Giovanni Nicchi

Giovanni "Gianni" Nicchi (; born 16 February 1981 in Turin) is a member of the Sicilian Mafia. Despite his young age – he is nicknamed ("the little boy") – he is considered to be one of the leading mafiosi of Cosa Nostra in Palermo. He was on the " most wanted list" of the Italian ministry of the Interior since 2006, until his arrest on 5 December 2009.Mafia, presi due superlatitanti
La Repubblica, December 5, 2009

Mafia heritage

Gianni Nicchi is the son of Luigi Nicchi, a mafioso, who is jailed for life.Mafia, killer a 25 anni: ecco come uccido
Corriere della Sera, June 25, 2006 He is considered to be the current ''reggente'' (regent) of the Pagliarelli mandamento,Cosa Nostra senza un capo
, La Repubblica, November 6, 2007
Reuters, November 6, 2007 after the arrest of his godfather Antonio Rotolo on 20 June 2006, two months after the arrest of Mafia boss Bernardo Provenzano. Authorities issued 52 arrest warrants against the top echelon of Cosa Nostra in the city of Palermo (Operation Gotha).Indictment Operation Gotha
Nicchi escaped arrest.

"Gianni is my godson ( it, figlioccio, links=no), but I tell you, for me it is as if he was my son," Rotolo was overheard saying to another mafioso. "From this day on, you have to know that when you talk to him it is as if you talk to me. It is the same."
Agrigentoweb News, June 25, 2007 In other bugged conversations, police listened in how Rotolo instructed Nicchi how to kill a person. They also discussed how to extort Chinese shopkeepers in Palermo.

Despite his age, other mafiosi treated Nicchi with respect. The pentito Francesco Campanella recalled when he was introduced to Nicchi by Nicola Mandalà, Mafia boss of Villabate, in 2004. "He treated him with high esteem," Campanella noticed, and Mandalà told him: "you don't realize who that is, even though they call him '' 'u picciutteddu''." Campanella understood that the young man was already regarded as an important figure in Cosa Nostra."Il boss riceveva nell'ufficio del sindaco"
La Sicilia, July 12, 2007

Mission to the US

Rotolo was worried about the return of members of the Inzerillo family to Palermo and fell out with rival boss Salvatore Lo Piccolo over a request from the Inzerillos to be allowed to return to Palermo. The Inzerillo family had been one of the clans that was decimated by the Corleonesi during the Second Mafia War in the 1980s and had been forced into exile in the United States with their relatives in the New York City-based Gambino crime family. Rotolo had been part of the Mafia clans that had attacked the Inzerillo clan and had personally killed one of them. He was opposed to Lo Piccolo’s permission for the return of the Inzerillos, fearing revenge."Pizzini" Notes Reveal New Mafia Bosses
by Felice Cavallaro, Corriere delle Sera, June 21, 2006Lo Piccolo, l'erede di Provenzano. Così sta conquistando Palermo
Corriere della Sera, June 30, 2007

Several Sicilian Mafia clans established new ties with the Gambino family to profit from increased international drug trafficking and provide Palermo's Mafia factions an opportunity to launder their earnings in real estate in the United States.
DNI Open Source Center, November 19, 2007 Rotolo sent Nicchi to the United States to check the links of Frank Cali of the Gambino family, who is often seen with old heroin traffickers of the Pizza Connection such as Pietro Inzerillo.La riscoperta dell'America nuovo fronte di Cosa Nostra
La Repubblica, July 12, 2007

Clash with Lo Piccolo

Rotolo did not like what Nicchi reported back and did not believe the assurances of Calì, which he considered excuses to reinstate the Inzerillos in Palermo. Rotolo passed a death sentence on Salvatore Lo Piccolo and his son, Sandro – and procured the barrels of acid that are used to dissolve the bodies of slain rivals. Nicchi was ordered to search out and kill the fugitive father and son Lo Piccolo.Adesso è caccia a Matteo Messina Denaro
La Sicilia, November 5, 2007
La Repubblica, November 18, 2007

