Francesco Mannoia (centre, foreground) in custody, circa 1986

Francesco Marino Mannoia (born 1951) was a member of the Sicilian Mafia who became a pentito. 1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ... 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 km² and 5 million inhabitants. ... The Mafia is a secret society which first developed in the mid-19th century in Sicily. ... Tommaso Buscetta (in sunglasses), the first important pentito of Italian Mafia, escorted in a court of law. ...

Criminal Career

He was raised in Palermo, the capital of Siciliy, and joined the Santa Maria di Gesù Mafia Family, headed by Stefano Bontade. He was highly sought after by all Mafia families for his skills in chemistry to be used to refine heroin. Marino Mannoia recalled having refined at least 1000 kilograms of heroin for Bontade. He was also suspected of being involved in at least seventeen homicides. Country Italy Region Sicily Province Palermo (PA) Mayor Diego Armando Cammarata (since November 26, 2001) Elevation 1 m Area 158 km² Population  - Total (as of January 31, 2006) 675,501  - Density 4,275/km² Time zone CET, UTC+1 Coordinates Gentilic Palermitani Dialing code 091 Postal code 90100 Frazioni Mondello... Stefano Bontade (April 23, 1939 - April 23, 1981) was a powerful member of the Sicilan Mafia. ... Heroin, also known as diamorphine (BAN) or diacetylmorphine (INN), is a semi-synthetic opioid. ... Etymology: Latin homicidium, from homo- human being + caedere- to cut, kill Homicide is the intentional or negligent killing of another human being by one or more persons. ...

During the Mafia War of the early 1980s his boss, Stefano Bontade, was murdered along with hundreds of associates. Mannoia only survived because he was in prison at the time for drug trafficking. He escaped from prison in 1983 with the help of his young brother, a hitman named Agostino Marino Mannoia. They met with Corleonisi boss Salvatore Riina to establish their position in the dramatically altered landscape of the Sicilian Mafia and were both allowed to live and work under the auspices of the Corleonisi boss. Francesco Marino Mannoia became a major refiner of heroin for the Corleonisi. The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A hitman (alternately, hit man), also referred to as a contract killer, is a hired assassin, usually in the employ of organized crime. ... Salvatore Riina Salvatore Riina, also known as Totò Riina (born November 16, 1930) is one of the most infamous members of the Sicilian Mafia. ...

In 1986 he was recaptured and returned to prison. 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

On 20 April 1989, his brother Agostino Marino Mannoia - then aged twenty-three - vanished and was never seen again. His bloodstained car was found later that day. Francesco Mannoia realised his brother had been killed. As it turned out, both Mannoia brothers had been plotting along with Vincenzo Puccio to overthrow Salvatore Riina as the boss of the Sicilian Mafia. Somehow word had gotten out and Agostino Marino Mannoia was the first of the conspiritors against Riina who would die. Puccio and his brothers followed soon afterwards. April 20 is the 110th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (111th in leap years). ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Government Witness

In October 1989 Francesco Mannoia contacted Anti-Mafia magistrate Paolo Borsellino and declared his wish to cooperate with the authorities. He followed in the footsteps of Tommaso Buscetta and Salvatore Contorno in becoming an informant. His collaboration was important because he was the first pentito that came out of the winning faction of the Second Mafia War. He was able to update the authorities in the activities within Cosa Nostra throughout the 1980s, including the fates of Filippo Marchese and Giuseppe Greco. Not long after he began to talk to the authorities Mannoia's mother, aunt and one of his sisters were murdered in their Bagheria home as revenge [1], it being an common tactic by the Mafia to kill the relatives of the pentiti to discourage others from similar cooperation with authorities. A magistrate is a judicial officer. ... Paolo Borsellino (January 19, 1940 Palermo - July 19, 1992 Palermo) was an Italian anti-mafia judge. ... Tommaso Buscetta (in sunglasses) is lead into court at the Maxi Trial, circa 1986. ... Mafia turncoat Salvatore Totuccio Contorno Salvatore Totuccio Contorno (Palermo, May 28, 1946) was a member of the Sicilian Mafia who turned into a state witness against Cosa Nostra in October 1984, following the example of Tommaso Buscetta. ... Tommaso Buscetta (in sunglasses), the first important pentito of Italian Mafia, escorted in a court of law. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Filippo Marchese (died 1982) was a hitman and leading figure in the Sicilian Mafia. ... Bagheria is a town of approximately 40,000 inhabitants in the neighbourhood of Palermo in Sicily, Italy. ... Pentiti (Italian, literally meaning those who have repented) are former members of the Italian Mafia or similar criminal or terrorist organisations who have abandoned their criminal/terrorist organisation and helped police to discover as much as possible about the respective organisation, criminals, and in general anything related to their former...

