Sicilian Mafia and Italian Parapolitics Lecture Notes

Practice vocabulary flashcards defining key historical figures, events, and concepts relating to the Sicilian Mafia, the Christian Democracy party, and postwar Italian parapolitics.

Calogero Vizzini (Don Calò)

Villalba mafia boss (1877-1954) emblematic of the mafia during the liberation of Sicily, paired with Genco Russo of Mussomeli.

Yellow handkerchief legend

A story alleging mafia assistance in the Allied landing; the slides address how Dickie evaluates the legend and place historians against Michele Pantaleone.

Shootout in Villalba (1944)

A 1944 gun battle between Calogero Vizzini's side, Michele Pantaleone, and the Communist leader Li Causi, allowing Don Calò to consolidate his power.

Genovese and Poletti

Scott's example of parapolitics (Part 1), as depicted in the Lucky Luciano film.

Mafia and the DC (1948)

Open campaigning by mafiosi on behalf of the Christian Democracy (DC) before the 1948 election, featuring figures like Genco Russo at a DC rally.

Ciaculli war (1946-47)

A mafia conflict in Palermo's tangerine area where two Ciaculli bosses were killed in 1946 by the Giardini Grecos under Piddu Greco.

Salvatore Giuliano

Bandit from Montelepre (1922-50) called the 'last bandit', linked to the mafia, tied to MIS/EVIS, and noted for $430$ murders.

Portella della Ginestra (1947)

A massacre of leftist celebrants that left $11$ dead and $33$ wounded after the blocco del popolo won about $30\%$ of the vote.

Michele Navarra

Corleone capo and physician (1905-58) with DC connections who was ambushed and killed in 1958.

Luciano Leggio

Michele Navarra's upstart rival (1925-93) initiated in 1945; acquitted of Navarra's murder in 1969, convicted on appeal in 1970, and died in prison in 1993.

Placido Rizzotto

PCI trade union leader (1914-48) murdered in March 1948 in Corleone under the orders of Michele Navarra.

Salvatore 'Totò' Riina

Corleonese mafioso (1930-2017) who took over running the Corleone cosca as Luciano Leggio went into hiding.

Sack of Palermo

A 1950s-60s construction boom driven by wartime destruction, a $+20\%$ population increase from 1951 to 1961, and the rapid replacement of lemon groves.

Vito Ciancimino

Corleone-born Palermo politician (1924-2002) who joined the city council in 1956, served as mayor from 1970 to 1971, had mafia ties, and was convicted in 1992.

Salvo Lima

Palermo mayor (1928-92) who served from 1959 to 1963 and 1965 to 1968, held mafia ties, and was killed in 1992.

Piazza Fontana bombing (1969)

A Milan bank bombing that killed $16$ people; served as the first event in the strategy of tension organized by neo-fascists.

Aldo Moro kidnapping (1978)

The abduction of DC president Aldo Moro by the Red Brigades for nearly two months, concluding in his murder and abandonment in a Rome car after PM Andreotti refused negotiation.

Dalla Chiesa (1982)

Official appointed Prefect of Palermo in 1982 and assassinated within months, opening a new phase in the mafia-state relationship and prompting the formation of the Anti-Mafia pool (1982-86).

Joe Bonanno ('Joe Bananas')

Castellammare-born mobster (1905-2002) who fought in the Castellammarese War (1930-31), headed a Brooklyn family (1931-68), and authored A Man of Honor (1983).

Hotel des Palmes meeting (Oct. 1957)

A gathering in Palermo between Bonanno, Luciano, Genco Russo, and Buscetta that established a Commission working group and provincial commissions.

Lucky Luciano in Italy (1946-62)

The period where Lucky Luciano lived in Naples, engaged with cigarette contraband and the French Connection, transitioned from US capo to Italian businessman, and died in 1962.

Commission after Luciano

The mafia coordinating body that shifted into an instrument of dictatorship under the Corleonesi.