Giuseppe Greco (Mafioso, 1894)
Giuseppe Greco (* 1894 , † unknown; known by his war name “Piddu u Tinenti - Piddu the lieutenant” ) is regarded as the progenitor of the Croceverde-Giardini line of the Greco family , which after the Second World War joined the two Ciaculli lines who fought Grecos in a bloody family feud. The Greco family rose to be one of the most powerful clans of the Sicilian Mafia , whose members Michele Greco and Salvatore Greco exerted great influence as chairmen of the Cupola .
Life
Giuseppe Greco was a typical representative of the rural mafia that operated from Croceverde-Giardini. Between the two world wars, Giuseppe Greco rose from the simple administrator to the Gabellotto of Count Tagliava on a 300 hectare mandarin plantation . As a capomafia, Greco enjoyed a lot of respect among the citrus producers and traders and was able to continuously expand its position of power in the region.
With Caterina Ferrara, “Piddu u Tinenti” had four sons and two daughters, of whom Michele Greco and Salvatore Greco made careers as powerful mafia bosses. As patriarch , he married his son Salvatore to Maria Cottone, daughter of the influential boss Antonio "U Patre Nostru" Cottone (* 1904/1905; † August 22, 1956) from Villabate according to the principle " tu felix mafia nube" ( You happy mafia, get married! ).
The progenitors of the other two Greco lines Giuseppe (also Gabellotto, * January 2, 1887 - August 26, 1946) and Pietro (* 1869 - August 26, 1946) lived in Ciaculli . Your relationship to "Piddu" Greco is unclear. Giuseppe Greco from Ciaculli is said to have been married to "Piddus" sister Santa. On August 26, 1946, “Piddu” Greco had the brothers Giuseppe and Pietro from Ciaculli murdered. Pietro Greco, the elder of the two brothers, enjoyed less respect within the Mafia, but raised his children with harshness, old honor concepts and absolute obedience to the traditional laws of the Mafia.
The cause of the family vendetta lay in an incident on October 1, 1939 during the feast of the Holy Cross (Santissimo Crocifisso a Ciaculli) in Ciaculli, when a fight broke out between the half-strength cousins from Ciaculli and Croceverde-Giardini and only a little later in a shootout escalated, in which Piddu's 17-year-old son Giuseppe died. Piddu's answer to that came seven years later. The real conflict, however, should revolve around the supremacy over the fruit and vegetable markets in east Palermo.
When peace returned, Piddu Greco assumed the presidency of the Greco family patronage . So also about the hostile nephews from Ciaculli. Salvatore "Ciaschiteddu" Greco and Salvatore "l'Ingegnere" Greco had already risen to become powerful mafia godfathers, were the actual leaders of their clans and were mainly concerned with their criminal activities. From then on, Piddu Greco acted more as a patriarch, maintaining excellent relationships with businessmen and bank directors in Palermo. As "blood money" for the murder of their fathers, the two Salvatores received 300 tumuli (the equivalent of 40 hectares) from the large estate of Count Tagliava. Another part of her paternal inheritance consisted of a haulage company for Agrumen (managing director: brother-in-law Francesco Bonaccorso) and a bus line that connected the towns of San Giuseppe Jato, San Cipirello, Partinico and Palermo.
The profits from illegal business of the two Salvatores in cigarette smuggling and drug trafficking very quickly exceeded those of the tropical fruit trade. With his good connections to politics and the police, the Patriarch Piddu Greco made sure that they could not be apprehended despite intensive efforts.
Over time, the Greco family businesses became a horizontally and vertically structured large corporation with several industries, which was strengthened by the alliance with the Corleonesi .
Remarks
- ↑ probably refers to Greco's military service
- ↑ Rent of arable land for short-term use. Rural entrepreneurs leasing land from aristocrats.
- ^ Tagliavia - Sicilian noble family from Palermo
- ↑ 1 tumulus = 1/2 acre
literature
- Peter O. Chotjewitz: Malavita: Mafia between yesterday and tomorrow . Rowohlt Verlag GmbH. 2016. ISBN 978-3-688-10008-8 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Peter O. Chotjewitz: Malavita: Mafia between yesterday and tomorrow . Rowohlt Verlag GmbH. 2016. ISBN 978-3-688-10008-8 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Greco, Giuseppe |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Piddu u Tinenti |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Italian Mafioso (Sicily) |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1894 |
| DATE OF DEATH | 20th century or 21st century |