Antonio Salamone
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...
and a member of the first 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...
. His nickname was “il furbo” – the shrewd one.
Mafia heritage
Salamone was born San Giuseppe JatoSan Giuseppe Jato
San Giuseppe Jato is a village in the Province of Palermo in Sicily, southern Italy.The village sits in a hilly region of Palermo's hinterland, 31 km from the Sicilian capital.-History:...
in the Province of Palermo
Province of Palermo
The Province of Palermo is a province in the autonomous region of Sicily, a major island in Southern Italy. Its capital is the city of Palermo. The Province of Palermo has 82 comuni , 1,239,272 inhabitants, and is 4,992 km² .-External links:...
. After his first wife died, Salamone married Girolama Greco, a sister of Salvatore Greco "l'ingegnere", a cousin of Salvatore Greco "Ciaschiteddu", the boss of the Ciaculli
Ciaculli
Ciaculli is an outlying suburb of Palermo, Sicily in Italy. It counts less than 5000 residents. Ciaculli is close to the suburb of Croceverde. Ciaculli has been important within the history of the Cosa Nostra. The best known Mafia family is the Greco Mafia clan...
Mafia family and the first secretary 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...
. His connection with the powerful Greco Mafia clan raised his standing in the Mafia.
After 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...
in 1963 he moved to 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...
in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, where he acquired citizenship in 1970. The illegal lottery operator (bicheiro
Jogo do Bicho
Jogo do Bicho is an illegal gambling game in Brazil, prohibited by federal law since 1946. Very popular throughout the country, the "game" is actually a lottery-type drawing operated on a regional basis by mobsters known as contraventores , bicheiros or banqueiros...
) Castor de Andrade
Castor de Andrade
Castor Gonçalves de Andrade e Silva was a well-known bicheiro in Rio de Janeiro. Since the 1980s, Castor de Andrade was the uncontested leader of all the main bicheiros of the city of Rio de Janeiro, and had more than 100 policemen and a number of public servants, prominent politicians, and judges...
allegedly helped Salamone to settle in Brazil. Castor de Andrade gave him a cover job at Bangu Textiles, which he owned. Salamone became a naturalized Brazilian because of de Andrade’s influence.
Running Pizza parlours in New York
In 1965, Salamone moved to New York and got involved in running pizza parlours with a member of his San Giuseppe Jato Mafia family, Giuseppe Ganci, who had moved to the United States.He returned to Italy at the end of the 1960s. At the Trial of the 114 in 1968, Salamone was acquitted. In 1970, the Court of Palermo ordered a five-year internal exile in Sacile
Sacile
Sacile is a town and comune in the province of Pordenone, in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of north-east Italy. It is known as the "Garden of the Serenissima" after the many palaces that were constructed along the river Livenza for the nobility of the Most Serene Republic of...
in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Friuli–Venezia Giulia is one of the twenty regions of Italy, and one of five autonomous regions with special statute. The capital is Trieste. It has an area of 7,858 km² and about 1.2 million inhabitants. A natural opening to the sea for many Central European countries, the region is...
region of north-east Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. He was arrested again in 1971 for the second Trial of the 114, where he was acquitted in 1974.
Disappeared?
After his acquittal in 1974, Salamone had to return to Sacile but disappeared without leaving a trace. He was considered to be a victim of a lupara biancaLupara
Lupara is an Italian word used to refer to a sawn-off shotgun of the break-open type. It is traditionally associated with Cosa Nostra, the Italian organized crime group dominant in Sicily for their use of it in vendettas, defense—such as its use against Mussolini's army when he decided to break up...
– a mafia-style murder in which the victim's body is deliberately hidden. In fact Salamone had moved to São Paulo again where he became a building contractor.
He kept ruling the San Giuseppe Jato Mafia family. His substitute was Bernardo Brusca (the father of Giovanni Brusca
Giovanni Brusca
Giovanni Brusca is a former member of the Sicilian Mafia. He murdered the anti-Mafia prosecutor Giovanni Falcone in 1992 and once stated that he had committed between 100 and 200 murders but was unable to remember the exact number...
) who also represented Salamone in 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...
. Salamone counted on the powerful support of 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...
to curb his lieutenant Brusca’s desire for power.
Second Mafia war
Salamone and Bontade wanted to kill CorleonesiCorleonesi
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 Totò Riina at a meeting 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...
during the escalating conflict with the established Mafia-bosses in Palermo. However, the Corleonesi acted first and killed Bontade in April 1981, an event that set off 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...
.
In 1982 Salamone suddenly re-appeared again in public. He returned to Sacile, the town where he still had to serve the remainder of his internal exile. Salamone returned because he tried to avoid attempts by the Corleonesi of Totò Riina to use him to go after 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...
, considered to be one of the Corleonesi’s main enemies 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...
. Salamone was a close friend of Buscetta and decided to give himself up to the police instead.
Back in Italy
For many years law enforcement had believed Salamone to be dead, but his name reappeared in 1982 during police investigations into heroin trafficking and money laundering with Michele ZazaMichele Zaza
Michele Zaza was a member of the Neapolitan Camorra who was also initiated in the Sicilian Mafia. He was known as "’O Pazzo" due to his outspoken and improbable public pronouncements...
and the Cuntrera-Caruana Mafia clan. Salamone was part of the Sicilian supply ring for 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:...
. One of the main organisers in the United States was Giuseppe Ganci, a member of Salamone’ s Mafia family.
In the following years Salamone received arrest warrants for heroin trafficking and Mafia association. Sentenced to 22 years at the Maxi Trial
Maxi Trial
The Maxi Trial was a criminal trial that took place in Sicily during the mid-1980s that saw hundreds of defendants on trial convicted for a multitude of crimes relating to Mafia activities, based primarily on testimony given in as evidence from a former boss turned informant...
in 1987, Salamone was sent home by the Supreme Court on the grounds of his “advanced age” and “grave state of health”, whereupon he promptly left the country to return to Brazil in 1989.
Arrest in Brazil
On April 16, 1993, Salamone was arrested in São PauloSão 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...
. However, because of his Brazilian nationality and his advanced age, he was not extradited to Italy. In June 1996, Antimafia prosecutor Gian Carlo Caselli, travelled from Palermo to Brazil to interrogate Salamone on the links of former Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti
Giulio 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...
with the Mafia. Salamone refused to answer any of the questions.
Salamone died of cancer on May 31, 1998, in São Paulo. Despite his involvement in 119 murders, Salamone was described as a frail, peaceable-looking old man during the Maxi Trial
Maxi Trial
The Maxi Trial was a criminal trial that took place in Sicily during the mid-1980s that saw hundreds of defendants on trial convicted for a multitude of crimes relating to Mafia activities, based primarily on testimony given in as evidence from a former boss turned informant...
– he was “a mafioso with a human face” according to prosecutor Giuseppe Ayala
Giuseppe Ayala
Giuseppe Ayala is an Italian politician and magistrate.A member of the Democratic Alliance and Italian Republican Party in the 1990s before he joined the Democrats of the Left in 1998. He was known as an "anti-Mafia" magistrate, and had functioned as an "anti-Mafia" judge...
.