Angelo La Barbera (Palermo, July 3, 1924 – Perugia, July, 1975) was a powerful member of the Sicilian Mafia. Together with his brother Salvatore La Barbera, he ruled the Mafia family of Palermo Centro. Salvatore La Barbera sat on the first Sicilian Mafia Commission that was set up in 1958 as the capomandamento for Mafia families of Borgo Vecchio, Porta Nuova and Palermo Centro. July 3 is the 184th day of the year (185th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 181 days remaining. ... 1924 (MCMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Look up July in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday. ... Sicily (Sicilia in Italian and Sicilian, Σικελία in Greek) is an autonomous region of Italy and the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, with an area of 25,700 sq. ... The Mafia, also referred to in Italian as Cosa Nostra (Our Thing or This Thing of Ours), is a secret society formed in the mid-19th century in Sicily. ... The Sicilian Mafia Commission, known as Commissione or Cupola, is a body of leading Mafia members to decide on important questions concerning the actions of, and settling disputes within the Sicilian Mafia or Cosa Nostra. ...

Gaia Servadio, an EnglishItalian journalist who wrote a biography on Angelo La Barbera, described him as the symbol of the quick, clever gangster. The new post-war mafioso who in the end became the victim of the many politicians he himself had built. He represented the proletariat who tried to become mafioso, middle class, and ultimately did not succeed.

Mafia career

Angelo and Salvatore La Barbera were born in the slums of the centre of Palermo. Their father sold firewood for a living. They started with petty larceny and murder and raised themselves to become prominent leaders of a new generation of mafiosi in the 1950s and 1960s who made their fortune in real estate transactions, cigarette smuggling and heroin trafficking. One of the La Barbera’s hitmen was Tommaso Buscetta, who subsequently became a pentito (collaborating witness) in 1984. Nickname: Palermu Motto: Official website: http://www. ... Tommaso Buscetta (in sunglasses) is lead into court at the Maxi Trial, circa 1986. ... Tommaso Buscetta (in sunglasses), the first important pentito of Italian Mafia, escorted in a court of law. ...

The new generation of mafiosi like La Barbera needed to create a new political base of their own, pushing forward new politicians through which they could influence control over regional corporations, credit banks and circumvent building regulations. Angelo La Barbera had connections with local politicians of the Christian Democrat party (DC - Democrazia Cristiana) – in particular with Salvo Lima, the mayor of Palermo from 1958-1963. In 1964, during an investigation, Lima had to admit that he knew Angelo La Barbera. According to Buscetta, Lima’s father, Vincenzo Lima, was a "man of honour" of the Palermo Centro Mafia family that was led by the La Barbera brothers. ^[1] Their candidate in the national parliament was Giovanni Gioia. Christian Democracy is a political ideology, born at the end of the 19th century, largely as a result of the papal encyclical Rerum Novarum of Pope Leo XIII, in which the Vatican recognizes workers misery and agrees that something should be done about it, in reaction to the rise of... Christian Democracy, (Democrazia Cristiana), the christian democratic party of Italy, commonly called the democristiani or DC, dominated government for nearly half a century until its demise amid a welter of corruption allegations in 1992-94. ... Salvatore Lima (died March 12, 1992) was an Italian politician from Sicily who was murdered by the Mafia, with whom he was alleged to have ties with. ...

Lima’s period as mayor of Palermo was later referred to as the "sack of Palermo" because the construction boom led to the destruction of the city's green belt and villas that gave it architectural grace, to make way for characterless and shoddily constructed apartment blocks. In the meantime Palermo’s historical centre was allowed to crumble. The La Barbera's were connected to the leading construction entrepreneur Francesco Vassallo. In five years, 4,000 building licences were signed, more than half of them in the names of three pensioners who acted as front men and had no connection with construction at all.

Heroin trafficking

The La Barbera brothers were present at a series of meetings between Sicilian and American mafiosi that took place on October 12-14, 1957, in hotel Delle Palme in Palermo. Joseph Bonnano, Lucky Luciano, John Bonventre, Frank Garofalo, Santo Sorge and Carmine Galante were among the American mafiosi present, while among the Sicilian side there were Salvatore "Ciaschiteddu" Greco and his cousin, Giuseppe Genco Russo, Gaetano Badalamenti, Calcedonia Di Pisa and Tommaso Buscetta. One of the issues at the meetings was the organisation of heroin trafficking to the United States. October 12 is the 285th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (286th in leap years). ... October 14 is the 287th day of the year (288th in Leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Nickname: Palermu Motto: Official website: http://www. ... Joseph Bonanno Joseph Bonanno (January 18, 1905 - May 11, 2002) was an American Mafioso who became the boss of one of the most prominent crime families in the world, the Bonanno crime family. ... Lucky Luciano in his Rome villa, 1949 Charles Lucky Luciano (November 24, 1897 – January 26, 1962) was a legendary Italian-American mobster. ... Carmine Galante aka Lilo, Cigar (February 21, 1910 – July 12, 1979) was a capo in the Bonanno crime family, a New York City Mafia crime organization. ... Salvatore “Ciaschiteddu” Greco (January 13, 1923, Palermo – March 7, 1978, Caracas, Venezuela) was a powerful mafioso and boss of the Mafia Family in Ciaculli, an outlying suburb of Palermo famous for its citrus fruit groves. ... Giuseppe Genco Russo, Mafia boss of Mussomeli Giuseppe Genco Russo (Mussomeli, January 26, 1893 – March 18, 1976) was the Mafia boss of Mussomeli in the Province of Caltanissetta. ... Gaetano Badalamenti (1923 - April 29, 2004) was an Italian-born Mafioso who was connected with the Pizza Connection drug smuggling scheme. ... Tommaso Buscetta (in sunglasses) is lead into court at the Maxi Trial, circa 1986. ...

