Gaspare Pisciotta (March 5, 1924 – February 9, 1954) was a companion and close friend of the Sicilian bandit Salvatore Giuliano, and considered to be the co-leader of his outlaw band. March 5 is the 64th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (65th in leap years). ... 1924 (MCMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... February 9 is the 40th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian 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. ... Butch Cassidy, a famous outlaw An outlaw, a person living the lifestyle of outlawry, is most familiar to contemporary readers as a stock character in Western movies. ... Salvatore Giuliano (November 16, 1922 – July 5/6, 1950) was a Sicilian hero, killed by the alliance of politics and mafia, that governs Italy since its Unification. ...

Origins

Gaspare Pisciotta, nicknamed Aspanu by friends, was born in Montelepre in Western Sicily in 1924. Contrary to a widely-held belief, he and Giuliano were not cousins, but knew each other as children and became friends as young men. While Giuliano remained in Montelepre during the war, Pisciotta joined the army and was captured fighting against the Germans. He was released in 1945 and returned to Sicily, joining Giuliano’s separatist campaign and thus being one of the founding members of his band. Montelepre (Sicilian: Muntilepri) is a town and commune in the province of Palermo, Sicily, Italy. ... 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. ...

Trial

Shortly after Giuliano's death on July 5, 1950, Pisciotta was captured and brought to trial for his crimes as a bandit. During the trial he made the startling revelation that it had been he who assassinated Giuliano in his sleep, a statement which contradicted the police account that Giuliano had been shot by carabinieri captain Antonio Perenze in a gunfight in Castelvetrano. He claimed to have killed Giuliano on the instruction of Mario Scelba, then Minister of the Interior, and to have had an arrangement with Colonel Luca, the head of the anti-bandit force in Sicily, to collaborate on the condition that he should not be charged and that Luca would intervene in his favour if he were caught. However, during his trial Pisciotta was reticent in revealing the names of those responsible for the Portella della Ginestra massacre, and could not account for Giuliano’s documents in which he named the high-ranking government officials and mafiosi involved with Giuliano’s band. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour, which he served in the Ucciardone prison in Palermo. July 5 is the 186th day of the year (187th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 179 days remaining. ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... This article concerns the rank and title of Captain. ... Country Italy Region Sicily Province Trapani (TP) Mayor Giovanni Pompeo (since December 10, 2001) Elevation 187 m Area 206 km² Population  - Total (as of 2004) 30,369  - Density 132/km² Time zone CET, UTC+1 Coordinates Gentilic Castelvetranesi Dialing code 0924 Postal code 91022 Frazioni Triscina di Selinunte, Marinella di... Mario Scelba (1901-1991) was an Italian Christian Democratic politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy from 1954-1955. ... The Mafia is a secret society which first developed in the mid-19th century in Sicily. ...

Giuliano's mother reportedly had suspected Pisciotta as a potential traitor before her son's death, although Giuliano had tried to convince her of his trust in his lieutenant in a letter: "...we respect each other as brothers' what he is I am, and what I am he is." If Gaspare Pisciotta’s testimony was true, Giuliano suspected nothing until the time of his death.

Imprisonment and Death

In prison, Pisciotta made it clear that he believed his life was in danger. He was reported to have said “One of these days, they will kill me,”, and he refused to share a cell with anyone but his father, also serving a life sentence for involvement in Giuliano’s band. Gaspare even reportedly kept a tame sparrow to test his food for poison, and ate nothing but what his mother brought for him from home. However, on the morning of February 9th, 1954, Gaspare took a vitamin preparation which he stirred into his coffee and drank. He almost immediately became violently ill, and despite being rushed to the prison infirmary, he was dead within forty minutes. The cause of death, as revealed by the autopsy, was the ingestion of 20mg of strychnine. February 9 is the 40th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Strychnine (pronounced (British) or (U.S.)) is a very toxic (LD50 = 1 mg/kg), colourless crystalline alkaloid used as a pesticide, particularly for killing small vertebrates such as rodents. ...

Both the government and the mafia were suggested as being behind the murder of Pisciotta, but no-one was ever brought to trial. Gaspare’s mother Rosalia wrote a letter to the press on March 18th of that year, denouncing the governmental corruption and possible mafia involvement in her son’s death, stating: “Yes, it is true that my son Gaspare will never open his mouth again, and already many people think they are safe; but who knows – perhaps other things may speak.” Gaspare Pisciotta had supposedly written an autobiography in prison, to which his mother may have been referring, and which his brother Pietro tried to sell. However, this document went missing and its contents remain unknown. Cover of An autobiography, from the Greek auton, self, bios, life and graphein, write, is a biography written by the subject or composed conjointly with a collaborative writer (styled as told to or with). The term dates from the late eighteenth century, but the form is much older. ...

References

• Billy James Chandler. King of the Mountain: The Life and Death of Giuliano the Bandit (1988).
• Gavin Maxwell. God Protect Me From My Friends (1956)
• Time Magazine. The Big Mouth article (Feb. 22, 1954)