Gaetano Fidanzati is a historical boss of the Sicilian

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...

. He is the boss of the Resuttana mandamento

Mandamento

Historically a mandamento was the part of Italian territory under the jurisdiction of a "pretore" which is a kind of magistrate. These divisions were abolished in 1923....

 in Palermo

Palermo

Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...

. He was on the "most wanted list" of the Italian Ministry of the Interior since 2008, until his arrest on December 5, 2009.

Drug trafficker

He and his four brothers hailed from the Arenella neighbourhood in Palermo

Palermo

Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...

 and head one of the Mafia clans said to be among the most involved in international drug trafficking.

He is said to have masterminded an innovation in drug trafficking, exchanging heroin against cocaine, to avoid money trails that could be traced by the police. The exchange rate with the American Mafia – in particular with the Gambinos – was one kgs of heroin against three kgs of cocaine.

In Milan

In the 1960s they moved to Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

 in the north of Italy and were part of the gang of Mafia boss Gerlando Alberti

Gerlando Alberti

Gerlando Alberti , also known as "U Paccarè" is a member of the Sicilian Mafia. He belongs to the Porta Nuova family in Palermo headed by Giuseppe Calò...

. In 1968, he was acquitted at Trial of the 114 against the top echelon of the Mafia. He was sent into internal banishment and managed to be moved to Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

, where he met Michele Zaza

Michele 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...

 of the Camorra

Camorra

The Camorra is a Mafia-type criminal organization, or secret society, originating in the region of Campania and its capital Naples in Italy. It is one of the oldest and largest criminal organizations in Italy, dating to the 18th century.-Background:...

 – which would result in an alliance to smuggle cigarettes and, later, heroin.

He was sentenced to 12 years in prison for drug trafficking 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...

 against the Mafia in Palermo in 1987, but was freed soon afterwards on a procedural technicality and fled.

The 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...

 (turncoat) Gaspare Mutolo

Gaspare Mutolo

Gaspare Mutolo is a Sicilian mafioso, also known as "Asparino". In 1992 he became a pentito . He was the first mafioso who spoke about the connections between Cosa Nostra and Italian politicians...

 recalled that Fidanzati approached him during the Maxi Trial in 1986. Fidanzati asked if he could find some more Thai heroin. If so, Fidanzati said, "we'll send it to Canada, to Cuntrera and Caruana, everything you want, either a 100 or 200 kilos, every amount you can send them in Canada, because they control everything over there."

Arrest and extradition

On February 22, 1990, he was arrested in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

 and extradited to Italy in April 1993. In the following years he was in and out of prison on drug trafficking charges.

In December 2008, after a nine-month investigation dubbed "Operation Perseus" (after the Greek mythological hero who beheaded Medusa

Medusa

In Greek mythology Medusa , " guardian, protectress") was a Gorgon, a chthonic monster, and a daughter of Phorcys and Ceto. The author Hyginus, interposes a generation and gives Medusa another chthonic pair as parents. Gazing directly upon her would turn onlookers to stone...

), police indicted 94 Mafiosi to prevent them to reconstitute a new governing board for the Mafia, known as the 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...

. Fidanzati was among indicted while released from prison on health grounds and serving out their sentences under house arrest. As head of the Resuttana mandamento he would have been a member of the Commission.

On December 5, 2009, Italian police arrested him in Milan.