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Leonardo Messina
Leonardo "Narduzzo" Messina (born San Cataldo, September 22, 1955) is a Sicilian former mafioso who became a government informant or "pentito" in 1992. His testimony led to the arrest of over 200 mafiosi during the so-called "Operation Leopard" ( it, Operazione Leopardo). Messina has implicated several politicians and government officials with ties to Sicilian Mafia, in particular Giulio Andreotti, seven times Prime Minister for Italy. Early career Born in San Cataldo, Caltanissetta, Messina was from a family of mafiosi going back a few generations.Stille, ''Excellent Cadavers'', p. 362 "I represent the seventh generation belonging to Cosa Nostra," he said. "I was affiliated not because I was a robber or because I was able to kill, but because I was bound to become a member by family tradition." He left elementary school and became involved in burglary. He was imprisoned several times. In April 1982 after serving four years for armed robbery he eventually became a "man of honour ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
San Cataldo, Sicily
San Cataldo ( Sicilian: ''San Catallu'' or ''San Cataddu'') is a Sicilian town and ''comune'' in the province of Caltanissetta, in the southwestern part of the island of Sicily. Physical geography San Cataldo rises in an internal hilly area, located at 625 meters above sea level, which extends north of the town, between the municipalities of Serradifalco, Mussomeli, Caltanissetta, located within the Sicilian Solfifero plateau, an ancient area mining. It is 63 km from Agrigento, 9 km from Caltanissetta, 50 km from Enna, 150 km from Ragusa. It is crossed by a single river, the "Salito", formed by springs that arise from the slopes of Mount Schiavo near the town of Santa Caterina Villarmosa. The inhabited area extends into the plateau located between Portella del Tauro and Babbaurra, rich in partially drinkable water wells. See also *Catald Catald of Taranto (also Cataldus, Cathaluds, Cathaldus, Cat(t)aldo, Cathal; fl. 7th century) was an Irish monk. Biography Cataldus was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Totò 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 traditional ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Province Of Caltanissetta
The Province of Caltanissetta ( it, provincia di Caltanissetta; scn, pruvincia di Nissa or ; officially ''Libero consorzio comunale di Caltanissetta'') is a province in the southern part of Sicily, Italy. Following the suppression of the Sicilian provinces, it was replaced in 2015 by the Free municipal consortium of Caltanissetta. It contains 22 ''comuni'', which are listed at Comuni of the Province of Caltanissetta. Its coat of arms is a red crest and two green leaf stems on top with a laurel leaf on the right and a crown in the middle. The River Salso is the main river of the province; it is long and originates in the province of Palermo, and it flows into the Mediterranean in this province at the end of the Gulf of Gela. Bordering provinces and metropolitan cities In counterclockwise order: * Province of Agrigento, west * Metropolitan City of Palermo, north-west * Province of Enna, north * Metropolitan City of Catania, north-east * Province of Ragusa, east Geography The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander Stille
Alexander Stille (born 1 January 1957 in New York City) is an American author and journalist. He is the son of Ugo Stille, a well-known Italian journalist and a former editor of Italy's Milan-based Corriere della Sera newspaper. Alexander Stille graduated from Yale and later the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He has written many articles on the subject of Italy, in particular its politics and the Mafia. His first book, ''Benevolence and Betrayal: Five Italian Jewish Families Under Fascism'', was chosen by the ''Times Literary Supplement'' as one of the best books of 1992 and received the Los Angeles Times book award. In the chapter ''The Rabbi, the Priest and the Aviator: A Story of Rescue in Genoa'' he writes about the life of Massimo Teglio during the war. In 1995 he wrote '' Excellent Cadavers: The Mafia and the Death of the First Italian Republic'', an investigation into the Sicilian Mafia in the latter half of the twentieth century and in particular the e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Italian Socialist Party
The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the longest-living parties of the country. Founded in Genoa in 1892, the PSI dominated the Italian left until after World War II, when it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party. The Socialists came to special prominence in the 1980s, when their leader Bettino Craxi, who had severed the residual ties with the Soviet Union and re-branded the party as " liberal-socialist", served as Prime Minister (1983–1987). The PSI was disbanded in 1994 as a result of the ''Tangentopoli'' scandals. The party has had a series of legal successors: the Italian Socialists (1994–1998), the Italian Democratic Socialists (1998–2007) and the Italian Socialist Party (since 2007, originally "Socialist Party"). These parties have never reached the popularity of the old PSI. Socialist leading members and voters h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bettino Craxi
