Santa Maria di Gesù (Mafia clan)

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The Santa Maria di Gesù family was an important criminal organization of the Palermitan Mafia families , which was mainly based in the Mandamento around Via Santa Maria di Gesù and in downtown Palermo in the Kalsa district . Together with the Inzerillo clan , she once belonged to the most powerful families in Sicily , originally embodied the long-established Sicilian Mafia type and was embodied primarily by her leaders such as Stefano Bontade , the "Principe da Villagrazia - Prince of Villagrazia" . In the early 1980s , the clan had around 200 members.

history

Rise of the Santa Maria di Gesù family

Stefano Bontade was born in 1939 into an important mafia family that ruled the area around Villagrazia , Santa Maria di Gesù and Guadagna . The three localities were once independent rural communities before they were incorporated into the Palermitan metropolitan area. Stefanos father, Francesco Paolo Bontade (* 3. May 1914 in Palermo; † 25 February 1974 , ibid), called "Don Paolino Bontà" was one of the most powerful Capo Mafia Island and pallbearer at the funeral of Mafia capo Calogero Vizzini , one of the most influential mafia bosses in Sicily after World War II until his death in 1954 . Stefano Bontade and his brother Giovanni Bontade, who later became a lawyer, studied together at a Jesuit college. In 1964 , at the age of 25, Stefano Bontade became Capo of the Mafia Cosca Santa Maria di Gesù when his father had to resign due to severe diabetes .

First Mafia War

In June 1963 , the Ciaculli massacre occurred in the wake of the First Mafia War , in which several people were killed. As a result, efforts by the state to take action against the mafia were intensified. 1,200 Mafiosi were arrested within ten weeks, many of whom were taken out of circulation for five or six years. Furthermore, the Sicilian Mafia Commission was dissolved and the Mafiosi who had escaped arrest went abroad, or exile, or had to hide in Italy . In 1968 114 Mafiosi were brought to justice. Bontade nevertheless managed to remain a very important figure at the head of the Cosa Nostra and he was also one of those responsible for the death of Michele Cavataio in the massacre in Viale Lazio by killing two of his soldiers, Gaetano Grado and Emanuele D ' Agostino, sent. Stefano Bontade was arrested in 1972 in the wake of the murder of Pietro Scaglione, Attorney General of Palermo, on May 5, 1971 . In the second "Trial of 114" in July 1974, he was sentenced to three years in prison. However, the judgment was overturned by appeal. Nevertheless, Bontade was exiled to Qualiano (Province of Naples ). The policy of banishing Mafiosi to other areas of Italy failed because it enabled them to establish contacts outside the island. Bontade, for example, allied himself with Giuseppe Sciorio from the Maisto clan of the Camorra , who would henceforth cooperate with the Cosa Nostra.

Wealth from drug trafficking

Bontade and Nunzio La Mattina managed to establish themselves in the international cigarette smuggling market through their association with the Camorra . Many Mafiosi were only able to survive the difficult time after the Ciaculli massacre through cigarette smuggling and the subsequent heroin trade. The Turkish morphine-based heroin was refined in Sicily and distributed worldwide. Bontade, who reportedly made a fortune of 10 billion lire , became part of the broad-based Spatola-Inzerillo-Gambino network that dominated the heroin trade from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, when the Pizza Connection was broken up. Through a connection with John Gambino, they supplied the large US market and, according to Giovanni Falcone, earned around 600 million US dollars. Much of the proceeds were reinvested in real estate . Rosario Spatola, who sold water milk in the streets of Palermo in his youth, became Palermo's largest contractor and Sicily's largest taxpayer. After Rosario's brother, mother, sister and aunt were killed by the Corleonesi, he decided in 1989 to work as Pentito with law enforcement. According to Marino Mannoia, Sicily-born banker Michele Sindona laundered the proceeds of the heroin trade for the Bontade-Spatola-Inzerillo-Gambino network.

Cupola

In 1970 the Sicilian Mafia Commission, the "Cupola", was revived. It consisted of ten members and was initially ruled by a triumvirate consisting of Gaetano Badalamenti , Stefano Bontade and the Corleonesi boss Luciano Leggio , although in reality it was Salvatore Riina who actually held the power of the Corleonesi. At that time, Bontade was becoming one of the recognized leaders of the Sicilian Mafia. Stefano was young, very rich, personable, intelligent and sensible, and the son of a respected Mafia capo. All of this made Bontade an undisputed candidate for the Sicilian Mafia Commission. In 1975 the entire commission was reconstituted under the leadership of Badalamenti. The task of the Mafia commission was to settle disputes within the families and to keep the inner peace. Leggio and his deputy and successor Salvatore Riina planned to exterminate the Palermo clans, including Bontade and Bontade's ally Salvatore Inzerillo. Towards the end of 1978 the leadership of the Sicilian Mafia changed. Gaetano Badalamenti was expelled from the commission and replaced by Michele Greco . This ended a period of relative peace and caused a great change in the mafia itself. In reality, Michele Greco had betrayed the Bontade-Inzerillo-Badalamenti axis and secretly allied with Salvatore Riina. He was later to use his position of power to insidiously lure more vassals of Bontade to their death.

