Giuseppe Greco (Mafioso)

Giuseppe "Scarpuzzedda" Greco (born January 4, 1952 in Ciaculli ; † September 1985 ibid) was a hit man and high-ranking member of the Sicilian Mafia . As is customary in Sicily , Giuseppe was often called " Pino " or was nicknamed " Scarpuzzedda " - the little shoe. His father Nicola Greco led a Cosca that was called "scarpa". Giuseppe Greco was one of the most feared killers in crime history. He came from the Mafia clan Greco from Ciaculli and was a distant relative of Salvatore " Ciaschiteddu " Greco , the first chairman of the Sicilian Mafia Commission .

Youth in Ciaculli

Giuseppe Greco was born in 1952 in Ciaculli , a small and rural suburb of Palermo . The area was in the years 1946 / 47 a bloody Mafia feud between the consanguineous families of the Grecos from Ciaculli and Croce Verde Giardini instead. At school, Giuseppe is said to have excelled in the languages Latin and Greek . It is not known exactly when he joined the Mafia, but in 1979 he sat on the Sicilian Mafia Commission, which was ruled by his uncle Michele Greco, the boss of Ciaculli. The Cosca of Ciaculli was closely connected with the Corleonesi , especially with their leaders Salvatore Riina and Bernardo Provenzano , who led the Sicilians in the Second Mafia War from 1981 to 1983 through the so-called " Mattanza ", the rigorous use of force and elimination of all competitors Mafia conquered. He carried out contract killings in the Ciaculli-Croceverde-Giardini-Brancaccio area at an early age. Including an assassination attempt on Lieutenant Colonel Giuseppe Russo in 1977.

Criminal career

During the Second Mafia War, which was initiated and largely carried out by the Corleonesi, Giuseppe Greco carried out dozens of murders with his favorite weapon, an AK-47 rapid-fire rifle . This highly effective way of killing was still relatively new in Mafia circles at the time, but became increasingly popular in the early 1980s . In his absence, "Scarpuzzedda" was convicted of 58 murders, most of which were committed between 1981 and 1983. The number of unreported cases is much higher, however, and lies between 80 and 300 killings that Greco carried out for the Corleonesi.

Its prominent victims include the two Mafiosi Stefano Bontade , Salvatore Inzerillo , the union leader Pio La Torre and the general of the Italian Carabinieri Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa . He is also credited with the murder of Inzerillo's 15-year-old son Giuseppe, who swore to avenge his father on Riina. Greco had the boy kidnapped, cut off his arm and shot him in the head. The corpse was then dissolved in acid . A total of 21 members of the Inzerillo family were eliminated. Greco is said to have said the following: " Not so much as a seed must be left on them ." In July 1981 , the attempt to attack and kill the future Pentito Salvatore Contorno failed . Contorno managed to shoot his assassin in the chest. A bulletproof vest saved Greco's life.

“Scarpuzzedda” rarely worked alone. He belonged to the "Squadra della Morte", a "death squad", which was under the direct command of Totó Riina. They included Mario Prestifilippo, Filippo Marchese , Vincenzo Puccio, Gianbattista Pullarà, Giuseppe Lucchese, Raffaele Ganci, Giuseppe Giacomo Gambino and "Nino" Madonia. They were all wanted by the Italian police with arrest warrants . There was a close relationship between him and Filippo Marchese, head of the Corso dei Mille family. According to Pentito Vincenzo Sinagra , Greco is also said to have played a key role in torture and murders in the “Camera della Morte” (death chamber) in a dilapidated building in the Palermitan district of Sant'Erasmo. Here, too, many of the dead were dismembered or dissolved in acid and the undecomposed remains were finally thrown into the Bay of Palermo. Allegedly he and the sadistic and heroin addict Filippo Marchese strangled their victims with the garrote or with ropes , while Sinagra had to hold the feet of the tortured. In November 1982 , Riina issued an order to kill Rosario Riccobono, boss of the Partanna Mondello family, an ally of the Corleonesi, after he grew tired of him. "Scarpuzzedda" and his "Squadra della Morte" killed nine guests, including Riccobono, on November 30, 1982, at a feast that took place at Michele Greco's Favarella estate. Their bodies were never found. Apparently they were fed to pigs . At the end of 1982, in the final phase of the Second Mafia War, even Filippo Marchese Riina's arbitrariness fell victim, because in his opinion he was no longer of any use to the organization. The act was also carried out by Greco personally.

