Giuseppe Falsone (; born 28 August 1970 in

Campobello di Licata Campobello di Licata ( scn, Campubbeddu) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Agrigento in the Italian region Sicily, located about southeast of Palermo and about east of Agrigento. Physical geography Territory Campobello d ...

), sometimes spelled as Falzone, is 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 A most wanted list is a list of criminals and alleged criminals who are believed to be at large and are identified as a law enforcement agency's highest priority for capture. The list can alert the public to be watchful, and generates publicity ...

" of the Italian ministry of the Interior since January 1999, until his arrest in France in June 2010.Italian mafia boss arrested in France
BBC News, June 26, 2010 He is considered to be one of the bosses of Cosa Nostra in the

province of Agrigento The Province of Agrigento ( it, Provincia di Agrigento; scn, Pruvincia di Girgenti; officially ''Libero consorzio comunale di Agrigento'') is a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily in Italy, situated on its south-western coast. Follo ...

, jointly with Gerlandino Messina from

Porto Empedocle Porto Empedocle ( scn, 'a Marina) is a town and ''comune'' in Italy on the coast of the Strait of Sicily, administratively part of the province of Agrigento. It was named after Empedocles, a Greek pre-Socratic philosopher and a citizen of the ci ...

.I latitanti Falsone e Messina al vertice di cosa nostra agrigentina
Televideo Agrigento, November 10, 2007Relazione del Ministro dell’Interno al Parlamento sull’attività svolta e sui risultati conseguiti dalla Direzione Investigativa Antimafia
1° semestre 2007

Mafia heritage

Giuseppe Falsone was born in

in the

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

. He is the son of Vincenzo Falsone (born in 1930), the undisputed Mafia boss of the town for many years.E dopo Bernardo Provenzano?
Girodivite, May 25, 2005Ecco le accuse dell'Antimafia ai Falsone
La Sicilia, March 13, 2003 Vincenzo Falsone was well connected to Mafia bosses such

Giuseppe Settecasi Giuseppe is the Italian form of the given name Joseph, from Latin Iōsēphus from Ancient Greek Ἰωσήφ (Iōsḗph), from Hebrew יוסף. It is the most common name in Italy and is unique (97%) to it. The feminine form of the name is Giusep ...

, Carmelo Colletti and Giuseppe Di Caro who were ''capo provincia'' of Agrigento in the past. On 24 June 1991 Giuseppe's father Vincenzo Falsone and his elder brother Angelo were killed by the

Stidda The Stidda (; ) is a Sicilian & Maltese Mafia-type criminal organization and criminal society centered in the central-southern part of Sicily & Malta. Members are known as ''stiddari'' or ''stiddaroli''. It is most active in the rural parts o ...

during a vicious war with Cosa Nostra clans. Giuseppe took over the leadership of the Mafia family when he was not yet 21 years old. In retaliation, Falsone killed Salvatore Ingaglio, responsible for the killing of his father and elder brother. Falsone was a fugitive since January 1999. He was convicted for Mafia association in 2000 and murder in 2001.

Capo provincia

At a meeting of Mafia families from Agrigento on 14 July 2002, in

Santa Margherita di Belice Santa Margherita di Belice ( Sicilian: ''Santa Margarita'') is a town in the Province of Agrigento in the Italian region of Sicily. It lies in southwest Sicily, above sea level, near where the borders of the Province of Agrigento, Province of Tr ...

, Mafia bosses were supposed to nominate a new ''capo provincia'' after the arrest of Calogero Di Caro, the boss from

Canicattì Canicattì (; scn, Caniattì) is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Agrigento in the Italian region Sicily, located about southeast of Palermo and about east of Agrigento. In 2016, it had a population of 35,698. Histo ...

.Rapporto annuale sul fenomeno della criminalità organizzata anno 2002
, Ministero dell’Interno Mafia boss of bosses

Bernardo Provenzano Bernardo Provenzano (; 31 January 1933 – 13 July 2016) was an Italian mobster and chief of the Sicilian Mafia clan known as the Corleonesi, a Mafia faction that originated in the town of Corleone, and ''de facto'' the boss of bosses (''il c ...

Arrest

Falsone's main criminal interests are in

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, ...

and public work contracts. In July 2004 assets worth two million euro were seized by the police, including real estate, 100 hectares of farmland, a winery and transport companies. Falsone's mother, sister and brother were arrested as well.Mafia, confisca di beni per 2 milioni di euro
La Sicilia, August 5, 2004 In the

pizzini Pizzino (; plural as ''pizzini'') is an Italian language word derived from the Sicilian language equivalent ''pizzinu'' meaning "small piece of paper". The word has been widely used to refer to small slips of paper that the Sicilian Mafia uses for ...

(small slips of paper used to communicate with other mafiosi to avoid phone conversations) with

, Falsone was indicated as number 28.Il Codice Provenzano non ha più segreti
La Repubblica, December 18, 2007 In June 2008, Falsone just escaped his arrest. Police raided a house in

Palazzo Adriano Palazzo Adriano ( IPA: , aae, Pallaci, scn, U PalàzzuGasca Queirazza, Giuliano (ed.) (1990). ''Dizionario di toponomastica. Storia e significato dei nomi geografici italiani'', p. 468. UTET. ) is a town and ''comune'' of Arbëresh origin in t ...

, in the province of Palermo, but he was gone already.Ad un passo dal Capo, Falsone
Teleacras Agrigento, June 16, 2008 In March 2010, police seized more assets from Falsone worth €30 million. He was arrested on 25 June 2010 in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

(

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

). He had undergone plastic surgery and denied being Falsone showing a false French identity card, but his finger prints gave him away. At the time of his arrest he was considered to be the Mafia boss of the province of Agrigento by police investigators coordinated by Girolamo Di Fazio.Mafia, catturato in Francia Falsone
La Repubblica, June 25, 2010

References

External links

Giuseppe Falsone
Operazione Ghost 2
Teleacras Agrigento, June 22, 2006
Latitanti eccellenti, Falsone e Messina
Teleacras Agrigento, January 29, 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Falsone, Giuseppe 1970 births Living people Gangsters from the Province of Agrigento Sicilian mafiosi