Salvatore Giuliano
Salvatore Giuliano, while in his 20s.
Alternate name(s):	Turiddu, Turi
Date of birth:	November 16, 1922
Place of birth:	Montelepre, Castelvetrano
Date of death:	July 5, 1950 (aged 27)
Place of death:	Castelvetrano, Sicily
Major organizations:	Sicilian Independentist Movement

Salvatore Giuliano (Montelepre, November 16, 1922 – Castelvetrano, July 5, 1950) was a Sicilian peasant. The millennial subjugated social status of his class led him to become a bandit and separatist who has been mythologised during his life and after his death.^[1] He is commonly compared to the legend of Robin Hood in popular culture, due to stories pertaining to him helping the poor villagers in his area by taking from the rich.^[2] Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... is the 320th day of the year (321st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Montelepre (Sicilian: Muntilepri) is a town and commune in the province of Palermo, Sicily, Italy. ... 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... is the 186th day of the year (187th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... 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... Sicily ( in Italian and Sicilian) is an autonomous region of Italy and the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, with an area of 25,708 km² (9,926 sq. ... Montelepre (Sicilian: Muntilepri) is a town and commune in the province of Palermo, Sicily, Italy. ... is the 320th day of the year (321st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... 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... is the 186th day of the year (187th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Sicily ( in Italian and Sicilian) is an autonomous region of Italy and the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, with an area of 25,708 km² (9,926 sq. ... In a detail of Brueghels Land of Cockaigne (1567) a soft-boiled egg has little feet to rush to the luxuriating peasant who catches drops of honey on his tongue, while roast pigs roam wild: in fact, hunger and harsh winters were realities for the average European in the... 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. ... Political separatism is a movement to obtain sovereignty and split a territory or group of people (usually a people with a distinctive national consciousness) from one another (or one nation from another; a colony from the metropolis). ... For other uses, see Robin Hood (disambiguation). ...

As a member of the Sicilian Independentist Movement, Giuliano actively pursued efforts into gaining independence for the island from the Italian government. His story gained attention in the media worldwide, in part due to his handsome looks, including features in Time magazine.^[3] This article or section should be merged with Politics of Italy This article needs to be wikified. ... TIME redirects here. ...

Biography

Early life

Salvatore Giuliano was born in Montelepre within the Province of Palermo as the fourth child of Salvatore and Maria Giuliano. As a child he was nicknamed Turiddu or Turi. He had a decent primary education, but limited by Sicilian class strictures, went to work on his father's land at the age of 13. Montelepre (Sicilian: Muntilepri) is a town and commune in the province of Palermo, Sicily, Italy. ... Palermo (It. ...

He transported olive oil and worked as a telephone repairman and on road construction. Giuliano was due to be called up to the Italian army, but the Allied invasion of Sicily prevented his actual enlistment. He became involved in the wartime black market and was armed in case of attacks from bandits. Belligerents United States United Kingdom Canada Australia South Africa Free French Germany Italy Commanders Dwight D. Eisenhower Harold Alexander Bernard Montgomery George S. Patton Albert Kesselring Alfredo Guzzoni Fridolin von Senger und Etterlin Strength 160,000 personnel 14,000 vehicles 600 tanks 1,800 guns 300,000 Italian personnel 40...

Rise to infamy

Newspaper reports.^[4]

On September 2, 1943, he killed a Sicilian carabiniere at a checkpoint near Quattro Molini while transporting illegally purchased grain. He left his identity papers at the scene and was wounded when a carabiniere shot him twice as he was running away, it was then that he returned fire and killed the carabiniere. His family sent him to Palermo to have the bullet removed. In late December, a number of residents of Montelepre, including Giuliano's father, were arrested during a police raid. Giuliano helped some of them escape from prison in Monreale, and a number of the freed men stayed with him. is the 245th day of the year (246th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Carabinieri are the military police of Italy. ... Location of the city of Palermo (red dot) within Italy. ... The apse of the cathedral of Monreale Monreale is a small city in the province of Palermo, in Sicily, Italy. ...

In the Sagana mountains, Giuliano collected a gang of approximately fifty bandits, criminals, deserters, and homeless men under his leadership and gave them military-style marksmanship training. The gang took to robbery and burglary for the money they needed for food and weapons. When carabinieri came to look for them, they were met with accurate submachinegun fire.

Sicilian independence flag flown by Giuliano.^[5]

He also joined a Sicilian separatist group, Movement for the Independence of Sicily (MIS), which included members of very different political views, such as revolutionary socialist Antonio Canepa, centre-wing Giovanni Guarino Amella, right-wing people, most of them aristocrats, such as baron Lucio Tasca and duke Guglielmo Paternò, as well as some members with close ties to the Mafia, and outright Mafiosi such as Calogero Vizzini. The Movement for the Independence of Sicily (Italian)): Movimento per lIndipendenza della Sicilia, MIS) is a separatist movement, active in Sicily from 1943 to 1947 and again since 2004, with the goal to obtain independence of the island from Italy. ... Religious socialism Key Issues People and organizations Related subjects Socialism refers to a broad array of ideologies and political movements with the goal of a socio-economic system in which property and the distribution of wealth are subject to control by the community. ... This article is about the criminal society. ... Image:Calogero Vizzini. ...

