Michele Navarre

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Michele Navarre

Michele Navarra (born January 5, 1905 in Corleone ; † August 2, 1958 ibid) was a member of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra and from 1943 to 1958 the head of the Corleonesi , a clan from the notorious Mafia stronghold Corleone. He was a doctor by profession, which is why he often “Dr. Navarre ”.

Life

Navarra was born the son of a middle-class teacher and only came into contact with the Cosa Nostra through his wife . He rose within the Corleone family during the 1930s. In 1943, Calogero Lo Bue, head of the Corleone family, died. On his deathbed he chose Navarre as his successor.

"When my eyes close, I will continue to see with those of Michele Navarra."

- Calogero Lo Bue

Navarre now became the head of the family; this was able to resume its activities in full, because the Allies had landed on Sicily and had liberated the island from fascism. Under Mussolini's rule, however, the Cosa Nostra was fought especially in the second half of the 1920s. In 1943, the US Army allowed Navarre to take over Italian military vehicles that had been left behind during the invasion. This enabled him to build a profitable transport company. He soon entrusted his brother with its management. Navarre became director of Corleone Hospital in 1946 after its predecessor was murdered by an unknown person.

He was also president of the Corleone Farmers 'Union, trustee of the farmers' union, health insurance overseer in the area, and board member of the state railway company , a tuberculosis center and a smallholder health insurance company . Navarre, who was more interested in office and influence than money, placed his friends in numerous influential, semi-governmental positions. Navarre was also closely associated with Italy's Christian Democratic Party, Democrazia Cristiana , having previously supported Sicily's independence and then the Liberals. Like the rest of the Cosa Nostra, he took a hostile attitude towards communism and prevented unions from gaining a foothold in Corleone.

Navarre killed a wounded potential witness against the Cosa Nostra; he gave the boy who was willing to testify in Corleone Hospital a sedative injection containing poison. He was also probably the commissioner of the murder of the trade unionist and resistance fighter Placido Rizzotto , which was carried out by Luciano Liggio . Liggio, who came to Cosa Nostra through Navarre, drove Rizzotto at gunpoint from Corleone on March 10, 1948, shortly before the first parliamentary elections of the Italian Republic, forced him to kneel and shot him three times in the head. A monument to Rizzotto stands in front of the town hall in Corleone today. Navarre also prevented the construction of a dam through its contacts in Palermo and Rome. This dam was supposed to irrigate over 100,000 hectares of land and make it fertile, in which the people of the poor region had high hopes.

From the mid-1950s, Liggio distanced himself from his former patron Navarra and there was an open power struggle. Liggio had gathered around him a group of young, ambitious men who were loyal to him. Navarre, who had always ruthlessly pushed through his interests, knew Liggio as an equally ruthless killer and, after several provocations, wanted Liggio to punish him. One attack failed, however, as Liggio was only slightly injured. Liggio and his supporters struck back and were successful. On August 2, 1958, Liggio's men killed Navarre and an uninvolved doctor when they were on their way back from Lercara Friddi to Corleone in Navarra's car . In the aftermath of the spectacular murder, Navarra's supporters were persecuted and nearly all of them killed. Liggio then took the place of Navarre in the Cosa Nostra.

The local farmers also called Navarre “U patri Nostru” - “Our Father”.

Films and documentaries

  • 2007: The Boss of the Bosses (OT: Il capo dei capi ) : 6-part series about the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, in which the first episode shows the conflict between Liggio and Navarra and his murder.

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Diego Gambetta: The company of the godparents: The Sicilian Mafia and their business practices , Munich: dtv, 1994 ISBN 3-423-30417-0 , p. 90

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Navarre, Michele
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian doctor and member of the Mafia
DATE OF BIRTH January 5, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Corleone , Sicily
DATE OF DEATH 2nd August 1958
Place of death Corleone , Sicily