Rosario Riccobono (February 10, 1929 in Palermo – November 30, 1982 in Palermo) was a member of the Sicilian

Mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...

. He was the boss of Partanna Mondello, a suburb of Palermo, his native city. In 1974 he became a member 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 ...

. During the 1970s Riccobono was one of the most influential members of the Commission, and the Cosa Nostra's king of the drug trafficking.

Heroin trafficker

He was involved in heroin trafficking throughout the 1970s and went on the run at the end of that decade after he came under suspicion of running an operation to smuggle heroin from

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

through Sicily and on to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. His right-hand man was the future

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 ...

Gaspare Mutolo Gaspare Mutolo (Palermo, February 5, 1940) is a Sicilian mafioso, also known as "Asparino".Nitto Santapaola from Catania.

Second Mafia war

As capo mandamento he became a member the Commission, the coordinating body of Cosa Nostra in Sicily, in 1974. He was initially close to other important heroin traffickers such as

Stefano Bontade Stefano Bontade (23 April 1939 – 23 April 1981) was a powerful member of the Sicilian Mafia. His actual surname was Bontate. He was the boss of the Santa Maria di Gesù Family in Palermo. He was also known as the ''Principe di Villagrazia'' (Prin ...

Salvatore Inzerillo Salvatore Inzerillo (; 20 August 1944 – 11 May 1981) was an Italian member of the Sicilian Mafia, also known as Totuccio (a diminutive for Salvatore). He rose to be a powerful boss of Palermo's Passo di Rigano family. A prolific heroin traffick ...

and

Gaetano Badalamenti Gaetano Badalamenti (; 14 September 1923 – 29 April 2004) was a powerful member of the Sicilian Mafia. ''Don Tano'' Badalamenti was the capofamiglia of his hometown Cinisi, Sicily, and headed the Sicilian Mafia Commission in the 1970s. In 19 ...

who opposed the rising power of Salvatore Riina and his Corleonesi. He tried to keep a neutral position, but became more and more isolated, trusting his alliance with the head of the Commission

Michele Greco Michele Greco (; 12 May 1924 – 13 February 2008) was a member of the Sicilian Mafia and a convicted murderer. Greco died in prison while serving multiple life sentences. His nickname was ''Il Papa'' ("The Pope") due to his ability to mediate be ...

, who, however, secretly sided with the Corleonesi.La mafia siciliana
, Guido Lo Forte, 1999 During the Second Mafia War that broke out in 1981 with the murder of Bontade and Inzerillo, Riccobono expediently sided with the Corleonesi. He lured a number of

and

's friends to their deaths on behalf of Riina.Stille, ''Excellent Cadavers'', pp. 111-12 Those that went along, such as Inzerillo's brother and Emanuele D’Agostino, were never seen again. One of the men he tried to ensnare was

Salvatore Contorno Salvatore Contorno (; born 28 May 1946), called Totuccio, is a former member of the Sicilian Mafia who turned into a state witness (''pentito'') against Cosa Nostra in October 1984, following the example of Tommaso Buscetta. He gave detailed acco ...

, but Contorno was suspicious and fled into hiding. He subsequently went on to become a

, cooperating with the government.

Killed by the Corleonesi

However, turning against his former allies made Riccobono an untrustworthy man and Riina decided to turn against him after he had taken care of Bontade and Inzerillo. Unlike with other Mafia families, Riina had never succeeded in infiltrating the Mafia family of Riccobono with men loyal to the Corleonesi. Riina was not able to control Riccobono and needed the charismatic boss out of the way, not in the least to reward his other allies in Palermo with parts of Riccobono’s territory. Riccobono and eight of his men vanished without trace at the end of November 1982. The men were separated off from each other at a dinner at Michele Greco’s estate and strangled one by one by their table companions.Paoli, ''Mafia Brotherhoods'', pp. 92-93 Riccobono was just taking his after-dinner nap. Three of his associates were gunned down a few days later and his brother, Vito Riccobono, was found

decapitated Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the i ...

in his car. Within a few days Riccobono’s entourage was eliminated. One of the few who survived was Riccobono’s erstwhile driver Salvatore Lo Piccolo, who rose to power twenty years later.Una "carriera" con Riina e Provenzano
La Repubblica, November 5, 2007 For a while the Italian media blamed another foe of Riina,

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 ...

, as being responsible for wiping out the Riccobono

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 ...

, as revenge for the recent slayings of Buscetta's two sons. In fact Buscetta had nothing to do with the killing of Riccobono and his men; he was hiding out in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

at the time.Stille, ''Excellent Cadavers'', p. 96 A number of informants have said that

Pino Greco Pino or Piño may refer to: People * Danny Pino (born 1974), American actor * Domenico Pino (1760–1826), Italian general of the Napoleonic Wars * Fernando Solanas (born 1936), aka "Pino" Solanas, Argentine filmmaker * Frank J. Pino (1909� ...

was the man who personally garrotted Riccobono and subsequently orchestrated the murders of a dozen of Riccobono's associates and relatives. Rosario Riccobono was given an ''

in absentia is Latin for absence. , a legal term, is Latin for "in the absence" or "while absent". may also refer to: * Award in absentia * Declared death in absentia, or simply, death in absentia, legally declared death without a body * Election in ab ...

life sentence Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes fo ...

at 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 ...

even though he was dead by then.Stille, ''Excellent Cadavers'', p. 210 Rumours of his death emerged in the mid-1980s but were not confirmed until the end of that decade through the informant

Francesco Marino Mannoia Francesco Marino Mannoia (born 5 March 1951) is a former member of the Sicilian Mafia who became a pentito (government witness) in 1989. His nickname was ''Mozzarella''. He is considered to be one of the most reliable government witnesses against ...

.'Ecco gli orrori di Palermo'
La Repubblica, December 6, 1989 His body has never been found.

Caravaggio

At one point, Riccobono was believed to have been in the possession of Caravaggio's ''

Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence ''Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence'' is a painting of the nativity of Jesus from 1609 by Italian painter Caravaggio. It has been missing since 1969 when it was stolen from the Oratory of Saint Lawrence in Palermo. Investigators believe ...

'', one of the most famous stolen pieces of artwork.Will we ever see it again?
The Daily Telegraph, february 5, 2005

References and external links

* Paoli, Letizia (2003). ''Mafia Brotherhoods: Organized Crime, Italian Style'', Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press * Stille, Alexander (1995). ''Excellent Cadavers. The Mafia and the Death of the First Italian Republic'', New York: Vintage {{DEFAULTSORT:Riccobono, Rosario 1929 births 1982 deaths Gangsters from Palermo Sicilian mafiosi Sicilian Mafia Commission Mafiosi murdered by the Corleonesi