A series of meetings between

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 ...

and

American Mafia The American Mafia, commonly referred to in North America as the Italian American Mafia, the Mafia, or the Mob, is a highly organized Italian American criminal society and organized crime group. The organization is often referred to by its membe ...

members were allegedly held at the

Grand Hotel et des Palmes The Grand Hotel et des Palmes is a historic hotel in Palermo, Sicily, on the central Via Roma. The building was built on the initiative of the Ingham-Whitaker family in 1874 and used as a private residence. The house was connected by a secret ...

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 ...

, Sicily, between October 12–16, 1957. Also called the 1957 Palermo Mafia summit, the summit discussed the international illegal

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and brow ...

trade in the French Connection. The FBI believed it was this meeting that established the Bonanno crime family in the heroin trade.Shawcross & Young, ''Men Of Honour'', p. 44-45

Origins of reputed purpose

This "heroin summit" was described by journalist

Claire Sterling Claire Sterling ( née Neikind; October 21, 1919 – June 17, 1995) was an American author and journalist whose work focused on crime, political assassination, and terrorism. Her theories on Soviet bloc involvement in international terrorism and t ...

: "Although there is no firsthand evidence of what went on at the four-day summit itself, what followed over the next thirty years has made the substance clear. Authorities on both sides of the Atlantic are persuaded by now that the American delegation asked the Sicilians to take over the import and distribution of heroin in the United States, and the Sicilians agreed."Sterling, ''Octopus'', p. 85 However, she fails to back this claim with solid evidence. Sterling even has the dates of the alleged meeting wrong. At the time, although the Sicilian Mafia was involved to some extent in the heroin business all through the 1950s and 1960s, it never had anything more than a secondary role in the world drugs system. According to the McClellan Hearings, Sicily was no more than a staging-post in the shipment of French-produced heroin to the USA. Until the 1970s, Sicilian mafiosi were prevented from acquiring any

oligopoly An oligopoly (from Greek ὀλίγος, ''oligos'' "few" and πωλεῖν, ''polein'' "to sell") is a market structure in which a market or industry is dominated by a small number of large sellers or producers. Oligopolies often result from ...

on the heroin market because they were not competitive in comparison with other European criminal groups, in particular the French Connection by Corsican groups in Marseille.Arlacchi, ''Mafia Business'', p. 203, quoting: US Senate, ''Organized Crime and Illicit Traffic in Narcotics'', Report of the Committee on Government Operations, Washington DC, 1965 The first mention of the "summit" in the United States was during the McClellan Hearings on October 10–16, 1963. Among the American mafiosi present were Joe Bonanno, his underbosses and advisors

Carmine Galante Carmine Galante (; February 21, 1910 – July 12, 1979) was an American mobster. Galante was rarely seen without a cigar hanging from is mouth, leading to the nickname "The Cigar" and "Lilo" (a Sicilian term for cigar). Galante had a long career ...

John Bonventre John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

and

Frank Garofalo Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Curre ...

, as well as

Lucky Luciano Charles "Lucky" Luciano (, ; born Salvatore Lucania ; November 24, 1897 – January 26, 1962) was an Italian-born gangster who operated mainly in the United States. Luciano started his criminal career in the Five Points gang and was instrumenta ...

Santo Sorge Santo Sorge (Mussomeli, January 11, 1908 – New York, May, 1972) was a Sicilian Mafioso living in the United States. His exact role has never been very clear; he was one of the great 'unknowns' of the Sicilian and American Mafia. He was one of t ...

, John Di Bella, Vito Vitale and Gaspare Magaddino. While among the Sicilian side there were Salvatore "Little Bird" Greco and his cousin Salvatore Greco, also known as "l'ingegnere" or "Totò il lungo",

Giuseppe Genco Russo Giuseppe Genco Russo (26 January 1893 – 18 March 1976) was an Italian mafioso, the boss of Mussomeli in the Province of Caltanissetta, Sicily. Genco Russo, also known as "Zi Peppi Jencu", was an uncouth, sly, semi-literate thug with excell ...

, Vincenzo Rimi and Filippo Rimi, Angelo La Barbera, Gaetano Badalamenti, Totò Minore,

Rosario Mancino Rosario () is the largest city in the central provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west bank of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third-most populous ci ...

Calcedonio Di Pisa Calcedonio Di Pisa (; 11 October 1931 – 26 December 1962), also known as Doruccio, was a member of the Sicilian Mafia. He was the boss of the Mafia family in the Noce neighbourhood in Palermo and sat on the first Sicilian Mafia Commission, the ...

Cesare Manzella Cesare Manzella (; December 18, 1897 – April 26, 1963) was a traditional Mafia capo, who sat on the first Sicilian Mafia Commission. He was the head of the Mafia family in Cinisi, a small seaside town near the Punta Raisi Airport. As the airport ...

