Francesco Madonia
Francesco Madonia (March 31, 1924 – March 13, 2007) was the Mafia boss of the San Lorenzo-Pallavicino area in Palermo. In 1978 he became a member of the Sicilian Mafia Commission. ''Ciccio'' Madonia became the unquestioned patriarch of the Resuttana Mafia family, having replaced Antonino Matranga, murdered in 1970. In 1978 he came to head the Resuttana mandamento after the territory, on Totò Riina's request, was taken out of the jurisdiction of Rosario Riccobono and made independent. Already one of Riina's closest allies in all of Sicily, he and the Resuttana family he led strongly supported the Corleonesi during the Second Mafia War in 1981-84. Ciccio Madonia's two sons, Nino and Salvuccio, took part in many murders and massacres during the war. In 1987, at the Maxi Trial, he was sentenced to life for murder, but he went on running the Family from prison; first through his sons Antonino, Giuseppe and Salvatore ''Salvino'' Madonia, all three jailed, after that through his bro ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Palermo
Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old. Palermo is in the northwest of the island of Sicily, by the Gulf of Palermo in the Tyrrhenian Sea. The city was founded in 734 BC by the Phoenicians as ("flower"). Palermo then became a possession of Carthage. Two ancient Greeks, Greek ancient Greek colonization, colonies were established, known collectively as ; the Carthaginians used this name on their coins after the 5th centuryBC. As , the town became part of the Roman Republic and Roman Empire, Empire for over a thousand years. From 831 to 1072 the city was under History of Islam in southern Italy, Arab ru ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Christian Democracy (Italy)
Christian Democracy ( it, Democrazia Cristiana, DC) was a Christian democratic political party in Italy. The DC was founded on 15 December 1943 in the Italian Social Republic (Nazi-occupied Italy) as the ideal successor of the Italian People's Party, which had the same symbol, a crusader shield (''scudo crociato''). As a Catholic-inspired, centrist, catch-all party comprising both centre-right and centre-left political factions, the DC played a dominant role in the politics of Italy for fifty years, and had been part of the government from soon after its inception until its final demise on 16 January 1994 amid the ''Tangentopoli'' scandals. Christian Democrats led the Italian government continuously from 1946 until 1981. The party was nicknamed the "White Whale" ( it, Balena bianca) due to its huge organization and official color. During its time in government, the Italian Communist Party was the largest opposition party. From 1946 until 1994, the DC was the largest party in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Article 41-bis Prison Regime
In Italian law, Article 41-bis of the Prison Administration Act, also known as carcere duro ("hard prison regime"), is a provision that allows the Minister of Justice or the Minister of the Interior to suspend certain prison regulations. Currently it is used against people imprisoned for particular crimes: Mafia-type association under 416-bis (''Associazione di tipo mafioso''), drug trafficking, homicide, aggravated robbery and extortion, kidnapping, terrorism, and attempting to subvert the constitutional system.Long Distance Proceedings Through Videoconference: The Italian Experience , Ministry of Justice (Italy) at the Tenth [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Emanuele Basile
Emanuele Basile (; July 2, 1949 – May 4, 1980) was an Italian captain of the Carabinieri and a collaborator of Paolo Borsellino on anti-Mafia investigations. He was killed by Cosa Nostra in Monreale, Palermo, shot repeatedly in the back whilst he carried his four-year-old daughter, who was unhurt in the shooting. He was working with Borsellino on traffic of heroin and killings related to Mafia in Corleone at the time of his death. The investigation on his murder was headed by Borsellino. The hit team was made up by Vincenzo Puccio, Armando Bonanno and Giuseppe Madonia of the Resuttana Mafia family, with logistical support from Giovanni Brusca.http://www.antimafiaduemila.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1307&pagenum=3&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0 On 14 November 1992, Salvatore Riina and Francesco Madonia were sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder. References Sources * http://digilander.libero.it/inmemoria/borsellino_biografia.htm * http:// ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Salvatore Riina
Salvatore Riina (; 16 November 1930 – 17 November 2017), called (, Totò being the diminutive of Salvatore), was an Italian mobster and chief of the Sicilian Mafia, known for a ruthless murder campaign that reached a peak in the early 1990s with the assassinations of Antimafia Commission prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, resulting in widespread public outcry and a major crackdown by the authorities. He was also known by the nicknames ''la belva'' ("the beast") and ''il capo dei capi'' (Sicilian: '''u capu di 'i capi'', "the boss of bosses"). Riina succeeded Luciano Leggio as head of the Corleonesi criminal organisation in the mid 1970s and achieved dominance through a campaign of violence, which caused police to target his rivals. Riina had been a fugitive since the late 1960s after he was indicted on a murder charge. He was less vulnerable to law enforcement's reaction to his methods, as the policing removed many of the established chiefs who had traditiona ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Protection Racket
A protection racket is a type of racket and a scheme of organized crime perpetrated by a potentially hazardous organized crime group that generally guarantees protection outside the sanction of the law to another entity or individual from violence, robbery, ransacking, arson, vandalism, and other such threats, in exchange for payments. The perpetrators of the racket may protect vulnerable targets from other dangerous individuals and groups or may simply offer to refrain from themselves carrying out attacks on the targets, and usually both of these forms of protection are implied in the racket. Due to the frequent implication that the racketeers may contribute to harming the target upon failure to pay, the protection racket is generally considered a form of extortion. In some instances, the main potential threat to the target may be caused by the same group that offers to solve it in return for payment, but that fact may sometimes be concealed in order to ensure continual patron ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Salvo Lima
