François Spirito
François Spirito (born January 22, 1900 in Marseille , † October 9, 1967 in Toulon ) was a mafia boss. In the Marseille demi- world environment, he and his partner Paul Carbone were the central figures in the 1930s. The film Borsalino with Alain Delon as Roch Siffredi and Jean-Paul Belmondo as François Capella is inspired by the work of Spirito and Carbone.
Life
Born to Neapolitan parents, Spirito became a close confidante of Mafia godfather Paul Carbone, with whom he created the structures of organized crime in Marseille in the 1920s. The duo not only knew how to build a monopoly chain of brothels , but above all managed to merge the underworld with politics.
When heroin was banned in Europe in 1931 , she entered the drug trade . The outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in July 1936 made her enter the arms business. Together with other mafiosi, they were among Franco's main suppliers . They also received money from Marseille entrepreneurs, for example to hunt down unwelcome trade unionists .
During the Second World War , Spirito and Carbone collaborated with the German occupiers. They disclosed names of resistance fighters to the French Gestapo and in return were allowed to go about their business unmolested.
While Carbone was killed in an explosive attack by the Resistance in December 1943 , Spirito fled to Spain after the liberation of France and came to New York in 1947 , where he and Meyer Lansky intensified heroin transport from France to the USA .
Spirito was arrested for drug trafficking in the summer of 1951 and sentenced to two years in prison in February 1952. After the end of his prison term, he was deported from the USA and extradited to France. Because of his collaboration with the Gestapo, proceedings against him were still pending, but these were never heard in court, so that Spirito could continue to go about his business.
François Spirito died on October 9, 1967 in the city of Toulon, around 70 kilometers south-east of Marseille.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Philíppe Aziz / Dominique Frétard: Les criminels de guerre , 1974, p. 316
- ↑ http://gangstersinc.tripod.com/Puparo/PuparoRoaring50.html ( Memento from June 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Douglas Valentine: The strength of the wolf: the secret history of America's war on drugs , 2004, p. 111
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Spirito, François |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Mafia godfather |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 22, 1900 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Marseille , France |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 9, 1967 |
| Place of death | Toulon , France |