, Gioacchino Pennino and Tommaso Buscetta.Sterling, ''Octopus'', p. 83

No first-hand accounts

There are no first-hand accounts of the meeting, except for the version of Mafia

turncoat A turncoat is a person who shifts allegiance from one loyalty or ideal to another, betraying or deserting an original cause by switching to the opposing side or party. In political and social history, this is distinct from being a traitor, as the ...

Tommaso Buscetta, who denied a summit ever took place at all. According to Buscetta, Bonanno did stay at the Grand Hotel des Palmes and received many guests all the time, but there was no summit as such.Arlacchi, ''Addio Cosa nostra'', p. 60-63 In his memoirs, Joe Bonanno mentions his trip to Palermo, but says nothing about a summit.See Bonanno's autobiography ''A Man of Honour'' (1983) According to Buscetta a gathering took place in a private room at the Spanò seafood restaurant on the evening of October 12, 1957, where Bonanno was fêted as the guest of honour by his old friend

. Among the other guests were Bonanno’s underboss

, the brothers Salvatore and Angelo La Barbera, Salvatore "Little Bird" Greco, Gaetano Badalamenti, Gioacchino Pennino,

Filippo Filippo is an Italian male given name, which is the equivalent of the English name Philip, from the Greek ''Philippos'', meaning "amante dei cavalli".''Behind the Name''"Given Name Philip" Retrieved on 23 January 2016. The female variant is Filip ...

and Vincenzo Rimi, and Tommaso Buscetta. According to Buscetta, it was at this dinner that Bonanno suggested to form a Sicilian Mafia Commission to avoid violent disputes, following the example of the American Mafia that had formed their Commission in the 1930s. The Italian police had been following Luciano and in so doing found out about the meetings. They observed the gatherings. However, the report was buried in some filing cabinet in Palermo. A copy was sent to the Federal Bureau of Narcotics in Washington. Only eight years later the report was used to indict the participants and some of their associates in Palermo.Police in Sicily Say U. S. Mafia Attended '57 Parley
The New York Times, January 2, 1968

Trial against participants

In August 1965, the Palermo public prosecutors indicted 17 main participants associated with the Sicilian and American Mafia by judge Aldo Vigneri for criminal conspiracy and narcotics and currency rackets that allegedly started with the 1957 Palermo summit.Italy Seizes 10 in the Mafia Linked With Gang in US
The New York Times, August 3, 1965 Among the indicted were Bonanno, Bonventre, Galante, Sorge, Magaddino,

John Priziola John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

, Raffaele Quasarano, Frank Coppola and Joe Adonis. The Court of Palermo dismissed the charges in June 1968 because of lack of evidence.Cosa Nostra Men Cleared In Sicily; 7 From U.S. Are Among 17 Acquitted in Rackets Case
The New York Times, June 26, 1968 What can be said about the events in October 1957 in Palermo is that the gatherings reforged the links between the most Sicilian of the American Five Families, the Bonanno Crime Family, and the most American of the Sicilian Mafia families. It was not a conference between "the"

and "the"

American Cosa Nostra The American Mafia, commonly referred to in North America as the Italian American Mafia, the Mafia, or the Mob, is a highly organized Italian American criminal society and organized crime group. The organization is often referred to by its memb ...

as such.Dickie, ''Cosa Nostra'', p. 295-96 Heroin trafficking between these two groups might have been discussed, but there certainly was not a general agreement on the heroin trade between "the" Sicilian Mafia and "the" American Cosa Nostra. The important result of 1957 Palermo gatherings was that the Sicilian Mafia composed its first Sicilian Mafia Commission and appointed "Little Bird" Greco as its first "primus inter pares".Gambetta, ''The Sicilian Mafia'', p. 110-12

References

* Arlacchi, Pino (1994). ''Addio Cosa nostra: La vita di Tommaso Buscetta'', Milan: Rizzoli *Arlacchi, Pino (1988). ''Mafia Business. The Mafia Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism'', Oxford: Oxford University Press *Bonanno, Joseph & Sergio Lalli (1983). ''A Man of Honour. The Autobiography of a Godfather'', London: André Deutsch Ltd. *Dickie, John (2004). ''Cosa Nostra. A history of the Sicilian Mafia'', London: Coronet *Gambetta, Diego (1993).''The Sicilian Mafia: The Business of Private Protection'', London: Harvard University Press, *Shawcross, Tim & Martin Young (1987). ''Men Of Honour: The Confessions of Tommaso Buscetta'', Collins *Sterling, Claire (1990). ''Octopus. How the long reach of the Sicilian Mafia controls the global narcotics trade'', New York: Simon & Schuster, {{DEFAULTSORT:Grand Hotel des Palmes Mafia meeting 1957 History of the Sicilian Mafia Organized crime events in Italy Mafia meetings 1957 in Italy History of Palermo 1957 conferences 1957 crimes in Italy