Benedetto "Bettino" Craxi ( , , ; 24 February 1934 – 19 January 2000) was an Italian politician, leader of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) from 1976 to 1993, and the 45th prime minister of Italy from 1983 to 1987. He was the first PSI member to become prime minister and the third from a socialist party to hold the office. He led the third-longest government in the Italian Republic and he is considered one of the most powerful and prominent politicians of the First Italian Republic. Craxi was involved in investigations conducted by ''Mani Pulite'' judges in Milan, eventually being convicted for political corruption and illicit financing of the PSI. He always rejected the charges of corruption while admitting to the illegal funding that permitted costly political activity, the PSI being less financially powerful than the two larger parties, Christian Democracy (DC) and the Italian Communist Party (PCI). Craxi's government and party were also supported by future Prime Minister ... [...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] |
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] |
Corrado Carnevale
Corrado Carnevale (born 9 May 1930) is an Italian judge, and former president of the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation. Biography Born in Licata, Sicily in 1930, he graduated "''cum laude''" from the University of Palermo at the age of 21 and came first in the competitive exam for a post of ''uditore Giudiziario'', which he took up on 17 December 1953. At the age of 55, he became the youngest ever president of the Supreme Court of Cassation. Carnevale was nicknamed ''l'ammazzasentenze'' (the sentence-slayer) because of the many convictions of Mafiosi he overturned on appeal. During the Maxi Trial in the mid 1980s, Carnevale was the president of the first criminal section of the Court of Cassation, however because he was suspected of colluding with the Mafia, he was not appointed as prosecutor and the final decision on the Maxi Trial, as he was replaced with judge Arnaldo Valente. Carnevale was suspended from his magisterial duties in March 1993. On 29 June 2001, he was senten ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maxi Trial
The Maxi Trial ( it, Maxiprocesso) was a criminal trial against the Sicilian Mafia that took place in Palermo, Sicily. The trial lasted from 10 February 1986 (the first day of the Corte d'Assise) to 30 January 1992 (the final day of the Supreme Court of Cassation), and was held in a bunker-style courthouse specially constructed for this purpose inside the walls of the Ucciardone prison. Sicilian prosecutors indicted 475 mafiosi for a multitude of crimes relating to Mafia activities, based primarily on testimonies given as evidence from former Mafia bosses turned informants, known as ''pentiti'', in particular Tommaso Buscetta and Salvatore Contorno. Most were convicted, 338 people, sentenced to a total of 2,665 years, not including life sentences handed to 19 bosses; the convictions were upheld on 30 January 1992 by the Supreme Court of Italy, after the final stage of appeal. The importance of the trial was that the existence of Cosa Nostra was finally judicially confirmed. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Freemasonry
Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities and clients. Modern Freemasonry broadly consists of two main recognition groups: * Regular Freemasonry insists that a volume of scripture be open in a working lodge, that every member profess belief in a Supreme Being, that no women be admitted, and that the discussion of religion and politics be banned. * Continental Freemasonry consists of the jurisdictions that have removed some, or all, of these restrictions. The basic, local organisational unit of Freemasonry is the Lodge. These private Lodges are usually supervised at the regional level (usually coterminous with a state, province, or national border) by a Grand Lodge or Grand Orient. There is no international, worldwide Grand Lodge that supervises all of Freemasonry; each Grand Lod ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Angelo Siino
Angelo is an Italian masculine given name and surname meaning "angel", or "messenger". People People with the given name *Angelo Accattino (born 1966), Italian prelate of the Catholic Church *Angelo Acciaioli (bishop) (1298–1357), Italian Roman Catholic bishop from Florence * Angelo Achini or Angiolo Achini (1850–1930), Italian painter * Angelo Agostini (1843–1910), illustrator, journalist and founder of several publications, and although born in Italy, is considered the first Brazilian cartoonist * Angelo Aimo (born 1964), Italian footballer *Angelo Albanesi (late 1765–1784), Italian engraver *Angelo Alistar (born 1975), Romanian footballer * Angelo Ambrogini Poliziano (1454–1494), Florentine classical scholar and poet * Angelo Andres (1851–1934), Italian zoologist *Angelo Anelli (1761–1820), Italian *Angelo Angeli (1864–1931), Italian chemist *Angelo Anquilletti (1943–2015), Italian football defender *Angelo Antonino Pipitone (born 1943), member of the Sicili ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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