Giovanni Inzerillo
Encyclopedia
Giovanni Inzerillo is a construction entrepreneur and son of Salvatore Inzerillo
, a notorious Sicilian Mafia boss who was killed in May 1981 on the orders of Mafia boss Salvatore "Totò" Riina
during the Second Mafia War
.
After the Corleonesi
killed his father, they also murdered his fourteen-year-old brother, Giuseppe. Giuseppe had vowed to avenge his father, and not long afterwards he was kidnapped, tortured and killed. A number of informants, including Tommaso Buscetta
, said that it was Pino Greco who abducted him and shot him through the head, but first hacked his arm off, symbolically removing the arm the youngster had vowed to shoot Riina with.
When Totò Riina gave the instructions to exterminate the clan he made it quite clear: "Not even the pips must remain from the Inzerillo family". The Inzerillo family had been on the verge of total extermination by the Corleonesi. With the intervention of relatives in New York, including associates of the Gambino crime family
, a deal was worked out that allowed the surviving Inzerillos to take refuge in the U.S., with the agreement that none of them, or their offspring, could ever return to Sicily. Many went to the New York area and joined forces with the Gambino family. They were dubbed "gli scappati" (the escapees).
Giovanni returned to Sicily in 2000. Officially he is a building constructor and lives in the same house his father lived in at 346 Via Castellana in the district of Palermo called Passo di Rigano. He was indicted and arrested on February 7, 2008, in Operation Old Bridge
against the Gambinos in New York and their connections in Palermo, involved in drug trafficking.
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...
, a notorious Sicilian Mafia boss who was killed in May 1981 on the orders of Mafia boss Salvatore "Totò" 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...
during the Second Mafia War
Second Mafia War
The Second Mafia War was a conflict within the Sicilian Mafia, mostly taking place in the early 1980s. As with any criminal organization, the history of the Sicilian Mafia is replete with conflicts and power struggles, and the violence that results from them, but these are generally localised and...
.
After 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...
killed his father, they also murdered his fourteen-year-old brother, Giuseppe. Giuseppe had vowed to avenge his father, and not long afterwards he was kidnapped, tortured and killed. A number of informants, including 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...
, said that it was Pino Greco who abducted him and shot him through the head, but first hacked his arm off, symbolically removing the arm the youngster had vowed to shoot Riina with.
When Totò Riina gave the instructions to exterminate the clan he made it quite clear: "Not even the pips must remain from the Inzerillo family". The Inzerillo family had been on the verge of total extermination by the Corleonesi. With the intervention of relatives in New York, including associates of the Gambino crime family
Gambino crime family
The Gambino crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia . The group is named after Carlo Gambino, boss of the family at the time of the McClellan hearings in 1963...
, a deal was worked out that allowed the surviving Inzerillos to take refuge in the U.S., with the agreement that none of them, or their offspring, could ever return to Sicily. Many went to the New York area and joined forces with the Gambino family. They were dubbed "gli scappati" (the escapees).
Giovanni returned to Sicily in 2000. Officially he is a building constructor and lives in the same house his father lived in at 346 Via Castellana in the district of Palermo called Passo di Rigano. He was indicted and arrested on February 7, 2008, in Operation Old Bridge
Operation Old Bridge
Operation Old Bridge is the code name for the February 7, 2008 arrests in Italy and the United States that targeted the Gambino crime family. Among the indicted were the reputed acting bosses Jackie D'Amico, Nicholas Corozzo and Consigliere Joseph Corozzo of the Gambino crime family...
against the Gambinos in New York and their connections in Palermo, involved in drug trafficking.