Until then, "Scarpuzzedda" was considered the underboss of the Ciaculli family. But instead of delegating the murders to his subordinates, in most cases he carried out them personally. One of the few who survived Greco's highly efficient assassination attempts was Salvatore Contorno .

On July 29, 1983, he planted a car bomb in Via Pipitone and detonated it. This attack came Attorney General Rocco Chinnici , who had issued an arrest warrant against Michele Greco, and three other people were killed. Only the driver survived.

Late years

During the Second Mafia War, “Scarpuzzedda” embodied a new generation of Mafiosi who were ready to take anything by force. While his uncle Michele Greco was often on the run, he was considered the true leader of the Ciaculli clan. Among the young soldiers of this generation, Giuseppe Greco was even more respected than the leading Corleonesi bosses. Riina became too powerful in the Ciaculli family and he was already planning to eliminate his best hit man, "Scarpuzzedda". In order to weaken his position, he ordered the massacre in Piazza Scaffa (La Strage di Piazza Scaffa) in the Mandamento Ciaculli on October 18, 1984, in which eight people were shot with shotguns in a barn. Greco was deliberately not informed in order to undermine executives.

On August 6, 1985, Greco began one of his last crimes, in which his squad ambushed and shot the police investigator, Antonino Cassarà, in front of his wife and daughter. His bodyguard was also killed. Cassarà had previously published a report that led to the arrest of 163 prominent Mafiosi, including Giuseppe Greco, many members of his "Squadra della Morte" and Michele Greco.

death

In September 1985, Greco was murdered in his home by his former allies Vincenzo Puccio and Giuseppe Lucchese because he had become too powerful for Riina. The murderers rang his doorbell and asked him for a cup of coffee . When he let his friends in, they opened fire on the unsuspecting one. Riina's campaign was then increasingly directed against the Ciaculli clan. This also included Mario Prestifilippo, also a member of the "death squad". During the Maxi Trial from 1986 to 1987 , the late Giuseppe Greco was sentenced pro forma to life imprisonment because the court was able to prove 58 cases of murder. One of his houses in Bagheria later had to be vacated by squatters.

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Notes and individual references

1. ↑ scarpa- the shoe
2. ↑ Lu Picciriddu che mentre cresceva tra i mafiosi divenne Poliziotto a Palermo. La Voce di New York
3. ↑ Mafia Killer Reported Slain: The Death of Pino Greco. National Crime Syndicate
4. ↑ “ I will kill the dog Riina with my own hands! “In Nigel Cawthorne: The Mammoth Book of the Mafia . Hachette UK
5. ↑ Attilio Bolzoni and Giuseppe D'Avanzo: The Boss of Bosses: The Life of the Infamous Toto Riina Dreaded Head of the Sicilian Mafia. Hachette UK.
6. ^ I traditori. Giorgia Venturini: Codici di Condotta e Lotta per il Potere in Cosa Nostra. 2012/2013
7. ↑ Erwin Brunner: Honorable corpses: The mafia behind bars. In: The time . April 4, 1986. Retrieved March 27, 2020 . 
8. ↑ Vincenzo Delle Donne: Alone for the Mafia. In: The time . January 23, 1998, accessed March 27, 2020 . 
9. ↑ Rocco Chinnici on Ansa.it
10. ↑ La Strage di Piazza Scaffa. La Mafia uccide 8 people per dare una Dimostrazione di Forza. Napolitan. 18th October 2017
11. ↑ L'Agguato di Piazza Scaffa. Una Strage senza Colpevoli. La Repubblica. April 1988
12. ↑ La villa occupata del boss "Scarpuzzedda", al via lo sgombero degli abusivi a Mongerbino. Palermo Today. 3rd December 2018

literature

• Pino Arlacchi: Mafia from within: The life of Don Antonino Calderone . S. Fischer Verlag
• John Dickie: Cosa Nostra. A story of the Sicilian Mafia . London. 2004. Coronet. ISBN 0-340-82435-2 .

Web links

• Pino Greco "scarpuzzedda" Biografia (ital.)
• Bagheria, sgomberate le case del boss "Scarpuzzedda" (ital.)