside Giovanni Falcone, he had been the driving force behind the so-called Maxi Trial in the late 1980s, which had resulted in more than 300 Mafiosi going to jail.

Borsellino, a kindly man in his early 50s, listened sympathetically as Rita began to tell him what she knew. They developed a bond and Rita quickly came to regard Borsellino as almost a father figure. She and Piera, who also gave Borsellino her testimony, began to refer to him as ‘Uncle Paolo’.

Rita told Borsellino all she knew about the feuds between the Mafia families of Partanna, in which 30 people had died in just a few years. She gave him the names of the local Capi - the Mafia bosses - and those of the men who had killed her father and her brother.  She also helped Borsellino with his investigation into the murder of the local deputy mayor.

She differed from the pentiti - the convicted Mafia members who supplied inside information about the organisation as a form of penitence for their crimes - in that she had never taken any role in her family's criminal activities. She was therefore described in court documents as a witness of justice.

As a result of her testimony, the police were able to make a string of arrests and over the following months more than 30 local Mafia figures were detained and convicted.

Piera Aiello, now an MP, also gave evidence to police
Piera Aiello, now an MP,
also gave evidence to police
Despite her daughter’s efforts to find justice for her father and brother, Rita’s mother disowned her, throwing her out of the home she had grown up in. Even though her son’s killer was among those arrested and jailed, she could not forgive her daughter’s actions.  Local people looked to the Mafia to protect their community and, as far as she was concerned, it was the police who were on the wrong side of the law.

Every effort had been made by Borsellino to conceal the identity of his sources but he knew Rita and Piera were now in grave danger and both had to be relocated away from Sicily.  Rita was similarly given a new identity and installed in a safe house, an apartment on the seventh floor of a tower block on the outskirts of Rome. Piera moved initially to Rome too, although to a different address.

Rita lived almost the life of a hermit, seldom speaking to anyone for fear of giving herself away. Borsellino rang her regularly, but otherwise she spoke to no one.

In the meantime, in Sicily, the Mafia were plotting to restore their authority after the body blows left by the Maxi Trial and went about it ruthlessly. In May, 1992, Giovanni Falcone died when a bomb was detonated under a section of the motorway linking Palermo with the city’s airport at Punta Raisi. Two months later, Borsellino was killed by a car bomb  near his mother's house in Palermo.

In Rome, Rita Atria read about the assassination the newspaper. A week later, having written a note to explain that without Borsellino she had no friends and felt there was no one left to protect her, she jumped from the seventh floor window. No one in the apartment block knew her and local police took two days to identify her body.

Her body was taken back to Sicily but without the intervention of anti-Mafia campaigners there would have been no funeral to mark her passing. Journalists who had taken an interest in the story were told by the local priest in Partanna that family members had requested that he did not say Mass for her.  Ultimately a service was held for Rita, but the mourners largely consisted of prominent members of an anti-Mafia women’s group from Palermo, with just a smattering of local people.

The Castello Grifeo in Partanna is one of Sicily's best-preserved castles
The Castello Grifeo in Partanna is one
of Sicily's best-preserved castles
Travel tip:

Partanna, a hilltop town situated in the Valle del Belice agricultural area in southwest Sicily, about 60km (37 miles) inland from Marsala to the west and 40km (25 miles) from Sciacca to the southeast. It is best known for the Castello Grifeo, which dates back to the 11th century and is one of the best preserved castles on the west of the island. Its appearance is much as it was in the 14th century and it was in the possession of the Grifeo family until the late 19th century. Overlooking the Belice river, it dominated the town in medieval times, although after urban expansion it now presides over only a small corner of the town.

A waterfront view of the fishing port of Trapani on the west coast of Sicily
A waterfront view of the fishing port of Trapani
on the west coast of Sicily
Travel tip:

Partanna is in the province of Trapani, a fishing and ferry port notable for a curving harbour, where Peter of Aragon landed in 1282 to begin the Spanish occupation of Sicily. Well placed strategically to trade with Africa as well as the Italian mainland, Trapani was once the hub of a commercial network that stretched from Carthage in what is now Tunisia to Venice. Nowadays, the port is used by ferries serving Tunisia and the smaller islands, as well as other Italian ports.  The older part of the town, on a promontory with the sea on either side, has some crumbling palaces and others that have been well restored, as well as a number of military fortifications and notable churches.

Also on this day:

1850: The birth of military general Luigi Cadorna

2006: The death of footballer Giacinto Facchetti

The Feast Day of Santa Rosalia, patron saint of Palermo


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