Leonardo Vitale (; 27 June 1941 – 2 December 1984) 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 ...

who was one of the first to become an

informant An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a “snitch”) is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law-enforcement world, where informant ...

, or ''

pentito ''Pentito'' (; lit. "repentant"; plural: ''pentiti'') is used colloquially to designate collaborators of justice in Italian criminal procedure terminology who were formerly part of criminal organizations and decided to collaborate with a public ...

'', although originally his confessions were not taken seriously. Vitale was a " man of honour" or member of the Altarello di Baida '' cosca'' or family, Altarello being a small village just outside

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for its ...

Background

In 1960, at the age of 19, Vitale was affiliated to the clan mafia of Altarello, which was led by his uncle Giovanbattista "Titta". Vitale carried out

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, ...

s of construction companies on the orders of his uncle and his associate Giuseppe Calò, later being promoted to

capodecina A (literally 'head of ten',Schneider, ''Reversible Destiny'', p. 83 also called caporegime in the American Mafia) is the head of a , a branch within a Sicilian Mafia family. In the larger families, a is selected by the head of the family and coo ...

. In 1972, Vitale was arrested on suspicion of being implicated in the kidnapping of the manufacturer Luciano Cassina, but was released after a week of isolation in the prison of Asinara. Whilst held in custody, he had showed signs of depression that led to

coprophagia Coprophagia () or coprophagy () is the consumption of feces. The word is derived from the grc, κόπρος , "feces" and , "to eat". Coprophagy refers to many kinds of feces-eating, including eating feces of other species (heterospecifics), of ...

and practiced

self mutilation Self-harm is intentional behavior that is considered harmful to oneself. This is most commonly regarded as direct injury of one's own skin tissues usually without a suicidal intention. Other terms such as cutting, self-injury and self-mutilatio ...

as his own act of

contrition In Christianity, contrition or contriteness (, i.e. crushed by guilt) is repentance for sins one has committed. The remorseful person is said to be ''contrite''. A central concept in much of Christianity, contrition is regarded as the first st ...

; doctors subjected him to

electroconvulsive therapy Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a psychiatric treatment where a generalized seizure (without muscular convulsions) is electrically induced to manage refractory mental disorders.Rudorfer, MV, Henry, ME, Sackeim, HA (2003)"Electroconvulsive th ...

. On 29 March 1973, Vitale walked into a Palermo

police station A police station (sometimes called a "station house" or just "house") is a building which serves to accommodate police officers and other members of staff. These buildings often contain offices and accommodation for personnel and vehicles, a ...

and declared that he was a member of the Mafia and confessed to various acts of

arson Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wate ...

and two

homicide Homicide occurs when a person kills another person. A homicide requires only a volitional act or omission that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from accidental, reckless, or negligent acts even if there is no inten ...

s.Stille, ''Excellent Cadavers'', p. 92 In front of police officers he explained how a Mafia family is organised and revealed the existence of the

Sicilian Mafia Commission The Sicilian Mafia Commission (Italian: ''Commissione provinciale''), known as Commissione or Cupola, is a body of leading Sicilian Mafia members to decide on important questions concerning the actions of, and settling disputes within the Sicili ...

, more than a decade before

Tommaso Buscetta Tommaso Buscetta (; 13 July 1928 – 2 April 2000) was an Italian mobster and a member of the Sicilian Mafia. He became one of the first of its members to turn informant and explain the inner workings of the organization. Buscetta participated i ...

exposed Mafia secrets to judges who were prepared to listen.Dickie, ''Cosa Nostra'', pp. 265-268 In explaining why he had turned himself in, something that was unheard of from a mafioso at that point, Vitale claimed to have had a spiritual crisis and wanted to unburden himself. In 1977, Vitale's testimony led to 28 defendants being indicted, all of which were acquitted due to lack of evidence and the doubt surrounding Vitale's mental state by pointing out his erratic behaviour, except for himself and his uncle who were imprisoned. While testifying against his fellow Mafiosi, Vitale reminisced about his life: ''"I have made a fool of my life, by the evil that has rained on me from the time I was a child... My sin was having being born into a Mafia family and of having lived in a society where everyone is a Mafioso and are respected for it; while those who are not are treated with contempt."''Stille, ''Excellent Cadavers'', p. 176Jonathan White, ''Italy: The Enduring Culture'', Continuum International Publishing Group, 2006,
Google Print, p. 268
/ref> Vitale spent most of his time in a

mental asylum The lunatic asylum (or insane asylum) was an early precursor of the modern psychiatric hospital. The fall of the lunatic asylum and its eventual replacement by modern psychiatric hospitals explains the rise of organized, institutional psychiatry ...

, before being released in June 1984. On 2 December 1984, he was shot dead as he left a

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chri ...

after attending

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different ele ...

with his mother and sister.Stille, ''Excellent Cadavers'', p. 150

Legacy

Later in 1984,

became an informant and gave a vast amount of information on the Mafia in Sicily that subsequently backed up a lot of Vitale's own testimony. Vitale's original written testimony was used in the

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 ...

several years later, where Magistrate

Giovanni Falcone Giovanni Falcone (; 18 May 1939 – 23 May 1992) was an Italian judge and prosecuting magistrate. From his office in the Palace of Justice in Palermo, Sicily, he spent most of his professional life trying to overthrow the power of the Sicilian ...

declared that "it is to be hoped that at least after his death Vitale will get the credence he deserved." According to Falcone, the Mafia understood the importance of Vitale's revelations much better than the Italian justice system at the time and killed him when the moment was most opportune.

References

*Dickie, John (2004), ''Cosa Nostra. A history of the Sicilian Mafia'', New York: Palgrave MacMillan, * Stille, Alexander (1995). ''Excellent Cadavers. The Mafia and the Death of the First Italian Republic'', New York: Vintage
Biographies of Mafia bosses

"L’importanza di Leonardo Vitale"
by Giovanni Falcone, Antimafia duemila, June 2003. {{DEFAULTSORT:Vitale, Leonardo 1941 births 1984 deaths Gangsters from Palermo Pentiti Murdered Mafiosi People murdered in Italy