Antonio Salvo

Antonio (Nino) Salvo (born July 14, 1929 in Salemi , † January 19, 1986 in Bellinzona ) was an Italian businessman and a member of the Cosa Nostra .

Life

Salvo worked as an entrepreneur in various fields. He owned several large hotels and properties and also worked in agriculture , using the EC subsidy policy to his own advantage. Because of his good relations with the Democrazia Cristiana party , the minister at the time Giulio Andreotti and the mayor of Palermos Salvatore Lima , he received very lucrative contracts from the government.

In return, he supported various politicians in elections. Due to his influence in politics, Salvo was - together with his cousin Ignazio Salvo - considered the most successful entrepreneur in Sicily in the 1980s . Among other things, her company was granted tax collection for all of Sicily, which at that time was still in private hands and was extremely profitable for the Salvos. In addition, the Salvos managed to claim high subsidies from the EU through their political contacts .

Through investigations by Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino and the testimony of Pentito Tommaso Buscetta , Salvo was arrested on November 12, 1984 and convicted as a member of the Cosa Nostra during the Maxi Trial . He and his cousin Ignazio belonged to the Salemi Mafia family , according to several Pentiti ; Even if both were probably the richest and most important entrepreneurs in Sicily, within their Mafia family they were always just simple soldiers of an insignificant family. Within the Cosa Nostra, the Salvos were especially on close terms with the boss Stefano Bontade and Tommaso Buscetta; their membership in the Cosa Nostra was not known to everyone. In the second mafia war, these friends were all eliminated and the Salvos had to come to terms with the now dominating Corleonese .

During a 1993 lawsuit, it was found that Salvo had commissioned the murder of Carmine Pecorelli to do Andreotti a favor and keep him in the government. (It was feared that Andreotti could lose his offices as a result of Pecorelli's reports and that the Mafia would lose its influence in politics).

In 1986 Salvo died of cancer in a Swiss clinic. His cousin Ignazio was murdered in autumn 1992 by Giovanni Brusca on the orders of Salvatore Riina ; the murder was an exemplary punishment as Salvo had failed to protect the Cosa Nostra from persecution by the state. Although Nino and his cousin were never involved in drug trafficking , extortion or other illegal activities like many other 'men of honor' , they played an important role as links to politics.

Literature and Sources

• Anonymous: My life for the Mafia , Rowohlt Verlag, ISBN 3-498-00027-6
• Salvatore Lupo: The History of the Mafia , Albatros Verlag
• Rene Seindal: Mafia: Money and Politics in Sicily 1950-1997