Paolo De Stefano (; died October 13, 1985) was an Italian
mobster
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from ''mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level of organization and ...
and member of the
'Ndrangheta
The 'Ndrangheta (, , ) is a prominent Italian Mafia-type organized crime syndicate and secret society, criminal society based in the peninsular and mountainous region of Calabria and dating back to the late 18th century. It is considered one of ...
who became the undisputed boss of Reggio Calabria. Together with his brothers Giovanni,
Giorgio and
Orazio Orazio is a male given name of Italian origin, derived from the Latin name ( ''nomen'') Horatius, from the Roman gens (clan) Horatia.
People so named include:
*Orazio Alfani (c. 1510–1583), Italian painter
* Orazio Antinori (1811–1882), Ita ...
he headed the
De Stefano 'ndrina
The De Stefano 'ndrina, or the De Stefano family or De Stefano-Tegano family, is one of the most powerful clans of the 'Ndrangheta, a criminal and mafia-type organisation in Calabria, Italy. The 'ndrina hailed from the Archi neighbourhood in Reg ...
.
Early years
De Stefano clan hailed from the Archi neighbourhood in
Reggio Calabria
Reggio di Calabria ( scn, label= Southern Calabrian, Riggiu; el, label= Calabrian Greek, Ρήγι, Rìji), usually referred to as Reggio Calabria, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, is the largest city in Calabria. It has an estimated popul ...
. Paolo and his brother Giorgio De Stefano went to university for several years.
[Arlacchi, ''Mafia Business'', p. 121] According to the
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 ...
Giacomo Lauro, who held important positions in the Reggio Calabria clans: ''“In 1970 … the De Stefanos … were nobody, they were nobody. The De Stefano brothers became the owners of Reggio Calabria after the war, the first mafia war. … I do not want to swear, but who the fuck were the De Stefanos in the 1970s? They had killed a certain Sergi for four oxen, for a fraud of four oxen in Modena … These were the De Stefanos. They committed petty fraud for four cows, … then with cigarettes.”''
[
The De Stefano brothers would come to prominence as members of the clan of ]Domenico Tripodo
Domenico Tripodo (; − August 26, 1976) was an Italians, Italian criminal and a historical and charismatic boss of the 'Ndrangheta dominating the city of Reggio Calabria and the surrounding areas. Also known as Don Mico Tripodo he was one of the ...
, the old capobastone
The Capobastone is a high-ranking 'Ndrangheta who is in charge of a 'ndrina. It is the Calabrian equivalent for the Sicilian ''Capomandamento''.
Rule
In a 'ndrina, the Capobastone make the most important decisions, and report only at the "Capo ...
of Reggio Calabria, who had acquired considerable financial resources through tobacco smuggling. Within two years (as a result of the First 'Ndrangheta war
The First 'Ndrangheta war was an internal struggle in the 'Ndrangheta, a Mafia-type criminal organisation in Calabria (southern Italy). The conflict raged from 1974 to 1977 and resulted in approximately 233 deaths.Dickie, ''Mafia Republic: Italy's ...
in 1974-1976) they moved from being simple 'Ndranghetisti to being the new "lords" of Reggio Calabria.[Paoli, ''Mafia Brotherhoods'', pp. 50-51] They won a monopoly of construction work in northern Reggio Calabria, moving the rival Tripodo group out of the market of public work contracts with the support of the Piromalli and Mammolito cosche.[Arlacchi, ''Mafia Business'', p. 156] They also robbed a shipment of smuggled tobacco belonging to Tripodo.[Relazione mafie nel Lazio: Le famiglie mafiose operanti nel Lazio]
LiberaInformazione
Paolo’s brother Giovanni De Stefano was killed in 1974 and his other brother Giorgio was wounded. The attack triggered the First 'Ndrangheta war. Tripodo was arrested in February 1975 and incarcerated in the Poggioreale prison in Naples. He was killed with the help of boss Raffaele Cutolo
Raffaele Cutolo (; 4 November 1941 – 17 February 2021) was an Italian crime boss, leader of the Nuova Camorra Organizzata (NCO), an organisation he built to renew the Camorra. Cutolo had a variety of nicknames including o Vangelo'' ("the gos ...
, the boss of the Nuova Camorra Organizzata
The Nuova Camorra Organizzata (Italian: New Organized Camorra) was an Italian Camorra criminal organization founded in the late 1970s by a Neapolitan Camorrista, Raffaele Cutolo, in the region of Campania. It was also known by the initials NCO. ...
