Giovanni Bonomo (; July 10, 1935 – 2010) was a member of the

Sicilian Mafia The Sicilian Mafia, also simply known as the Mafia and frequently referred to as Cosa nostra (, ; "our thing") by its members, is an Italian Mafia-terrorist-type organized crime syndicate and criminal society originating in the region of Sicily a ...

. He was on the " most wanted list" of the Italian ministry of the Interior since 1996 for two murders, drug trafficking and money laundering, and Mafia association, until his arrest in Senegal in November 2003.Italy police arrest Mafia suspect
BBC News, November 14, 2003

Mafia boss in Partinico

Bonomo was born in Partinico in Sicily. He succeeded Vito Vitale as the capo mandamento of Partinico after the latter’s arrest in April 1998.Mafia, arrestato Bonomo
La Repubblica, November 14, 2003 He was considered to be the strategical and financial brain of the Mafia clan, and was in close contact with Giovanni Brusca and Leoluca Bagarella of the

Corleonesi The Corleonesi Mafia clan was a faction within the Corleone family of the Sicilian Mafia, formed in the 1970s. Notable leaders included Luciano Leggio, Salvatore Riina, Bernardo Provenzano, and Leoluca Bagarella. Corleonesi affiliates were n ...

. He has been charged with the murder of two men in Partinico in 1994 who defied the rule of the Mafia clan in that town; one of them because he committed robberies in the area without the consent of the Mafia.Mafia, arrestato boss latitante da 7 anni
Corriere della Sera, November 15, 2003 In 2001, he was sentenced to 6 years for Mafia association. He acquired substantial wealth, investing in real estate in the center of Palermo, bank shares and the family winery. Assets worth 45 billion lire (23 million euro) were confiscated in 2001.
La Repubblica, July 25, 2001

Fugitive

Bonomo had been at large since 1996. According to police sources Bonomo had been living in Namibia and South Africa, where he had been in close contact with another of Italy's most wanted Mafia criminals,

Vito Roberto Palazzolo Vito Roberto Palazzolo (; born July 31, 1947) is an Italian businessman previously living in South Africa. Born in Terrasini, he moved to South Africa in the mid-1980s. He also goes by the name Robert von Palace Kolbatschenko. He is alleged to be ...

, who has spent long periods in South Africa and who remains at large. In 1996 the Italian anti-Mafia police came to South Africa with arrest warrants for Giovanni Bonomo and another Mafia man, Giuseppe Gelardi. The wanted mafiosi were allegedly staying on Palazzolo's Franschhoek estate La Terra de Luc. The estate was raided by members of the South African organised crime unit on June 6, 1996, but Bonomo and Gelardi were not found, although investigators found evidence that whoever had been staying there had left in a hurry.Witness claims he didn't lock up Italian cops
Sapa, November 2, 2004 In November 2003 he was arrested in Dakar in Senegal, coming from the

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

. He showed fake documents, but was identified by fingerprints. He was expelled to Italy where he was arrested and incarcerated. Bonomo died in 2010, before the sentence became definitive.

References

1935 births Sicilian mafiosi {{Mafia 2010 deaths Fugitives wanted by Italy 20th-century Italian criminals