History of the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Parapolitics

Vocabulary terms and definitions detailing major figures, events, and concepts of the Sicilian Mafia, the Christian Democrats, and postwar Italian parapolitics.

Calogero Vizzini (Don Calò)

Mafia boss of Villalba (1877-1954) who became a symbol of the mafia during the 1943 liberation of Sicily, often paired with Genco Russo of Mussomeli.

Yellow handkerchief legend

The story that the mafia assisted the Allied landing in 1943, which historians and Michele Pantaleone disagree on.

Shootout in Villalba (1944)

A 1944 gun battle between Calogero Vizzini's side and Michele Pantaleone alongside the Communist Li Causi, from which Don Calò emerged with increased power.

Genovese and Poletti

Peter Dale Scott's example of parapolitics where mafioso Vito Genovese worked with US officer Charles Poletti, as depicted in the Lucky Luciano film.

Mafia and the DC

The open campaigning by mafiosi for the Christian Democrats (DC) prior to the 1948 election, including Genco Russo's appearance at a DC rally.

Ciaculli war

A mafia war located 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 known as the 'last bandit,' linked to the mafia and the separatists (MIS/EVIS), and associated with 430 murders.

Portella della Ginestra

A 1947 massacre of leftist celebrants resulting in 11 dead and 33 wounded, following an election where the Socialist-Communist list won about 30% of the vote.

Michele Navarra

Corleone mafia boss and physician with Christian Democrat (DC) connections who was ambushed and killed in 1958.

Luciano Leggio

Navarra's younger rival initiated in 1945; he was acquitted of Navarra's murder in 1969, convicted on appeal in 1970, and died in prison in 1993.

Placido Rizzotto

Communist trade union leader murdered in Corleone in March 1948 under the orders of Michele Navarra.

Salvatore 'Totò' Riina

Mafioso who took over the Corleone cosca when Luciano Leggio went into hiding.

Sack of Palermo

A building boom in Palermo in the 1950s and 60s, caused by World War II damage and a 20% population jump between 1951 and 1961, that tore down lemon groves and replaced them with concrete buildings.

Vito Ciancimino

Palermo politician born in Corleone who served on the city council (1956) and as mayor, (1970-71) had mafia ties, and was convicted in 1992.

Salvo Lima

Palermo mayor (1959-63, 1965-68) who had mafia ties and was killed in 1992.

Piazza Fontana bombing

A 1969 bombing at a bank in Milan by neo-fascists that killed 16 people. It’s seen as the start of the “strategy of tension.”

Aldo Moro kidnapping

In 1978, the Red Brigades kidnapped Aldo Moro, the leader of the Christian Democrats, and held him for 55 days. Prime Minister Andreotti refused to negotiate, so Moro was killed and his body was left in a car in Rome.

Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa

Prefect of Palermo appointed in 1982 and killed within months, marking a new phase in the mafia-state struggle and prompting the Anti-Mafia pool (1982-86).

Joe Bonanno ('Joe Bananas')

Castellammare-born mobster (1905-2002) who fought in the Castellammarese War (1930-31), led a Brooklyn crime family from 1931 to 1968, and authored A Man of Honor (1983).

Hotel des Palmes meeting (Oct. 1957)

The 1957 meeting in Palermo where top American and Sicilian Mafia bosses (Joe Bonanno, Lucky Luciano, Genco Russo, and Tommaso Buscetta) met and set up a Commission to organize the Sicilian Mafia, along with smaller commissions for each province.

Lucky Luciano in Italy

Period when Luciano lived in Naples, engaged in cigarette smuggling, participated in the French Connection, transitioned from US boss to Italian 'businessman,' and died in 1962.

Commission after Luciano

The Sicilian Mafia’s leadership group that formed after Luciano’s time and was supposed to coordinate the families, but later became a tool for the Corleonesi to rule alone.