(NCO) who worked with the De Stefano’s in drug trafficking.[, Nisio Palmieri, Dossier della Fondazione Cesar e dell’Associazione Sicurstrada per conto della Consulta Nazionale dei Consigli Regionali Unipol Assicurazioni]
Political connections
The De Stefano brothers had connections with the political right in all its political expressions (that is, from the official party, the Movimento Sociale Italiano
The Italian Social Movement ( it, Movimento Sociale Italiano, MSI) was a neo-fascist political party in Italy. A far-right party, it presented itself until the 1990s as the defender of Italian fascism's legacy, and later moved towards national ...
, up to the extra-parliamentary movements) and actively supported them in the organisation of the revolt that took place in Reggio Calabria in 1970 against making Catanzaro the regional capital.[Godson, ''Menace to Society'', p. 42] He also supported prince Junio Valerio Borghese
Junio Valerio Scipione Ghezzo Marcantonio Maria Borghese (6 June 1906 – 26 August 1974), nicknamed The Black Prince, was an Regia Marina, Italian Navy commander during the regime of Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party and a prominent har ...
and his plans for a neo-fascist coup. The so-called Golpe Borghese
The ''Golpe Borghese'' (English: Borghese Coup) was a failed Italian ''coup d'état'' allegedly planned for the night of 7 or 8 December 1970. It was named after Junio Valerio Borghese, wartime commander of the Decima Flottiglia MAS and a her ...
fizzled out in the night of December 8, 1970.[
In the second half of the 1970s, he co-founded with ]Girolamo Piromalli
Girolamo Piromalli (October 7, 1918 – February 11, 1979), also known as ''Mommo'', was an Italian mobster and member of the 'Ndrangheta. He was capobastone (head of command) of the Piromalli 'ndrina based in his home town Gioia Tauro on the ...
'' La Santa'', a branch of the Italian 'ndrangheta Born with the purpose of establishing permanent contacts between the Freemasonry, the ''mafia'' and political world.
De Stefano entered in a masonic lodge
A Masonic lodge, often termed a private lodge or constituent lodge, is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also commonly used as a term for a building in which such a unit meets. Every new lodge must be warranted or chartered ...
in order to better take care of business and political interests. His cousin Giorgio De Stefano was prosecuted and jailed for his activity as mediator between the Freemasonry-''mafia'' and a set of prominent Italian politicians.
Paul supported his cousin, the lawyer Giorgio De Stefano, to be elected for the Christian Democrat
Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism.
It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...
party (DC - Democrazia Cristiana
Christian Democracy ( it, Democrazia Cristiana, DC) was a Christian democratic political party in Italy. The DC was founded on 15 December 1943 in the Italian Social Republic (Nazi-occupied Italy) as the ideal successor of the Italian People's ...
).[
After the First 'Ndrangheta war, De Stefano became one of the undisputed bosses of Reggio Calabria, and attracted significant police attention. He was convicted in the maxi trial against the 'Ndrangheta in 1979 (known as de Stefano+59 trial) and sent into internal banishment, a legal measure to dislodge mafiosi from their home towns. He fled to France and in 1983 he was arrested in Cap d'Antibes on the ]Côte d'Azur
The French Riviera (known in French as the ; oc, Còsta d'Azur ; literal translation " Azure Coast") is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is usually considered to extend fro ...
. However, due to pre-arrest bail (Italian: libertà su cauzione), release on ground of health and being a fugitive, he did not spend many days in jail.[
]
Second 'Ndrangheta war
A second 'Ndrangheta war was triggered by the marriage between Giuseppina Condello – the sister of the Condello brothers, underbosses of De Stefano – and Antonio Imerti
Antonio Imerti (; born on August 22, 1946 in Villa San Giovanni), also known as ''Nano feroce'' ("fierce dwarf"), is an Italian criminal and a member of the 'Ndrangheta, the Calabrian mafia. He was born in Villa San Giovanni and controlled the Fium ...
, the leader of a neighbouring '''ndrina
The 'ndrina (, plural: ; , plural: ) is the basic unit of the 'Ndrangheta of Calabria, made up of blood relatives, and is the equivalent of the Sicilian Mafia’s "family" or ''cosca''.Varese, How Mafias Migrate'Gratteri & Nicaso ''Fratelli di ...
'' in Villa San Giovanni
Villa San Giovanni is a port city and a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria of Calabria, Italy. In 2010 its population was 13,747 with a decrease of 2.5% until 2016 and in 2020 an increase of 3.7% . It is an important termina ...
. The conflict exploded in 1985, two years after the marriage and saw practically all the ‘ndrine in the city of Reggio Calabria grouped into either one of two opposing factions. De Stefano had become fearful of the new alliance that might challenge his power base. A failed attempt on Antonio Imerti triggered the murder of Paolo De Stefano on October 13, 1985,[Ucciso il 're delle cosche' e ora lotta per la successione]
La Repubblica, October 15, 1985[Paoli, ''Mafia Brotherhoods'', pp. 88-89] by the brothers Paolo and Domenico Condello
Domenico Condello (; 4 November 1956), also known as ''Micu 'u pacciu'' ("Micu the madman"), is an Italian criminal belonging to the 'Ndrangheta, a Mafia-type criminal organisation in Calabria.