Marino Mannoia was admitted into the Witness Protection Program in the United States (Italy had no such programme at the time). In the US, he testified against the Sicilian faction of the Gambino Family, the so-called Cherry Hill Gambino's, Giovanni, Rosario and Giuseppe Gambino. He also disclosed that Roberto Calvi – God's banker of the Banco Ambrosiano and the Vatican – had been killed by the Mafia because he had lost Cosa Nostra's criminal proceeds when the Banco Ambrosiano collapsed. [2] In the United States, the Witness Protection Program (also known as WITSEC) is established by the Witness Protection Act, which in turn sets out the manner in which the U.S. Attorney General may provide for the relocation and protection of a witness or potential witness of the federal government... The Gambino Crime Family is a criminal organization based in New York City, New York, USA within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known familiarly as the Mafia (also known as La Cosa Nostra). ... Roberto Calvi. ... Banco Ambrosiano (which was closely related to the Vatican Bank) was an Italian bank which collapsed spectacularly in 1982. ...

In 1996 he gave evidence against former Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti who was accused of Mafia association. He claimed Andreotti had met with Stefano Bontade in the 1970s. Whilst giving his testimony, Mannoia admitted he had been one of the men who had stolen the Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence [3], a painting by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio that has never been seen since it was stolen in 1969 (the artwork was believed, at one point, to have been in the hands of the late Mafia boss Rosario Riccobono.) 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... A prime minister is the most senior minister of a cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. ... Giulio Andreotti Giulio Andreotti (born in Rome, 14 January 1919) is an Italian political figure, among the most powerful in post-war Italy. ... Stefano Bontade (April 23, 1939 - April 23, 1981) was a powerful member of the Sicilan Mafia. ... The Nativity with St. ... Caravaggio re-directs here; for alternate uses see Caravaggio (disambiguation) Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610), often short Caravaggio after his hometown, was an Italian Baroque painter, whose large religious works portrayed saints and other biblical figures as ordinary people. ... 1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1969 calendar). ... Rosario Riccobono (February 10, 1929 - November 30, 1982) was a member of the Sicilian Mafia. ...

Currently he lives in an undisclosed location with a new identity in the FBI Witness Protection Program, having been granted American citizenship after testifying against a number of Sicilian Mafiosi at work in the USA. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a Federal police force which is the principal investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ... In the United States, the Witness Protection Program (also known as WITSEC) is established by the Witness Protection Act, which in turn sets out the manner in which the U.S. Attorney General may provide for the relocation and protection of a witness or potential witness of the federal government... // Possession of Citizenship U.S. citizens have the right to participate in the political system of the United States (with reservations for prisoners, ex-prisoners, and naturalized persons), are represented and protected abroad by the United States (through U.S. embassies and consulates), and are allowed to reside in the...

References

• Alexander Stille, Excellent Cadavers (1995), Vintage ISBN 0-09-959491-9
• Alison Jamieson, The Antimafia (2000) Alison Jamieson, MacMillan Press Ltd ISBN 033380158

Allexander Stillé is an American author and journalist. ...

External links

• Biographies of Mafia bosses (in Italian)
• Sicilian Mafia timeline, 1980s (computer translated from Italian)