The First Mafia War. When the narcotics changed Palermo’s mobs (1962-1969)
Keywords:
Palermo, Ciaculli, Anti-Mafia, Trials, Mafia War
Abstract
The first conviction of Cosa Nostra, as is well known, took place at the Maxi Trial (1986-1987). However, not everyone knows that many bosses had already been arrested twenty years earlier following the “First Mafia War” (1962-1963), a feud between clans culminated in the Ciaculli massacre (June 30, 1963). The martyrdom of seven soldiers was followed by the police first reaction, which in Palermo, in that summer, arrested two thousand people. This first anti-Mafia season fade so soon that, at the end of the legislature, the chairman of the parliamentary commission of inquiry delivered to Parliament a report of just three pages. In the wake of the failure to reach political conclusions, in the two trials in Catanzaro (Dec. 22, 1968) and Bari (June 10, 1969) nearly all the defendants, including Totò Riina, were acquitted for insufficient evidence. The author reconstructs in detail the internal conflict witihin the cosche to the point of outlining their political and judicial failures.
References
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Radius, E. (1963). Certi sospetti…,Corriere d’informazione, July 5.
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Report on wholesale markets (1970). In Antimafia, Leg. V, doc. XXIII no. 2-bis.
Report on the investigation concerning cases of individual Mafiosi (Individual Mafiosi) (1971). In Antimafia, Leg. V, doc. XXIII no. 2-quater.
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Turone, G. (1995). Il delitto di associazione mafiosa, Milano, Giuffrè.
Ugolini, U. (1963). Le indagini a Roma, L’Ora, February 4.
Arlacchi, P. (1992). Gli uomini del disonore. La mafia siciliana nella vita di un grande pentito Antonino Calderone, Milano, Mondadori.
Arlacchi, P. (1994). Addio Cosa nostra. La vita di Tommaso Buscetta, Milano, Rizzoli.
Bill No. 280, Nov. 27 (1958). In AP, Senate of the Republic, Leg. III, vol. IX.
Bolzoni, A. & D’Avanzo, G. (1993). Il capo dei capi. Vita e carriera criminale di Totò Riina, Milano, BUR.
Casarrubea, G. (2005). Storia segreta della Sicilia. Dallo sbarco alleato a Portella della Ginestra, Milano, Bompiani.
Catanzaro, R. (1988). Il delitto come impresa. Storia sociale della mafia, Padova, Liviana.
Cederna, A. (1956). I vandali in casa, Bari, Laterza.
Chinnici, G. & Santino, U. (1989). La violenza programmata. Omicidi e guerre di mafia a Palermo dagli anni ‘60 ad oggi, Milano, FrancoAngeli.
Chinnici, G. et al. (1992).Gabbie vuote. Processi per omicidio a Palermo dal 1983 al maxiprocesso, Milano, FrancoAngeli.
Coco, V. & Patti, M. (2010). Relazioni mafiose. La mafia ai tempi del fascismo, Roma, XL.
Coco, V. (2013). La mafia dei giardini. Storia delle cosche della Piana dei Colli, Roma-Bari, Laterza.
Coco, V. (2020). Poliziotti, carabinieri e mafiosi a Palermo (1962-1974), Italia contemporanea, (293), pp. 149-176.
Crainz, G. (2003). Storia del miracolo economico. Culture, identità, trasformazioni fra anni 50 e 60, Donzelli, Roma.
Di Lello, G. (1994). Giudici. Cinquant’anni di processi di mafia, Palermo, Sellerio.
Dickie, J. (2007). Cosa nostra. Storia della mafia siciliana, Roma-Bari, Laterza.
Dino, A. (2013). La mafia in aeroporto. Punta Raisi: cronaca di una speculazione annunciata, Historia Magistra, (2), pp. 16-34.
Discussions (1963). July 1, in AP, Chamber of Deputies, Leg. IV, pp. 145-146.
Frasca Polara, G. (1963). Centomila seguono le sette bare, l’Unità, July 3.
Garofalo, P. (1964). Discorso per l’inaugurazione dell’anno giudiziario 1964, pronounced January 11, 1964 in the General Assembly of the Court of Palermo.
Hobsbawm, E. J. (1995). Il secolo breve, 1914-1991. L’era dei grandi cataclismi, Milano, Rizzoli.
Inzerillo, S. M. (1984). Urbanistica e società negli ultimi duecento anni a Palermo. Crescita della città e politica amministrativa dalla ricostruzione al piano del 1962, Palermo, Istituto di urbanistica e pianificazione.
Judgment of indictment issued on June 23, 1964, by the investigating judge of the Court of Palermo in the criminal proceedings against Angelo La Barbera and others, accused of numerous crimes that occurred in the years 1959 to 1963 in the city of Palermo (La Barbera Investigation) (1964). In Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry on the Mafia (henceforth Antimafia), Documents attached to the Concluding Report, Leg. VIII, doc. XXIII no. 1/X, volume 17, 1981.
Judgment of indictment issued on May 8, 1965, by the investigating judge of the Court of Palermo in the criminal proceedings against Pietro Torretta and others, accused of numerous acts of bloodshed committed in Palermo and culminating in the Ciaculli massacre of June 30, 1963 (Torretta Investigation) (1965). In Antimafia, attached doc, tome 17.
Judgment handed down on June 25, 1968, by the Court of Palermo in which all defendants of criminal conspiracy who had been remanded for trial in the January 31, 1966 (1968) ruling of the investigating judge were acquitted for insufficient evidence. In Antimafia, attached doc, tome 14.
Judgment handed down on December 22, 1968, by the Catanzaro Court against Angelo La Barbera and others, accused of various murders, kidnappings, private violence and other crimes (Catanzaro Judgment) (1968). In Antimafia, attached doc, tome 17.