Criminal history
Born in the Archi neighbourhood o ...
.[Catturati a Reggio Calabria i killer del boss De Stefano]
La Repubblica, January 7, 1988 The bloody six-year war between the Condello-Imerti clan and De Stefano allied with the Tegano clan left 621 deaths.[Godfather's arrest fuels fear of bloody conflict]
The Observer, February 24, 2008
La Repubblica, February 19, 2008[Relazione annuale]
Commissione parlamentare d’inchiesta sul fenomeno della criminalità organizzata mafiosa o similare, July 30, 2003
According to the sociologist Pino Arlacchi
Giuseppe Arlacchi, also known as Pino (born 21 February 1951), is an Italian sociologist and is well known worldwide for his studies and essays about the Mafia. He represents the Democratic Party and is a member of the Socialists and Democrats ...
, the background of the war was the attempt of the De Stefano brothers to turn their accumulated wealth and power to account by claiming contracts for the Gioia Tauro
Gioia Tauro () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria (Italy), on the Tyrrhenian coast. It has an important port, situated along the route connecting Suez to Gibraltar, one of the busiest maritime corridors in t ...
port. The resulting clash with the Piromalli family, whose monopoly this was, half destroyed the De Stefano cosca
A ''cosca'' (; pl. ''cosche'' in Italian and ''coschi'' in Sicilian), in Sicily, is a clan or Sicilian Mafia crime family led by a capo.
The equivalent in the 'Ndrangheta in Calabria is the '' 'ndrina''.
Etymology
A ''cosca'' is the crown of ...
and left the leader, Paolo De Stefano, dead.[Arlacchi, ''Mafia Business'', p. 157]
Succession
Paolo’s brother Orazio De Stefano Orazio is a male given name of Italian origin, derived from the Latin name ( ''nomen'') Horatius, from the Roman gens (clan) Horatia.
People so named include:
* Orazio Alfani (c. 1510–1583), Italian painter
*Orazio Antinori (1811–1882), Ita ...
and his cousin, the lawyer Giorgio De Stefano, took over the leadership of the clan. Both were seen as the main mentor of the "pax mafiosa" that ended the Second 'Ndrangheta war.['Ndrangheta, preso De Stefano]
''La Repubblica
''la Repubblica'' (; the Republic) is an Italian daily general-interest newspaper. It was founded in 1976 in Rome by Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso (now known as GEDI Gruppo Editoriale) and led by Eugenio Scalfari, Carlo Caracciolo and Arnoldo ...
'', February 22, 2004 Subsequently, Paolo’s son Giuseppe De Stefano became the boss. He was arrested in December 2008.[Arrestato Giuseppe De Stefano capocosca della 'ndrangheta]
La Repubblica, December 10, 2008 His other son Carmine De Stefano had been arrested in December 2001.[Colpo alla 'ndrangheta. Preso a Reggio Calabria il superboss De Stefano]
Corriere della Sera, December 9, 2001
According to prosecutor Salvatore Boemi, De Stefano was the representation of the manager-criminal controlling a crime multinational with joint ventures with Raffaele Cutolo
Raffaele Cutolo (; 4 November 1941 – 17 February 2021) was an Italian crime boss, leader of the Nuova Camorra Organizzata (NCO), an organisation he built to renew the Camorra. Cutolo had a variety of nicknames including o Vangelo'' ("the gos ...
from the and Nitto Santapaola
Benedetto Santapaola (; born 4 June 1938), better known as Nitto, is a prominent mafioso from Catania, the main city and industrial centre on Sicily's east coast. His nickname is ''il cacciatore'' (the hunter), because of his passion for shooting ...
and Francesco Ferrera from Cosa Nostra
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 ...
in Catania
Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...
.[L’atteggiarsi delle associazioni mafiose sulla base delle esperienze processuali acquisite: la ’ndrangheta]
, by Salvatore Boemi, prosecutor in Reggio Calabria
References
*Arlacchi, Pino (1988). ''Mafia Business. The Mafia Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism'', Oxford: Oxford University Press
*Godson, Roy (2003).
Menace to Society: Political-Criminal Collaboration Around the World
', Edison (NJ): Transaction Publishers
*Paoli, Letizia (2003).
Mafia Brotherhoods: Organized Crime, Italian Style
', New York: Oxford University Press
by Klaus Von Lampe)
by Alexandra V. Orlova)
{{DEFAULTSORT:De Stefano, Paolo
1985 deaths
1985 crimes in Italy
People from Reggio Calabria
De Stefano 'ndrina
'Ndranghetisti
Murdered 'Ndranghetisti
Year of birth missing