Giuseppe Falsone
Encyclopedia
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...
. His name is sometimes spelled as Falzone. He was on the "Most wanted list" of the Italian ministry of the Interior since January 1999, until his arrest in France in June 2010. He is considered to be one of the bosses of Cosa Nostra in the province of Agrigento
Province of Agrigento
Agrigento is a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily in Italy. It has an area of 3,042 km², and a total population of 454,370...
, jointly with Gerlandino Messina
Gerlandino Messina
Gerlandino Messina is a member of the Mafia in Sicily from Porto Empedocle. He has been on the most wanted list of the Italian ministry of the Interior since 1999....
from Porto Empedocle
Porto Empedocle
Porto Empedocle is a town and comune in Italy on the coast of the Strait of Sicily, administratively part of the province of Agrigento. It is the namesake of Empedocles , a Greek pre-Socratic philosopher and a citizen of the city of Agrigentum , in his day a Greek colony in Sicily...
.
Mafia heritage
Giuseppe Falsone was born in Campobello di LicataCampobello di Licata
Campobello di Licata is a comune in the Province of Agrigento in the Italian region Sicily, located about 110 km southeast of Palermo and about 30 km east of Agrigento...
in the province of Agrigento
Province of Agrigento
Agrigento is a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily in Italy. It has an area of 3,042 km², and a total population of 454,370...
, 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,...
. He is the son of Vincenzo Falsone (born in 1930), the undisputed Mafia boss of the town for many years. Vincenzo Falsone was well connected to Mafia bosses such Giuseppe Settecasi, Carmelo Colletti and Giuseppe Di Caro who were capo provincia of Agrigento in the past.
On June 24, 1991, Giuseppe’s father Vincenzo Falsone and his elder brother Angelo were killed by the Stidda
Stidda
La Stidda is a name for Mafia-type criminal organizations centered in Gela, Sicily, in Italy. Members are known as stiddari or stiddaroli. It is most active in the rural parts of southern Sicily and is partially a rival to Cosa Nostra...
during a vicious war with Cosa Nostra clans. Giuseppe took over the leadership of the Mafia family when he was not yet 21-years old. In retaliation, Falsone killed Salvatore Ingaglio, responsible for the killing of his father and elder brother. Falsone was a fugitive since January 1999. He was convicted for Mafia association in 2000 and murder in 2001.
Capo provincia
At a meeting of Mafia families from Agrigento on July 14, 2002, in Santa Margherita di BeliceSanta Margherita di Belice
Santa Margherita di Belice is a town in the Province of Agrigento in the Italian region of Sicily.It rises in south-west Sicily, 400 metres above sea level, near to where the borders of the Province of Agrigento, Province of Trapani and Province of Palermo meet...
Mafia bosses were supposed to nominate a new capo provincia after the arrest of Calogero Di Caro, the boss from Canicattì
Canicattì
Canicattì is a comune in the Province of Agrigento in the Italian region Sicily, located about 90 km southeast of Palermo and about 25 km east of Agrigento.-History:...
. Mafia boss of bosses Bernardo Provenzano
Bernardo Provenzano
Bernardo Provenzano is a member of the Sicilian Mafia and is suspected of having been the head of the Corleonesi, a Mafia faction that originated in the village of Corleone, and de facto capo di tutti capi of the entire Sicilian Mafia until his arrest in 2006.His nickname is Binnu u tratturi...
sponsored Falsone, while his rival Maurizio Di Gati
Maurizio Di Gati
Maurizio Di Gati is a Sicilian mafioso and considered to be the boss of the Agrigento province before his arrest in November 2006....
was sponsored by Antonino Giuffrè
Antonino Giuffrè
Antonino "Nino" Giuffrè is an Italian mafioso from Caccamo in the Province of Palermo, Sicily. He became one of the most important Mafia turncoats after his arrest in April 2002....
. The police interrupted the summit. Di Gati was able to escape before the raid but he stepped aside as provincial boss for Falsone after the arrest of Giuffrè and due to the opposition of Provenzano to his position. Cesare Lombardozzi, Mafia boss of Agrigento, allegedly smoothed the transition.
Arrest
Falsone’s main criminal interests are in extortionExtortion
Extortion is a criminal offence which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime...
and public work contracts. In July 2004 assets worth two million euro were seized by the police, including real estate, 100 hectares of farmland, a winery and transport companies. Falsone’s mother, sister and brother were arrested as well. In the pizzini
Pizzino
Pizzino is an Italian language word derived from Sicilian language equivalent pizzinu. Despite it generically meaning "small piece of paper", the word is now widely used to refer to small slips of paper that the Sicilian Mafia uses for high-level communications...
(small slips of paper used to communicate with other mafiosi to avoid phone conversations) with Bernardo Provenzano
Bernardo Provenzano
Bernardo Provenzano is a member of the Sicilian Mafia and is suspected of having been the head of the Corleonesi, a Mafia faction that originated in the village of Corleone, and de facto capo di tutti capi of the entire Sicilian Mafia until his arrest in 2006.His nickname is Binnu u tratturi...
, Falsone was indicated as number 28.
In June 2008, Falsone just escaped his arrest. Police raided a house in Palazzo Adriano
Palazzo Adriano
Palazzo Adriano is a town and comune in the province of Palermo, Sicily, southern Italy.-History:The first mentions of one casale Arianum date from before 1060 under the reign of the Norman Roger I of Sicily. More reliable are the data on the hamlet of Palazzo Adriano reported in a document 1243...
, in the province of Palermo, but he was gone already. In March 2010, police seized more assets from Falsone worth €30 million.
He was arrested on June 25, 2010, in Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
(France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
). He had undergone plastic surgery and denied being Falsone showing a false French identity card, but his finger prints gave him away. At the time of his arrest he was considered to be the Mafia boss of the province of Agrigento by police investigators.