Judgment of acquittal handed down on June 10, 1969 by the Bari Court against Luciano Leggio, Salvatore Riina, Calogero Bagarella and others, charged with criminal conspiracy, murder and other crimes (Bari Judgment) (1969). In Antimafia, attached doc, tome 16.
Kefauver, E. (1953). Il gangsterismo in America, Torino, Einaudi.
Lanaro, S. (1992). Storia dell’Italia repubblicana. Dalla fine della guerra agli anni Novanta, Venezia, Marsilio.
Lupo, S. (2004). Storia della mafia. Dalle origini ai giorni nostri, Roma, Donzelli.
Lupo, S. (2008). Quando la mafia trovò l’America. Storia di un intreccio intercontinentale, 1888-2008, Torino, Einaudi.
Lupo, S. (2018). La mafia. Centosessant’anni di storia, Roma, Donzelli.
Marino, G. C. (2014). Storia della Mafia. Dall’”Onorata società” alla trattativa Stato-Mafia uno dei più inquietanti fenomeni del nostro tempo, Roma, Newton & Compton.
Mariotti, D. (1967). Omertà alla rovescia, Giornale di Sicilia, November 7.
Marrone, F. (1981). Come ti pratico l’omertà,Segno, (13), pp. 44-52.
Memo from Rumor (1963). October 23, in ASSR, FMR, MI, DGPS.
Menighetti, R. & Nicastro, F. (1998). Storia della Sicilia Autonoma, 1947-1996, Caltanissetta-Roma, Sciascia.
Mori, C. (1932). Con la mafia ai ferri corti, Milano, Mondadori.
Nasi, F. (1963). Clima gangsteristico, Il Giorno, July 5.
Natoli, A. (1954). Il sacco di Roma. La speculazione edilizia all’ombra del Campidoglio, speech to the City Council in the discussion on urban planning in Rome.
Papers, Jan. 29 (1964). In AP, Bicameral Inquiry Commissions, Leg. IV, p. 143.
Parliamentary Reports, September 7-9 (1961). In ARS, Leg. IV, pp. 971-977.
Parliamentary Reports, March 30 (1962). In ARS, Leg. IV, pp. 1007-1013.
Patti, M. (2014). La mafia alla sbarra. I processi fascisti a Palermo, Palermo, Istituto poligrafico europeo.
Pedone, F. (2019). La città che non c’era. Lo sviluppo urbano di Palermo nel secondo dopoguerra, Palermo, Istituto Poligrafico Europeo.
Perrone, E. (1963). Ritratto di “zù Vicè”, L’Ora, April 22.
Petruzzella, F. (a cura di) (1993). La posto in gioco. Il Pci di fronte alla mafia, 3 voll., Palermo, La Zisa.
Poggi, E. (1964). Discorso per l’inaugurazione dell’anno giudiziario 1964, pronounced on January 8 in the General Assembly of the Supreme Court, Rome.
Prefect Report to the Ministry of the Interior (1959). June 12, in ACS, MI, GAB, 1957-1960, b. 279, f. Palermo.
Prefect Memo to the Ministry of the Interior (1962). March 10, in ACS, MI, GAB, 1961-1963, b. 22, f. Palermo.
Prefect Note to the Ministry of the Interior (1963). September 3, in ACS, MI,GAB, 1961-1963, b. 309, f. Palermo.
Pumilia, C. (1998). La Sicilia al tempo della Democrazia cristiana, Soveria Mannelli, Rubbettino.
Radius, E. (1963). Certi sospetti…,Corriere d’informazione, July 5.
Report on the Municipality of Palermo (Bevivino Report) (1963). In Antimafia, Leg. V, doc. XXIII no. 2-ter.
Report on wholesale markets (1970). In Antimafia, Leg. V, doc. XXIII no. 2-bis.
Report on the investigation concerning cases of individual Mafiosi (Individual Mafiosi) (1971). In Antimafia, Leg. V, doc. XXIII no. 2-quater.
Report on the mafia trafficking of tobacco and drugs as well as on the relationship between the mafia and Italian-American gangsterism (Zuccalà Report) (1976). In Antimafia, Leg. VI, doc. XXIII, n. 2.
Report of majority (1976). In Antimafia, Leg. VI, doc. XXIII n. 2.
Report of minority deputies La Torre, Benedetti, Malagugini, senators Adamoli, Chiaramonte, Lugnano, Maffioletti as well as deputy Terranova (La Torre Report) (1976). In Antimafia, Leg. VI, doc. XXIII n. 2.
Servadio, G. (1974). Angelo La Barbera: the profile of a Mafia boss, London, Quartet Books.
Speech by Rumor (1963). Sept. 18, in ASSR, FMR, MI, DGPS.
Stabile, F. M. (1999). I consoli di Dio. Vescovi e politica in Sicilia, 1953-1963, Caltanissetta-Roma, Sciascia.
Stabile, F. M. (2013). La strage che impose il tema mafia come un problema nazionale, asud’europa, (26), pp. 3-5.
Telegrams to the Ministry of the Interior, July 1, 1963, in ACS, Presidency of the Council of Ministers, 1962-1964, Public Order, b. 1.1.2, f. Palermo.
Text of the appeal of PCI Sicilian Regional Committee, nd., in Sicilian Gramsci Institute Archives, Girolamo Li Causi Fund, b. 37, f. 7.
Tranfaglia, N. (2008). Mafia, politica e affari. 1943-2008, Roma-Bari, Laterza.
Turone, G. (1995). Il delitto di associazione mafiosa, Milano, Giuffrè.
Ugolini, U. (1963). Le indagini a Roma, L’Ora, February 4.
Published
2023-02-01
Section
Themes and perspectives
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