The union between Giuliano and separatist leaders came to fruition in the latter part of 1945. Giuliano entered the armed branch of the movement, EVIS (Esercito Volontario per l'Indipendenza della Sicilia, Volunteer Army for the Independence of Sicily), as a colonel and was promised that in the event of a separatist victory, he would be pardoned for his crimes and appointed to some position in the newly independent state. Defenders of the Giuliano-separatist alliance justified the agreement by claiming that Giuliano had been forced to become a bandit by the cruelty and injustice of the Italian state. Although an EVIS commander, Giuliano remained cautious about subordinating himself to the movements leadership.^[6]

Giuliano led small-scale attacks on government and police targets in the name of this movement. He supported the MIS and the similar MASCA with funds for the 1946 elections, in which both groups did poorly. Reputedly, Giuliano himself would have liked to have seen Sicily become a state within the United States of America. He sent president Harry S. Truman a letter in which he urged him to annex Sicily. For other persons named Harry Truman, see Harry Truman (disambiguation). ...

Giuliano remained a long term problem for authorities. He continued to fight the Italian government in the name of the separatist movement. His attacks gained worldwide attention and made him a legend. In January 1946, at Montedoro, Giuliano and his band fought a brutal battle with authorities in which perhaps a thousand separatist took part. His actions kept alive the vision of Sicilian independence accomplished through the force of arms. Police and military forces were unable to destroy Giuliano’s EVIS formations. In fact, with the aid of the peasants – many of whom saw Giuliano as a sort of Robin Hood – and the landowners – who feared him – Giuliano continued to operate almost untouched.^[7] Montedoro is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Caltanissetta in the Italian region Sicily, located about 80 km southeast of Palermo and about 20 km west of Caltanissetta. ...

Giuliano also fostered a number of myths around himself. One tale tells how he discovered a postal worker was stealing letters that contained money Sicilian families had sent to their relatives in the USA; he killed the postal worker and assured the letters continued to their correct destinations. When he robbed the duchess of Pratameno, he left her with her wedding ring and borrowed a book she was reading; he returned it later with compliments. He fostered cooperation of poor tenant farmers by sending them money and food. Contrary to some claims, he was not a Mafioso.

Portella della Ginestra massacre

Mural of the Portella della Ginestra massacre

As more separatist leaders were arrested, his funds became limited and he was forced to find new sources of supply. He eventually alienated himself from the peasants and became a tool of the landowners and conservatives. In this role he was manipulated to slaughter innocent peasants in the name of halting Communism in May 1947.^[7] In 1947, with his group steadily shrinking, he turned to kidnapping for ransom and turned regular profits. Also in that year there were more elections, following a limited victory for socialist-communist groups. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... The term ransom refers to the practice of holding a prisoner to extort money or property extorted to secure their release, or to the sum of money involved. ...

After receiving a mysterious letter from an unknown source, Giuliano led his remaining men on a raid to the mountain pass Portella della Ginestra on May 1, intending to capture Sicily's most prominent communist, Girolamo Li Causi. However, the event turned into a massacre. Fourteen civilians, including a woman and three children, were killed and more than 30 wounded. Giuliano himself (who fired no shots) stated he ordered his band to fire above the heads of the crowd hoping they would disperse. Some sources accuse the Mafia of infiltrating it and claim mafiosi instead shot at the crowd causing the massacre.^[8] Mural of the Portella della Ginestra massacre The Portella della Ginestra massacre was one of the more violent acts of in the history of modern Italian politics, when 11 persons were killed and 33 wounded during May Day celebrations in Sicily on May 1, 1947, on the desolate plateau at... This article is about communism as a form of society and as a political movement. ... This article is about the criminal society. ...

The incident created a national scandal,^[9] which ended in 1956 with the conviction of the remaining members of the band.^[10] It still remains a highly controversial topic, especially in regards to the contents of the letter Giuliano received before it, the finger of blame has been pointed at numerous sources, including the Italian government, who had long sought to destroy the famous bandit.^[8] Leftists, who were the victims of the attack have blamed the landed barons and the Mafia, signficantly, the memorial plaque errected by them makes no mention of Giuliano or his band;^[8] This article or section should be merged with Politics of Italy This article needs to be wikified. ... Use of the term The concept of property or ownership has no single or universally accepted definition. ... For other uses, see Baron (disambiguation). ... This article is about the criminal society. ...

