Salvatore Greco (Mafioso, 1923)

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Organizational chart of the Greco family

Salvatore "Ciaschiteddu" Greco (born January 13, 1923 in Palermo , † March 7, 1978 in Caracas ) was a powerful mafioso of the Cosa Nostra and head of the Greco mafia family from Ciaculli , a suburb of Palermo. His nickname "Ciaschiteddu", also "Chichiteddu", is Sicilian and means "little bird" or "wine can".

"Ciaschiteddu" Greco was the first chairman of the first Sicilian Mafia Commission , which was founded in 1958. This post was almost inevitable because he was the head of one of the most influential Mafia families of the time, with a history that goes back to the late 19th century .

Young years

Salvatore Greco was the son of Giuseppe Greco, who was killed in a bloody feud between two factions within the Greco clan in Ciaculli and Croceverde-Giardini in 1946/47. The peace between the two factions was based on the fact that the real estate in Croceverde Salvatore Greco and his eponymous cousin Salvatore "The Engineer" Greco were overwritten. Though hailing from the traditional rural mafia, the Greco cousins ​​quickly learned how to profit from the strong economic growth of the post-war era. They also got into cigarette smuggling and the heroin trade .

Chair of the Mafia Commission

Salvatore Greco attended the mafia conferences of 1957, at which high-ranking American and Sicilian mafiosi met in Palermo . Joseph Bonanno , Lucky Luciano , John Bonventre , Frank Garofalo , Santo Sorge and Carmine Galante made up the American delegation, while - in addition to the Greco cousins ​​- Giuseppe Genco Russo , Angelo La Barbera , Gaetano Badalamenti , Calcedonio Di Pisa and Tommaso Buscetta represented the Sicilians .

One of the consequences of the conferences was the establishment of the first Sicilian Mafia Commission , with "Ciaschiteddu" Greco being named primus inter pares .

According to Pentito Tommaso Buscetta , Greco was implicated in the alleged murder of Enrico Mattei . The controversial chairman of the state oil company Eni was killed in a mysterious plane crash on October 27, 1962. He is also said to have been involved in the decision to murder journalist Mauro De Mauro . Mauro disappeared on September 16, 1970 while investigating Mattei's death. He did this at the request of the director Francesco Rosi , for his film Il Caso Mattei .

First Mafia War

Greco was one of the participants in the first major Mafia war , which was about controlling the new business opportunities that emerged with the heavy urbanization and the heroin trade in North America. The conflict was sparked by a failure to go according to plan heroin delivery and the murder of Calcedonio Di Pisa - an ally of the Grecos - in December 1962. The Grecos suspected Salvatore and Angelo La Barbera as masterminds of the attack.

On June 30, 1963, a car bomb exploded near Greco's house in Ciaculli. Seven Carabinieri were killed in the explosion who tried to defuse the bomb after an anonymous phone call. The outrage over this attack , known as the Ciaculli massacre , turned the internal mafia dispute into a war against the mafia. This led to the first concentrated anti-Mafia campaign in post-war Italy. The Mafia Commission was broken up and many of the members who escaped arrest fled abroad. So did Greco, who left for Caracas in Venezuela .

Government actions following the massacre significantly disrupted the Sicilian heroin trade in the United States. Numerous mafiosi have been arrested and sentenced. Control of the heroin smuggling was now in the hands of a few fugitives, including the Greco cousins, Pietro Davì , Tommaso Buscetta and Gaetano Badalamenti .

On December 22, 1968 Greco was sentenced in absentia to four years imprisonment in the trial of "the 114" in Catanzaro , which was a consequence of the massacre. He was acquitted on appeal. In 1973 he was sentenced to five years in prison on Asinara Island . However, he was nowhere to be found and was therefore never arrested.

In Venezuela

Meanwhile, Greco formed an alliance in Venezuela with the Gambino family from New York and the Cuntrera Caruana clan from Siculiana to facilitate drug trafficking.

During his time in Venezuela, Greco was an important leader in the internationally operating Cosa Nostra , which is why he regularly traveled to Italy. He was involved in the decision to rebuild the Mafia Commission in 1970. The same applies to the decision as to whether they should participate in the ominous coup attempt by neo-fascists around Junio ​​Valerio Borghese , for which he offered an amnesty for imprisoned mafiosi. The Cosa Nostra finally decided not to take part in the coup d'état , which failed on December 8, 1970.

In January 1978 Greco traveled to Sicily to prevent an impending conflict. He tried to prevent Gaetano Badalamenti , Giuseppe Di Cristina and Salvatore Inzerillo from taking action against the Corleonesi under Totò Riina , who were gaining more and more power. Greco failed with his efforts and the conflict ended in the second great Mafia war .

Salvatore Greco died on March 7, 1978 in Caracas due to cirrhosis of the liver .

literature

  • Pino Arlacchi: Addio Cosa nostra: La vita di Tommaso Buscetta , Rizzoli, Milan 1994, ISBN 88-17-84299-0
  • John Dickie: Cosa Nostra. A history of the Sicilian Mafia , Coronet, London 2004, ISBN 0-340-82435-2
  • Diego Gambetta: The Sicilian Mafia: The Business of Private Protection , Harvard University Press , London 1993, ISBN 0-674-80742-1
  • Jane C. Schneider & Peter T. Schneider: Reversible Destiny: Mafia, Antimafia, Struggle for Palermo: Mafia, Antimafia and the Struggle for Palermo , University of California Press, 2005, ISBN 0-520-22100-1
  • Gaia Servadio: Mafioso. A history of the Mafia from its origins to the present day , Secker & Warburg, London 1976, ISBN 0-440-55104-8
  • Tim Shawcross & Martin Young: Men Of Honor: The Confessions Of Tommaso Buscetta , Collins, Glasgow 1987, ISBN 0-00-217589-4
  • Claire Sterling: Octopus. How the long reach of the Sicilian Mafia controls the global narcotics trade , Simon & Schuster, New York 1990, ISBN 0-671-73402-4
  • Alexander Stille : Excellent Cadavers. The Mafia and the Death of the First Italian Republic , Vintage, New York 1995, ISBN 0-09-959491-9
  • Peter O. Chotjewitz: Malavita. Mafia between yesterday and tomorrow , Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 1973, ISBN 3-462-00942-7

Individual evidence

  1. ^ John Dickie: Cosa Nostra , pp. 254-259
  2. ↑ Gaia Servadio: Mafioso , pp 178-179.
  3. ↑ Gaia Servadio: Mafioso , p. 189
  4. ^ Claire Sterling: Octopus , p. 83
  5. ↑ Pino Arlacchi: Addio Cosa nostra , pp. 60-63
  6. ^ Diego Gambetta: The Sicilian Mafia , p. 112
  7. ↑ La Repubblica : Buscetta: 'Cosa nostra uccise Enrico Mattei' of May 23, 1994, accessed on September 20, 2013
  8. ↑ Jane Schneider & Peter Schneider: Reversible Destiny , pp. 65–66
  9. ↑ Alexander Stille: Excellent Cadavers , pp. 103-104
  10. ↑ a b Gaia Servadio: Mafioso , p. 181.
  11. ↑ a b c Transnational Institute: The Rothschilds of the Mafia on Aruba by Tom Blickman, Transnational Organized Crime, Volume 3, No. 2, Summer 1997
  12. ↑ Alexander Stille: Excellent Cadavers , pp. 151–153
personal data
SURNAME Greco, Salvatore
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Greco, Ciaschiteddu (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian mafioso
DATE OF BIRTH January 13, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH Palermo
DATE OF DEATH March 7, 1978
Place of death Caracas