Salvatore Achille Ettore Lima (; 23 January 1928 – 12 March 1992) was an Italian politician from Sicily who was associated with, and murdered by, the Sicilian Mafia. He is often just referred to as Salvo Lima. According to the ''pentito'' (Mafia defector) Tommaso Buscetta, Lima’s father, Vincenzo Lima, was a member of the Mafia, but it is not known whether Lima himself was a "made member" of Cosa Nostra.Jamieson, ''The Antimafia'', p. 221Dickie, ''Cosa Nostra'', p. 285 In the final report of the first Italian Antimafia Commission (1963–1976) Lima was described as one of the pillars of Mafia power in Palermo. During his long career with the Christian Democracy (DC) that began in the 1950s, Lima was first allied with the faction of Amintore Fanfani and after 1964 with the one of Giulio Andreotti, seven times prime minister and a member of almost every post-war Italian government. That shift earned him a seat in the national parliament in 1968. Lima was often referred to ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Paolo Borsellino
Paolo Emanuele Borsellino (; scn, Pàulu Borsellino; 19 January 1940 – 19 July 1992) was an Italian judge and prosecuting magistrate. From his office in the Palace of Justice in Palermo, Sicily, he spent most of his professional life trying to overthrow the power of the Sicilian Mafia. After a long and distinguished career, culminating in the Maxi Trial in 1986–1987, on 19 July 1992, Borsellino was killed by a car bomb in Via D'Amelio, near his mother's house in Palermo. Borsellino's life parallels that of his close friend Giovanni Falcone. They both spent their early years in the same neighbourhood in Palermo. Though many of their childhood friends grew up in the Mafia background, both men fought on the other side of the war against crime in Sicily as prosecuting magistrates.Stille, ''Excellent Cadavers'', pp. 22–27 They were both killed in 1992, a few months apart. In recognition of their tireless effort and sacrifice during the anti-mafia trials, they were both awarded ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Addaura
Addaura is a seaside village or Frazione of Palermo, Italy included in the VII District. It resides on the Lungomare Cristoforo Colombo, which starts from the south-east border of Mondello and reaches Palermo bypassing Monte Pellegrino. The locality has a strong historical and naturalistic interest due to the presence of the Addaura Cave, one of the largest archaeological heritages in Sicily and a place of exceptional importance for the study of prehistoric art: it is one of the few sites that preserves engravings of Paleolithic communities. It is part of the "Places of the Heart" list of the Italian Environment Fund. Geography Territory Addaura rises on the north-western coast of the Sicilian capital, at the foot of the northern slope of Monte Pellegrino. It looks like a narrow strip of land, enclosed between a low cliff bathed by the waters of the Tyrrhenian Sea and the steep walls of the mountain, however accessible by means of some passes that appear to have been used s ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Giovanni Falcone
Giovanni Falcone (; 18 May 1939 – 23 May 1992) was an Italian judge and prosecuting magistrate. From his office in the Palace of Justice in Palermo, Sicily, he spent most of his professional life trying to overthrow the power of the Sicilian Mafia. After a long and distinguished career, culminating in the Maxi Trial in 1986–1987, on 23 May 1992, Falcone was assassinated by the Corleonesi Mafia in the Capaci bombing, on the A29 motorway near the town of Capaci. His life parallels that of his close friend Paolo Borsellino. They both spent their early years in the same neighbourhood in Palermo. Though many of their childhood friends grew up in the Mafia background, both men fought on the other side of the war as prosecuting magistrates.Stille, ''Excellent Cadavers'', pp. 22–27 They were both killed in 1992, a few months apart. In recognition of their tireless effort and sacrifice during the anti-mafia trials, they were both awarded the Gold Medal for Civil Valor and were ack ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Pizzo (extortion)
The pizzo () is protection money paid to the Mafia often in the form of a forced transfer of money resulting from extortion. The term is derived from the Sicilian ''pizzu'' ('beak'). To ''let someone whet their beak'' (Sicilian language ''fari vagnari u pizzu'') is to pay protection money. The practice is widespread in Southern Italy, not only by the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, but also by the 'Ndrangheta in Calabria and the Camorra in Campania. Another etymological explanation of the term is "beakerful," referring to the right of an overseer to scoop from the grain being threshed by peasants.Paoli, ''Mafia Brotherhoods'', p. 241 Paying the pizzo may also involve adding someone (often a member of a criminal organisation) to the payroll, provisioning of services by Mafia-controlled businesses or subcontracting to Mafia-controlled companies.Paoli, ''Mafia Brotherhoods'', p. 164 Businesses that refuse to pay the pizzo may be burned down. In return for paying the pizzo, businesses receiv ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Extortion
Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, although making unfounded threats in order to obtain an unfair business advantage is also a form of extortion. Extortion is sometimes called the "protection racket" because the racketeers often phrase their demands as payment for "protection" from (real or hypothetical) threats from unspecified other parties; though often, and almost always, such "protection" is simply abstinence of harm from the same party, and such is implied in the "protection" offer. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime. In some jurisdictions, actually obtaining the benefit is not required to commit the offense, and making a threat of violence which refers to a requirement of a payment of money or property to halt future violence is sufficient to commit ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |