Gaetano Badalamenti
Encyclopedia
Gaetano Badalamenti was a powerful member of the Sicilian
Mafia
. Don Tano Badalamenti was the capofamiglia of his hometown Cinisi
, Sicily
, and headed the Sicilian Mafia Commission
in the 1970s. In 1987 he was sentenced in the United States
to 45 years in federal prison for being one of the leaders of the so-called Pizza Connection
, a US$ 1.65 billion drug-trafficking ring that used pizzerias as fronts to distribute heroin from 1975 to 1984.
Tano Badalamenti always remained an old-style mafioso, faithful to the rule of omertà
. He never admitted to belong to Cosa Nostra, but he never denied it either. At one point he said during interrogations by the FBI: "If I did answer I would damage myself in Italy." Despite his 45-year sentence in the US he never became a pentito
. Badalamenti commanded respect. He is described as "the kind of person who, when you look at him, you know is in charge of something."
, Michigan
. In 1946 Gaetano was named in an arrest warrant on charges of conspiracy and kidnapping. In 1947 he was charged with murder as well, and he fled to his brother Emanuele in the US. Badalamenti was arrested in 1950 and deported back to Italy. He married Theresa Vitale (her sister was married to Filippo Rimi, the capomafia of Alcamo
) and set up a business on the family land as a lemon grower. His judicial difficulties were all resolved because of insufficient evidence.
Badalamenti founded a successful construction business that supplied the crushed rock for Palermo's Punta Raisi Airport which fell within the Cinisi family's sphere of influence. In the early 1960s he successfully bribed officials to have the airport built near his hometown, despite its inconvenient geographical position. The construction needed large quantities of rock and gravel, which were available in large quantities on the family property. His two construction firms, a concrete plant and a fleet of trucks provided much needed employment for the townsfolk and enriched Badalamenti.
during the First Mafia War. The Ciaculli Massacre
on June 30, 1963 – when seven police and military officers sent to defuse a car bomb intended for mafioso Salvatore Greco
were killed – 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. Within a period of ten weeks 1,200 mafiosi were arrested, many of whom would be kept out of circulation for five or six years. The Sicilian Mafia Commission
was dissolved.
Badalamenti had complete control in Cinisi. "It seemed that Badalamenti was well liked by the Carabinieri
as he was calm, reliable, and always liked a chat. It almost felt like he was doing them a favour in that nothing ever happened in Cinisi, it was a quiet little town." [...] "I often used to see them walking arm in arm with Tano Badalamenti and his henchmen. You can't have faith in the institutions when you see the police arm in arm with mafiosi," according to Giovanni Impastato – the brother of murdered anti-mafia activist Giuseppe Impastato
– in his declaration before the Italian Antimafia Commission.
, that imported heroin from the Middle East and distributed the drugs through U.S. mid-western pizzeria store fronts.
Already in 1951, the American police identified a 50 kilogram shipment of heroin to Badalamenti who was then living in Detroit as an illegal immigrant. However, in the 1950s most money was made by smuggling foreign cigarettes into Italy. In 1953 Badalamenti was arrested for cigarette smuggling in Italy for the first time. In 1957 he was caught again with 3,000 kilograms of foreign-made cigarettes.
The repression caused by the Ciaculli Massacre
disrupted the Sicilian heroin trade to the United States. Mafiosi were banned, arrested and incarcerated. Control of the trade fell into the hands of a few fugitives: the cousins Salvatore "Ciaschiteddu" Greco and Salvatore Greco, also known as "l'ingegnere" or "Totò il lungo", Pietro Davì, Tommaso Buscetta
and Gaetano Badalamenti.
After 1975, Badalamenti joined forces with Salvatore Catalano of the Sicilian faction in the Bonanno family in New York and was involved with the "Pizza Connection
" case, where the mafia smuggled millions worth of heroin and cocaine
to USA using mafia-owned pizzerias as distribution points. When the FBI
began to close in 1984, Badalamenti fled to Spain but was arrested in Madrid.
In 1985 Badalamenti and others involved with the case were charged with illegal narcotics trade, conspiracy against the RICO Act
and for money laundering
. Prosecutors also said that they were responsible for murders in USA and Sicily. The trial of Badalamenti and his allies took 17 months. During it Badalamentis and Catalanos testified against each other. On June 22, 1987 Badalamenti was convicted only of money laundering but sentenced to 45 years in prison and fines of $125,000. Only his son Vito Badalamenti
was released.
was revived. It consisted of ten members but was initially ruled by a triumvirate consisting of Gaetano Badalamenti, Stefano Bontade
and the Corleonesi
boss Luciano Leggio
, although it was Salvatore Riina
who would actually represent the Corleonesi. In 1975 the full Commission was reconstituted under the leadership of Badalamenti.
The Mafia Commission was meant to settle disputes and keep the peace, but Leggio and his stand-in and successor, Salvatore Riina
, were plotting to decimate the Palermo clans. In January 1978, the old and ailing former head of the Sicilian Mafia Commission
Salvatore Greco "Ciaschiteddu" came all the way from Venezuela to try to refrain Badalamenti, Giuseppe Di Cristina
and Salvatore Inzerillo
from retaliating against the growing power of the Corleonesi
. Di Cristina and Badalamenti wanted to kill Francesco Madonia, the boss of Vallelunga
Mafia family and an ally of the Corleonesi in the province of Caltanissetta
. Greco tried to convince them not to go ahead and offered Di Cristina to emigrate to Venezuela. Nevertheless, Badalamenti and Di Cristina decided to go on and on April 8, 1978 Francesco Madonia
was murdered.
In retaliaton, Di Cristina was killed in May 1978 by the Corleonesi. Next was Giuseppe Calderone
, who was killed on September 8, 1978. At the close of 1978, Gaetano Badalamenti was expelled from the Commission and Michele Greco
replaced him. This marked the end of a period of relative peace and signified a major change in the Mafia itself. Tano Badalamenti was also replaced as head of the Cinisi Mafia family by his cousin Antonio Badalamenti. He moved to Brazil through Spain and settled in São Paulo
.
had "friendly and even direct ties" with top men in the so-called moderate wing of Cosa Nostra, Gaetano Badalamenti and Stefano Bontade
, favoured by the connection between them and Salvo Lima through the Salvo cousins
.
According to investigating magistrates Andreotti also commissioned the Mafia to kill the journalist Mino Pecorelli, managing editor of a magazine Osservatorio Politico (OP). The murder took place on March 20, 1979. Andreotti feared Pecorelli was about to publish information that could have destroyed his political career, in particular the illegal financing of the Christian Democratic Party and secrets about the 1978 kidnapping and killing of former Prime Minister Aldo Moro by the Red Brigades
.
Mafia turncoat Tommaso Buscetta
testified that Gaetano Badalamenti told him it was the Salvo cousins
who commissioned the murder with the Mafia as a favour to Andreotti. In 1999 the Perugia Court acquitted Andreotti, his righthand man Claudio Vitalone (a former Foreign Trade Minister), Badalamenti and Giuseppe Calò
, as well as the alleged killers Massimo Carminati, one of the founder of the far-right Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari
(NAR) group, and Michelangelo La Barbera. On November 17, 2002, the Appeals Court overturned the acquittal of Badalamenti and Andreotti. They were sentenced to 24 years in prison for ordering the murder of Pecorelli. However, the Supreme Court cleared both on October 30, 2003.
In 2002, an Italian court convicted him of the 1978 murder of activist radio broadcaster Giuseppe Impastato
and sentenced him to life imprisonment. Giuseppe Impastato
used humor and satire as his weapon against the Mafia. In his popular daily radio programme Onda pazza (Crazy Waves) he mocked politicians and mafiosi alike. On a daily basis he exposed the crimes and dealings of mafiosi in Mafiopoli (Cinisi) and the activities of Tano Seduto (Sitting Tano), a thinly disguised pseudonym of Don Tano Badalamenti, the capomafia of Cinisi.
, on April 29, 2004.
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
. Don Tano Badalamenti was the capofamiglia of his hometown Cinisi
Cinisi
Cinisi is a town and a comune in the province of Palermo in Sicily. As of 2007 it had an estimated population of 12,100.-Geography:The town is part of the Palermo metropolitan area, borders with the municipalities of Carini and Terrasini and count the civil parish of Punta Raisi, seat of Palermo...
, Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
, and headed the Sicilian Mafia Commission
Sicilian Mafia Commission
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...
in the 1970s. In 1987 he was sentenced in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to 45 years in federal prison for being one of the leaders of the so-called Pizza Connection
Pizza Connection Trial
The Pizza Connection Trial was one of the longest criminal jury trials on record in the district of Manhattan. It took place between October 24, 1985 and March 2, 1987-Scope of the trial:...
, a US$ 1.65 billion drug-trafficking ring that used pizzerias as fronts to distribute heroin from 1975 to 1984.
Tano Badalamenti always remained an old-style mafioso, faithful to the rule of omertà
Omertà
Omertà is a popular attitude and code of honour and a common definition is the "code of silence". It is common in areas of southern Italy, such as Sicily, Apulia, Calabria, and Campania, where criminal organizations defined as Mafia such as the Cosa Nostra, 'Ndrangheta, Sacra Corona Unita, and...
. He never admitted to belong to Cosa Nostra, but he never denied it either. At one point he said during interrogations by the FBI: "If I did answer I would damage myself in Italy." Despite his 45-year sentence in the US he never became a pentito
Pentito
Pentito designates people in Italy who, formerly part of criminal or terrorist organizations, following their arrests decide to "repent" and collaborate with the judicial system to help investigations...
. Badalamenti commanded respect. He is described as "the kind of person who, when you look at him, you know is in charge of something."
Early years
Tano Badalamenti was the youngest of a family with five boys and four girls. He had minimal schooling before he was put to work as a field hand at age ten. Drafted into the Italian army in 1941, he deserted before the Allies invaded Sicily in July 1943. His elder brother Emanuele Badalamenti migrated to the United States and operated a supermarket and gas station in MonroeMonroe, Michigan
Monroe is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 20,733 at the 2010 census. It is the largest city and county seat of Monroe County. The city is bordered on the south by Monroe Charter Township, but both are politically independent. The city is located approximately 14 miles ...
, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
. In 1946 Gaetano was named in an arrest warrant on charges of conspiracy and kidnapping. In 1947 he was charged with murder as well, and he fled to his brother Emanuele in the US. Badalamenti was arrested in 1950 and deported back to Italy. He married Theresa Vitale (her sister was married to Filippo Rimi, the capomafia of Alcamo
Alcamo
Alcamo is the fourth largest city in the province of Trapani, in north-western Sicily, southern Italy.-History:Alcamo was founded in 828 by the Muslim commander al-Kamuk , though other sources date its origin to c. 972...
) and set up a business on the family land as a lemon grower. His judicial difficulties were all resolved because of insufficient evidence.
Badalamenti founded a successful construction business that supplied the crushed rock for Palermo's Punta Raisi Airport which fell within the Cinisi family's sphere of influence. In the early 1960s he successfully bribed officials to have the airport built near his hometown, despite its inconvenient geographical position. The construction needed large quantities of rock and gravel, which were available in large quantities on the family property. His two construction firms, a concrete plant and a fleet of trucks provided much needed employment for the townsfolk and enriched Badalamenti.
Capomafia of Cinisi
Badalamenti assumed leadership of the Mafia in Cinisi in 1963 after a car bomb killed Cesare ManzellaCesare Manzella
Cesare Manzella was a traditional Mafia capo, who sat on the first Sicilian Mafia Commission. He was the head of the Mafia family in Cinisi, a small seaside town near the Punta Raisi Airport. As the airport was in their territory it was an invaluable asset for the import and export of contraband,...
during the First Mafia War. The Ciaculli Massacre
Ciaculli massacre
The Ciaculli massacre on 30 June 1963 was caused by a car bomb that exploded in Ciaculli, an outlying suburb of Palermo, killing seven police and military officers sent to defuse it after an anonymous phone call. The bomb was intended for Salvatore "Ciaschiteddu" Greco, head of the Sicilian Mafia...
on June 30, 1963 – when seven police and military officers sent to defuse a car bomb intended for mafioso Salvatore Greco
Salvatore Greco
Salvatore "Ciaschiteddu" Greco was a powerful mafioso and boss of the Mafia Family in Ciaculli, an outlying suburb of Palermo famous for its citrus fruit groves, where he was born...
were killed – 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. Within a period of ten weeks 1,200 mafiosi were arrested, many of whom would be kept out of circulation for five or six years. The Sicilian Mafia Commission
Sicilian Mafia Commission
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...
was dissolved.
Badalamenti had complete control in Cinisi. "It seemed that Badalamenti was well liked by the Carabinieri
Carabinieri
The Carabinieri is the national gendarmerie of Italy, policing both military and civilian populations, and is a branch of the armed forces.-Early history:...
as he was calm, reliable, and always liked a chat. It almost felt like he was doing them a favour in that nothing ever happened in Cinisi, it was a quiet little town." [...] "I often used to see them walking arm in arm with Tano Badalamenti and his henchmen. You can't have faith in the institutions when you see the police arm in arm with mafiosi," according to Giovanni Impastato – the brother of murdered anti-mafia activist Giuseppe Impastato
Giuseppe Impastato
Giuseppe Impastato, also known as Peppino , was a political activist who opposed the Mafia that ordered his murder in 1978.-Childhood:...
– in his declaration before the Italian Antimafia Commission.
Heroin trafficking
Gaetano Badalamenti would become one of the major heroin traffickers of the Sicilian Mafia. From 1975 to 1984, he was one of the main ringleaders of a US$1.65 billion dollar heroin trafficking operation, known as the Pizza ConnectionPizza Connection Trial
The Pizza Connection Trial was one of the longest criminal jury trials on record in the district of Manhattan. It took place between October 24, 1985 and March 2, 1987-Scope of the trial:...
, that imported heroin from the Middle East and distributed the drugs through U.S. mid-western pizzeria store fronts.
Already in 1951, the American police identified a 50 kilogram shipment of heroin to Badalamenti who was then living in Detroit as an illegal immigrant. However, in the 1950s most money was made by smuggling foreign cigarettes into Italy. In 1953 Badalamenti was arrested for cigarette smuggling in Italy for the first time. In 1957 he was caught again with 3,000 kilograms of foreign-made cigarettes.
The repression caused by the Ciaculli Massacre
Ciaculli massacre
The Ciaculli massacre on 30 June 1963 was caused by a car bomb that exploded in Ciaculli, an outlying suburb of Palermo, killing seven police and military officers sent to defuse it after an anonymous phone call. The bomb was intended for Salvatore "Ciaschiteddu" Greco, head of the Sicilian Mafia...
disrupted the Sicilian heroin trade to the United States. Mafiosi were banned, arrested and incarcerated. Control of the trade fell into the hands of a few fugitives: the cousins Salvatore "Ciaschiteddu" Greco and Salvatore Greco, also known as "l'ingegnere" or "Totò il lungo", Pietro Davì, Tommaso Buscetta
Tommaso Buscetta
Tommaso Buscetta was a Sicilian mafioso. Although he was not the first pentito in the Italian witness protection program, he is widely recognized as the first important one breaking omertà...
and Gaetano Badalamenti.
After 1975, Badalamenti joined forces with Salvatore Catalano of the Sicilian faction in the Bonanno family in New York and was involved with the "Pizza Connection
Pizza Connection Trial
The Pizza Connection Trial was one of the longest criminal jury trials on record in the district of Manhattan. It took place between October 24, 1985 and March 2, 1987-Scope of the trial:...
" case, where the mafia smuggled millions worth of heroin and cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
to USA using mafia-owned pizzerias as distribution points. When the FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
began to close in 1984, Badalamenti fled to Spain but was arrested in Madrid.
In 1985 Badalamenti and others involved with the case were charged with illegal narcotics trade, conspiracy against the RICO Act
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as the RICO Act or simply RICO, is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization...
and for money laundering
Money laundering
Money laundering is the process of disguising illegal sources of money so that it looks like it came from legal sources. The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication. Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount...
. Prosecutors also said that they were responsible for murders in USA and Sicily. The trial of Badalamenti and his allies took 17 months. During it Badalamentis and Catalanos testified against each other. On June 22, 1987 Badalamenti was convicted only of money laundering but sentenced to 45 years in prison and fines of $125,000. Only his son Vito Badalamenti
Vito Badalamenti
Vito Badalamenti is a member of the Sicilian Mafia. He is on the "Most wanted list" of the Italian ministry of the Interior since 1995.-Mafia heritage:Vito Badalamenti was born in Cinisi, Sicily...
was released.
On the Sicilian Mafia Commission
In 1970, the Sicilian Mafia CommissionSicilian Mafia Commission
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...
was revived. It consisted of ten members but was initially ruled by a triumvirate consisting of Gaetano Badalamenti, Stefano Bontade
Stefano Bontade
Stefano Bontade was a powerful member of the Sicilian Mafia. Some sources spell his surname Bontate. He was the capomafia of the Santa Maria di Gesù Family in Palermo...
and the Corleonesi
Corleonesi
The Corleonesi is the name given to a faction within the Sicilian Mafia that dominated Cosa Nostra in the 1980s and the 1990s. It was called the Corleonesi because its most important leaders came from the town of Corleone, first Luciano Leggio and later Totò Riina, Bernardo Provenzano and Leoluca...
boss Luciano Leggio
Luciano Leggio
Luciano Leggio was an Italian criminal and leading figure of the Sicilian Mafia. He was the head of the Corleonesi, the Mafia faction that originated in the town of Corleone...
, although it was Salvatore Riina
Salvatore Riina
Salvatore "Totò" Riina is a member of the Sicilian Mafia who became the most powerful member of the criminal organization in the early 1980s. Fellow mobsters nicknamed him The Beast due to his violent nature, or sometimes The Short One due to his diminutive stature...
who would actually represent the Corleonesi. In 1975 the full Commission was reconstituted under the leadership of Badalamenti.
The Mafia Commission was meant to settle disputes and keep the peace, but Leggio and his stand-in and successor, Salvatore Riina
Salvatore Riina
Salvatore "Totò" Riina is a member of the Sicilian Mafia who became the most powerful member of the criminal organization in the early 1980s. Fellow mobsters nicknamed him The Beast due to his violent nature, or sometimes The Short One due to his diminutive stature...
, were plotting to decimate the Palermo clans. In January 1978, the old and ailing former head of the Sicilian Mafia Commission
Sicilian Mafia Commission
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 Greco "Ciaschiteddu" came all the way from Venezuela to try to refrain Badalamenti, Giuseppe Di Cristina
Giuseppe Di Cristina
Giuseppe Di Cristina was a powerful mafioso from Riesi in the province of Caltanissetta, Sicily, southern Italy...
and Salvatore Inzerillo
Salvatore Inzerillo
Salvatore Inzerillo was an Italian criminal, a member of the Sicilian Mafia, also known as Totuccio . He rose to be a powerful boss of Palermo's Passo di Rigano family...
from retaliating against the growing power of the Corleonesi
Corleonesi
The Corleonesi is the name given to a faction within the Sicilian Mafia that dominated Cosa Nostra in the 1980s and the 1990s. It was called the Corleonesi because its most important leaders came from the town of Corleone, first Luciano Leggio and later Totò Riina, Bernardo Provenzano and Leoluca...
. Di Cristina and Badalamenti wanted to kill Francesco Madonia, the boss of Vallelunga
Vallelunga
Vallelunga is a part of the metropolitan area of Rome, Italy.- See also :* Autodromo Vallelunga...
Mafia family and an ally of the Corleonesi in the province of Caltanissetta
Province of Caltanissetta
The Province of Caltanissetta is a province in the southern part of Sicily, Italy...
. Greco tried to convince them not to go ahead and offered Di Cristina to emigrate to Venezuela. Nevertheless, Badalamenti and Di Cristina decided to go on and on April 8, 1978 Francesco Madonia
Francesco Madonia
Francesco Ciccio Madonia was the Mafia boss of the San Lorenzo-Pallavicino area in Palermo. In 1978 he became a member of the Sicilian Mafia Commission....
was murdered.
In retaliaton, Di Cristina was killed in May 1978 by the Corleonesi. Next was Giuseppe Calderone
Giuseppe Calderone
Giuseppe “Pippo” Calderone was an influential Sicilian mafioso from Catania. He became the ‘secretary’ of the interprovincial Sicilian Mafia Commission, formed around 1975 on his instigation. Its purpose was to coordinate the provincial Mafia commissions and avoid conflicts over public contracts...
, who was killed on September 8, 1978. At the close of 1978, Gaetano Badalamenti was expelled from the Commission and Michele Greco
Michele Greco
Michele Greco was a member of the Sicilian Mafia, previously incarcerated for multiple murders. His nickname was "il Papa" because of his ability to mediate between different Mafia families...
replaced him. This marked the end of a period of relative peace and signified a major change in the Mafia itself. Tano Badalamenti was also replaced as head of the Cinisi Mafia family by his cousin Antonio Badalamenti. He moved to Brazil through Spain and settled in São Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
.
Political contacts
Italy’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, ruled in October 2004 that former Prime Minister Giulio AndreottiGiulio Andreotti
Giulio Andreotti is an Italian politician of the now dissolved centrist Christian Democracy party. He served as the 42nd Prime Minister of Italy from 1972 to 1973, from 1976 to 1979 and from 1989 to 1992. He also served as Minister of the Interior , Defense Minister and Foreign Minister and he...
had "friendly and even direct ties" with top men in the so-called moderate wing of Cosa Nostra, Gaetano Badalamenti and Stefano Bontade
Stefano Bontade
Stefano Bontade was a powerful member of the Sicilian Mafia. Some sources spell his surname Bontate. He was the capomafia of the Santa Maria di Gesù Family in Palermo...
, favoured by the connection between them and Salvo Lima through the Salvo cousins
Antonio Salvo
Antonio Nino Salvo and his cousin Ignazio Salvo were two wealthy businessmen from the town of Salemi in the province of Trapani. They had strong political connections with the Christian Democrat party , in particular with the former mayor of Palermo, Salvo Lima, and Giulio Andreotti...
.
According to investigating magistrates Andreotti also commissioned the Mafia to kill the journalist Mino Pecorelli, managing editor of a magazine Osservatorio Politico (OP). The murder took place on March 20, 1979. Andreotti feared Pecorelli was about to publish information that could have destroyed his political career, in particular the illegal financing of the Christian Democratic Party and secrets about the 1978 kidnapping and killing of former Prime Minister Aldo Moro by the Red Brigades
Red Brigades
The Red Brigades was a Marxist-Leninist terrorist organisation, based in Italy, which was responsible for numerous violent incidents, assassinations, and robberies during the so-called "Years of Lead"...
.
Mafia turncoat Tommaso Buscetta
Tommaso Buscetta
Tommaso Buscetta was a Sicilian mafioso. Although he was not the first pentito in the Italian witness protection program, he is widely recognized as the first important one breaking omertà...
testified that Gaetano Badalamenti told him it was the Salvo cousins
Antonio Salvo
Antonio Nino Salvo and his cousin Ignazio Salvo were two wealthy businessmen from the town of Salemi in the province of Trapani. They had strong political connections with the Christian Democrat party , in particular with the former mayor of Palermo, Salvo Lima, and Giulio Andreotti...
who commissioned the murder with the Mafia as a favour to Andreotti. In 1999 the Perugia Court acquitted Andreotti, his righthand man Claudio Vitalone (a former Foreign Trade Minister), Badalamenti and Giuseppe Calò
Giuseppe Calò
Giuseppe 'Pippo' Calò is a member of the Sicilian Mafia. He was referred to as the "Mafia's Cashier" because he was heavily involved in the financial side of organized crime, primarily money laundering....
, as well as the alleged killers Massimo Carminati, one of the founder of the far-right Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari
Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari
The Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari was an Italian neofascist terrorist organization active from 1977 to November 1981. It committed 33 murders in four years, and had planned to assassinate Francesco Cossiga, Gianfranco Fini and Adolfo Urso...
(NAR) group, and Michelangelo La Barbera. On November 17, 2002, the Appeals Court overturned the acquittal of Badalamenti and Andreotti. They were sentenced to 24 years in prison for ordering the murder of Pecorelli. However, the Supreme Court cleared both on October 30, 2003.
In 2002, an Italian court convicted him of the 1978 murder of activist radio broadcaster Giuseppe Impastato
Giuseppe Impastato
Giuseppe Impastato, also known as Peppino , was a political activist who opposed the Mafia that ordered his murder in 1978.-Childhood:...
and sentenced him to life imprisonment. Giuseppe Impastato
Giuseppe Impastato
Giuseppe Impastato, also known as Peppino , was a political activist who opposed the Mafia that ordered his murder in 1978.-Childhood:...
used humor and satire as his weapon against the Mafia. In his popular daily radio programme Onda pazza (Crazy Waves) he mocked politicians and mafiosi alike. On a daily basis he exposed the crimes and dealings of mafiosi in Mafiopoli (Cinisi) and the activities of Tano Seduto (Sitting Tano), a thinly disguised pseudonym of Don Tano Badalamenti, the capomafia of Cinisi.
Death
Don Tano Badalamenti died from heart failure at the age of 80 at the Devens Federal Medical Center, Ayer, MassachusettsAyer, Massachusetts
Ayer is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. Originally part of Groton, it was incorporated February 14, 1871 and became a major commercial railroad junction. The town was home to Camp Stevens, a training camp for Massachusetts volunteers during the American Civil War...
, on April 29, 2004.
External links
- Giuseppe Impastato Sicilian Centre of Documentation Caso Impastato final report of the Italian parliamentary Antimafia Commission, December 6, 2000
- Gaetano Badalamenti at Find-A-Grave