In 1960 Angelo La Barbera was spotted in Mexico City and subsequently expelled from the United States and Canada for allegedly organising trafficking in heroin. According to Buscetta, La Barbera tried to smuggle heroin from Mexico into the US, but was stopped by Carlo Gambino, the boss of the powerful Gambino Mafia family in New York, who threatened to kill him if he would proceed. Mexico City (Spanish: Ciudad de México, México D.F. or simply México, pronounced /mexiko/ in IPA) is the capital and largest city of the nation of Mexico. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... 1934 NYPD mugshot of Carlo Gambino, early into his career within the Gambino crime family. ... Official language(s) English de facto Capital Albany Largest city New York City Area  Ranked 27th  - Total 54,520 sq mi (141,205 km²)  - Width 285 miles (455 km)  - Length 330 miles (530 km)  - % water 13. ...

First Mafia War

The La Barbera brothers were the protagonists in a bloody conflict between rival clans in Palermo in the early 1960s. Known as the First Mafia War – a second started in the early 1980s – the struggle was about the control of the profitable opportunities brought about by rapid urban growth and the illicit heroin trade to North America.

The conflict erupted over an underweight shipment of heroin. Cesare Manzella, the Greco cousins from Ciaculli and the La Barbera brothers had financed the shipment. Suspicion fell on Calcedonia Di Pisa, who had collected the heroin for Manzella from the Corsican supplier, Pascal Molinelli, and had organised the transport to Manzella’s partners in New York.

The case was brought before the Mafia Commission, but disagreement on how to handle it, led to a bloody conflict, between clan’s allied with the Greco’s, headed by Salvatore Greco, and clan’s allied with the La Barbera’s. What sparked a series of attacks and counter-attacks was the killing of Di Pisa on December 26, 1962. The Greco’s suspected Salvatore and Angelo La Barbera of the attack. The Sicilian Mafia Commission, known as Commissione or Cupola, is a body of leading Mafia members to decide on important questions concerning the actions of, and settling disputes within the Sicilian Mafia or Cosa Nostra. ... Salvatore Ciaschiteddu Greco (January 13, 1923, Palermo – March 7, 1978, Caracas, Venezuela) was a powerful mafioso and boss of the Mafia Family in Ciaculli, an outlying suburb of Palermo famous for its citrus fruit groves. ... December 26 is the 360th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, 361st in leap years. ... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar). ...

On January 17, 1963, Salvatore La Barbera disappeared and was never heard of again. Angelo La Barbera also disappeared, but two weeks later he reappeared in Milan, in the north of Italy, giving a press conference. The involvement of the media in Mafia affairs was unheard of at the time. Meanwhile La Barbera tried to retaliate, but the rival clans were closing in. On May 25, 1963, he was shot in Milan and severely wounded. He was arrested in the hospital. January 17 is the 17th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ... Milan (Italian: Milano; Milanese: Milán) is the main city of northern Italy, and is located in the plains of Lombardy, the most populated and developed region in Italy, being often mistaken with the capital of the country. ... May 25 is the 145th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (146th in leap years). ... 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ...

On June 30, 1963, a car bomb in Ciaculli killed seven police and military officers sent to defuse it after an anonymous phone call. The outrage over the Ciaculli massacre changed the Mafia war into a war against the Mafia. It prompted the first concerted anti-Mafia efforts by the state in post-war Italy. The Sicilian Mafia Commission was dissolved and of those mafiosi who had escaped arrest many went abroad. June 30 is the 181st day of the year (182nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 184 days remaining. ... 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ... Ciaculli is an outlying suburb of Palermo, Sicily in Italy. ... Funeral for the seven police and military officers that were killed while trying to defuse the car bomb in Ciaculli. ... The Sicilian Mafia Commission, known as Commissione or Cupola, is a body of leading Mafia members to decide on important questions concerning the actions of, and settling disputes within the Sicilian Mafia or Cosa Nostra. ...

Death

Angelo La Barbera was one of the few mafiosi who received a heavy sentence at the Trial of the 114 against the Mafia in Catanzaro in December 1968. He was sentenced to 22 years, but appealed. Pending the appeal, he was sent into banishment in the North of Italy and later to a remote island of the coast of Sicily. When he was finally locked up in a prison in Perugia in 1975 three mafiosi stabbed him to death. By then his power and influence had declined sharply. The Mafia family he had led was dissolved. Catanzaro is a city in Calabria, Italy, the capital of the Province of Catanzaro and also of the region Calabria since 1970. ...

Biography

• Angelo La Barbera: the profile of a Mafia boss (1974) Gaia Servadio, London: Quartet Books, 1974.

References

1. ^ I rapporti intrattenuti da Salvatore Lima con esponenti mafiosi Sentenza primo grado processo Andreotti di Palermo, 23 ottobre 1999.

• Mafioso. A history of the Mafia from its origins to the present day (1976) Gaia Servadio, Secker & Warburg ISBN 0-43-644700-2
• Men Of Honour: The Confessions Of Tommaso Buscetta (1987) Tim Shawcross & Martin Young, Collins ISBN 0-00-217589-4
• Octopus. How the long reach of the Sicilian Mafia controls the global narcotics trade (1990) Claire Sterling, Simon & Schuster, ISBN 0-671-73402-4
• Cosa Nostra. A history of the Sicilian Mafia (2004) John Dickie, Coronet, ISBN 0-340-82435-2