When Rotolo was arrested on 20 June 2006, the Lo Piccolos went after Nicchi. They ordered Francesco Franzese, boss of the Partanna Mondello Mafia family, to find and kill him. However, Franzese was arrested on 2 August 2007.
Arrestato Franzese, boss "sindacalista"
La Repubblica, 2 August 2007 On a pizzino found at Franzese's house, Sandro Lo Piccolo ordered the killing of 'Tiramisù', the name that was given to indicate Nicchi. Apparently, Nicchi had fled to Milan and escaped a hit team organized by Franzese.

New power in Cosa Nostra?

Nicchi fortunes changed after the arrest of Salvatore Lo Piccolo and his son Sandro on 5 November 2007. Nicchi is considered as one of the new powers in Cosa Nostra in Palermo.'Boss of bosses' successor arrested at mafia summit
The Guardian, 6 November 2007 Other youngsters on their way up are Pietro Tagliavia, born in 1978, a scion from the Corso dei Mille Mafia family, and Salvo Riina, born in 1977 – the second-born son of boss of bosses Totò Riina – who was arrested in 2001 but released in 2007 when the Supreme Court annulled his sentence.Cosa Nostra, tanti boss ma nessun capo
La Repubblica, November 6, 2007

Palermo police chief Giuseppe Caruso described Nicchi as "a young man with grey matter and energy ... and ready to rise to the leadership of Cosa Nostra, at least in Palermo."Supremo's arrest 'decapitates' Sicilian Mafia
, AFP, November 6, 2007 His name is now among the candidate leaders of Cosa Nostra, along with Matteo Messina Denaro and Domenico Raccuglia.Mafia sicilienne : le retour des "Américains"
Le Monde, November 27, 2007 According to prosecutor Francesco Del Bene, who coordinated the arrest of Lo Piccolo: "Gianni Nicchi is a killer, now he should be emerging, but he is the only one left from the Corleonesi faction.""Carisma, militari e piccioli": ecco l'identikit del capo di Cosa nostra
, Ateneonline, November 23, 2007

According to Antonio Ingroia, one of the prosecutors of the Direzione Distrettuale Antimafia (DDA) of Palermo, the main leading figures in Cosa Nostra at the moment, Matteo Messina Denaro, Giovanni Riina, Domenico Raccuglia, Pietro Tagliavia and Nicchi, are still too young to be recognized as leading bosses of the organization.Lo Piccolo, il fautore della strategia della “rimmersione”
, Intervista ad Antonio Ingroia, Antimafia Duemila n. 56, Anno VII° Numero 5 – 2007

On 21 January 2008, the Palermo Court convicted the fugitive Nicchi and sentenced him to 18 years in prison. Because he was tried under a special short procedure, he received a 1/3 reduction on his sentence.
La Repubblica, 21 January 2008
Associated Press, 5 December 2009 He was indicted on 7 February 2008, in operation Old Bridge against the Gambinos in New York and their connections in Palermo, involved in drug trafficking.Dozens Arrested in Italy and US in Major Mafia-busting Operation
La Repubblica, 7 February 2008
La Repubblica, February 7, 2008

Arrest

On 5 December 2009, Italian police arrested him in Palermo.Mafia 'second-in-command' arrested in Italy
BBC News, 5 December 2009 He is incarcerated in the special security prison in L'Aquila under the strict Article 41-bis prison regime.

In September 2010 he went on a hunger strike for two weeks demanding to see his two children who were born while he was a fugitive. He had not acknowledged the children while he was on the run so officially they are not his. He has started the process to officially acknowledge them.Nicchi digiuna in cella per vedere i figli
La Repubblica, 13 October 2010

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicchi, Gianni
1981 births
Italian crime bosses
Living people
Gangsters from Palermo
Sicilian mafiosi