Decline and death

Giuliano continued to work against socialist groups whenever he had the opportunity but by 1948 his popular support was ebbing. Locals and even the Mafia were less willing to aid Giuliano and helped the police, despite Giuliano's tendency to kill suspected informers. Giuliano dared police by sending them boisterous letters about himself and dining in Palermo restaurants and leaving a note about his presence with a tip. The reward for his capture was doubled, and a special police force was instituted to suppress banditry. 300 carabinieri attacked his mountain stronghold, but most of Giuliano's gang escaped. On August 14, 1949 Giuliano's men exploded mines under a convoy of police vehicles near the Bellolampo barracks outside Palermo, killing seven Carabinieri and wounding 11.^[11] As a result the Italian government dispatched an additional 1000 troops to Western Sicily, with all troops under the command of Colonel Ugo Luca. is the 226th day of the year (227th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Carabinieri are the military police of Italy. ...

On July 5, 1950, Giuliano was shot in Castelvetrano. According to police, carabinieri captain Antonio Perenze shot him as he was resisting arrest.^[3] However, the investigative reporter Tommaso Besozzi soon exposed the official version as fiction; the headline read: ‘The only thing certain is that he is dead’.^[12][13] Gaspare Pisciotta, Giuliano's lieutenant, claimed later that police had promised him a pardon and reward if he would kill Giuliano.^[14] Giuliano's mother Maria reportedly believed this story. Pisciotta died four years later in prison from poisoning, after ingesting 20 centigrams of strychnine, hidden in a cup of tea.^[15] is the 186th day of the year (187th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... 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... 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. ... For the Breton religious festivals, see Pardon (ceremony). ... Strychnine (pronounced (British, U.S.), or (U.S.)) is a very toxic (LD50 = 10 mg approx. ...

At the trial for the Portella della Ginestra massacre, Gaspare Pisciotta had said: "Those who have made promises to us are called Bernardo Mattarella, Prince Alliata, the monarchist MP Marchesano and also Signor Scelba, Minister for Home Affairs … it was Marchesano, Prince Alliata and Bernardo Mattarella who ordered the massacre of Portella di Ginestra. Before the massacre they met Giuliano…" However the MPs Mattarella, Alliata and Marchesano were declared innocent by the Court of Appeal of Palermo, at a trial which dealt with their alleged role in the event.^[11] Mural of the Portella della Ginestra massacre The Portella della Ginestra massacre was one of the more violent acts of in the history of modern Italian politics, when 11 persons were killed and 33 wounded during May Day celebrations in Sicily on May 1, 1947, on the desolate plateau at... 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. ... Bernardo Mattarella Bernardo Mattarella (Castellammare del Golfo, September 15, 1905 - (Rome, March 1, 1971) was an Italian politician for the Christian Democrat party (DC - Democrazia Cristiana). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Mario Scelba (1901-1991) was an Italian Christian Democratic politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy from 1954-1955. ...

Dramatizations

A film of his life, Salvatore Giuliano, was directed by Francesco Rosi in 1961. Novelist Mario Puzo published The Sicilian, a dramatized version of Giuliano's life, in 1984. The book was made into a film in 1987, directed by Michael Cimino and starring Christopher Lambert as Giuliano. Probably the most significant work to date on Giuliano is Professor Billy Jaynes Chandler's King of the Mountain, published in 1988 by Northern Illinois University Press. In 1956, Gavin Maxwell wrote God Protect Me From my Friends (published as Bandit in the USA), a biography of Giuliano. Film by Francesco Rosi, 1962. ... Francesco Rosi (born November 15, 1922 in Naples) is an Italian film director. ... Mario Gianluigi Puzo (October 15, 1920 – July 2, 1999) was an American author known for his novels about the Mafia, especially The Godfather (1969). ... The Sicilian is a novel written by American author Mario Puzo and published in 1984 by Random House Publishing Group (ISBN 0-671-43564-7). ... Michael Cimino (born February 3, 1939, New York City) is an Australia film director. ... Christopher Lambert (born March 29, 1957 as Christophe Guy Denis Lambert) is an American-born French actor. ... Gavin Maxwell FRSL, FIAL, FZS (Sc. ...

References

• Dickie, John (2004). Cosa Nostra. A history of the Sicilian Mafia, London: Coronet ISBN 0-340-82435-2
• Finkelstein, Monte S.(1998). Separatism, the Allies and the Mafia: The Struggle for Sicilian Independence, 1943-1948, Bethlehem: Lehigh University Press ISBN 0934223513
• Servadio, Gaia (1976), Mafioso. A history of the Mafia from its origins to the present day, London: Secker & Warburg ISBN 0-436-44700-2
• Norman Lewis (2003). The Honoured Society: The Sicilian Mafia Observed Eland Publishing Ltd ISBN-13: 978-0907871484

Eric John Ernest Hobsbawm CH (born June 9, 1917) is a British Marxist historian and author. ...

External links

• (Italian) Giuliano e lo Stato: materiali sul primo intrigo della Repubblica
• The true story of Salvatore Giuliano, based on the book by Giuseppe Sciortino Giuliano and Marianna Giuliano, the sister of Salvatore.
• Biography of Salvatore Giuliano
• Review of the film Salvatore Giuliano directed by Francesco Rosi by Derek Malcolm in The Guardian
• Bandit and Murderer, or Hero and Patriot? Biography of Salvatore Giuliano