Second Mafia War

The Second Mafia War, which ran from 1981 to 1983 , basically consisted of two campaigns led by the Corleonesi. Contrary to the loyalty rules of the Cosa Nosta, they had secretly allied with some renegade Palermitan Mafia families and used this new alliance to wipe out the Bontade-Inzerillo-Badalamenti axis. The second campaign they carried out in parallel against the Italian state and its law enforcement agencies. Some motive for the Second Mafia War was to use gun violence to gain sole control over the heroin trade. Totó Riina's strategy was to gradually isolate the long-established Palermitan families by winning over the extremely violent Corso dei Mille family and eliminating Bontade's allies outside of Palermo in advance, including Giuseppe Di Cristina († May 30, 1978) and Giuseppe Calderone († September 8, 1978), the bosses of Riesi and Catania .

Despite their much larger financial resources and broader international network, the Bontade-Spatola-Inzerillo-Badalamenti network could not withstand the ruthless violence of the Corleonesi. Key members of the Inzerillo, Spatola and Gambino clans were arrested for heroin trafficking in March 1980, which continued to significantly undermine Bontade's position. On April 23, 1981, when Bontade was driving home from his 42nd birthday party, he was shot dead with automatic rifles in his car, a Giulietta 2000, in Palermo. The murder was carried out by a “Squadra della Morte - Death Squad” , including Riina's favorite hit man Giuseppe “Pino” “Scarpuzzedda” Greco , a nephew of Michele Greco . three weeks later, Bontade's close ally, Salvatore Inzerillo, was killed using the same Kalashnikov. Many relatives, friends and business partners of Bontade suffered the same fate, especially to prevent blood revenge. After the “Mattanza” of the Second Mafia War, the activities of the Santa Maria di Gesù family almost completely came to a standstill.

Trying to start over

In 2015 , 32 years after the end of the Second Mafia War, six members of the Santa Maria di Gesù family were arrested on the basis of photos and tapes, allegedly involved in the murder of a young man. In 2011 , Operation Hawk was carried out against the newly founded Santa Maria di Gesù family under Giuseppe Greco.

Important members of the Santa Maria di Gesù family

  • Salvatore "Totuccio" Contorno (born May 28, 1946) became a member of the Santa Maria di Gesù family in 1975.
  • Girolamo "Mimmo" Teresi († May 26, 1981 lured into a trap and killed in a Lupara Bianca ?). Contractor and brother-in-law of Stefano Bontade. Sottocapo of the Santa Maria di Gesù family.
  • Francesco Paolo Bontade ( 1914 - 1974 )
  • Stefano Bontade (born April 23, 1939 - † April 23, 1981)
  • Giovanni Bontate (* 1946 in Palermo; † September 28, 1988 , ibid): brother of Stefano Bontade and lawyer in Palermo. During the Second Mafia War he is said to have betrayed his brother Stefano and to have sided with the opponents, the Corleonesi, in order to gain power in the Cosca Santa Maria di Gesù. During the Maxi Trial from 1986 to 1987, he denied any connection with the Mafia. In 1988 he was murdered together with his wife Francesca Citarda.
  • Francesco Paolo Bontate son of Stefano Bontade. Francesco Paolo was arrested in 2003 for drug trafficking and released in 2007 for good conduct. Then he took up university studies.
  • Roberta Bontate: niece of Stefano Bontade and daughter of Giovanni Bontade. She was a member of Live Europe, an anti-mafia association to which Don Mario Golesano belonged
  • Pietro Aglieri (born June 6, 1959 in Palermo) Capo. Successor to Giovanni Bontate.

literature

  • John Dickie: Cosa Nostra. A story of the Sicilian Mafia . London. 2004. Coronet. ISBN 0-340-82435-2 .
  • Pino Arlacchi: Mafia from within: The life of Don Antonino Calderone . S. Fischer Verlag
  • John Follain: The Final Godfathers: Rise and Fall of the Corleones. Fischer paperback. 2017. ISBN 978-359-6-31906-0 .

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ near the Villagrazia district
  2. ↑ The Godfather and the Dead Light on www.freitag.de
  3. ↑ Slaughter
  4. ↑ Six members of the Mafia clan arrested in Sicily. HNA, December 12, 2015
  5. ^ Italian Authorities arrest 27 Cosa Nostra members. OCCRP - Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. 22nd November 2017
  6. ↑ Mafia returns to traditional rituals after old-school Cosa Nostra mobsters get out of jail and take reins. Mob boss Giuseppe Greco, the boss of the Santa Maria di Gesu crime family, was seen being kissed on the forehead by mobsters in Palermo - a traditional gesture showing respect. Mirror. December 12, 2015. (en.)