Tommaso Buscetta
Encyclopedia
Tommaso Buscetta was a Sicilian
mafioso. Although he was not the first pentito
(informant
) in the Italian witness protection program, he is widely recognized as the first important one breaking omertà
. Many mafiosi would follow his example.
-stricken area of Palermo
, which he escaped by getting involved with crime at a young age. He first became involved with the Mafia in 1945 and by the following year he was a full-fledged member of the Porta Nuova Family and his first boss was Giuseppe "Pippo" Calò
. His first work was mostly smuggling cigarettes.
After the Ciaculli Massacre
in 1963, Buscetta fled to the United States
where the local Gambino crime family
helped him to get started in the pizza business. In 1968, Buscetta was convicted of double murder, but the conviction was in absentia as he was not actually in custody (In Italy
, it is possible for fugitives to be prosecuted without them being present).
In 1970 Buscetta was arrested in New York. Because Italian authorities did not ask for his extradition he was released. Buscetta moved on to Brazil
where he set up a drug trafficking network. In 1972 Buscetta was arrested and torture
d by the Brazilian military regime, and subsequently extradited to Italy where he began a life sentence for the earlier double murder conviction. In 1980, while on a day-release from prison, he fled again to Brazil to escape the brewing Mafia War
instigated by Totò Riina that subsequently led to the deaths of many of Buscetta's allies, including Stefano Bontade
. Arrested once more in 1983, Buscetta was sent back to Italy. He attempted suicide
, and when that failed, he decided that he was utterly disillusioned with the Mafia. Buscetta asked to talk to Giovanni Falcone
and began his life as an informant.
s Giovanni Falcone
and Paolo Borsellino
to achieve significant successes in the fight against organized crime
(the two judges were later both killed by the Mafia). He was the star witness in the Maxi Trial
that led to almost 350 Mafia members being sent to prison.
Buscetta revealed the existence and workings of the Sicilian Mafia Commission
. It enabled Falcone to argue that Cosa Nostra was a unified hierarchical structure ruled by a Commission and that its leaders-–who normally would not dirty their hands with criminal acts–-could be held responsible for criminal activities that were committed to benefit the organization. This premise became known as the Buscetta theorem and would be recognised legally with the confirmation of the Maxi Trial sentence in January 1992.
His testimony in the New York
Pizza Connection Trial
in the mid-1980s allowed the conviction of hundreds of mobsters in Italy
and the United States
, including Gaetano Badalamenti
.
As a reward for his help, Buscetta was allowed to live in the USA under a new identity in the Witness Protection Program. He was reported to have undergone plastic surgery
to conceal his identity. He sometimes gave interviews to journalists although his face was pixelated when he appeared in documentaries. In an interview with the Italian journalist Enzo Biagi
, Buscetta cheerfully bragged that he lost his virginity
at the age of eight to a prostitute who charged him just a bottle of olive oil
. Buscetta married three times and had six children, and at one point, he was briefly suspended from the Mafia for walking out on his first wife, adultery
being a greater crime than murder
in the eyes of his fellow mobsters. While in prison in the seventies, he learned that his boss wanted to expel him from the organisation altogether for the treatment of his wives.
Judges and policemen found Buscetta to be very polite and intelligent, albeit sometimes prone to vanity. Like most informants, Buscetta was occasionally somewhat economical with the truth. He once claimed he had never dealt in narcotics even though he once contradicted himself by saying that everyone in the Mafia was involved in drugs, without exempting himself from this statement. Originally, he denied ever killing anyone, but he later admitted in a television interview that he was a murderer.
Some of his lies had understandable motives. In the 1980s he said he had no knowledge of the links that various politicians like Salvo Lima and Giulio Andreotti
had with the Mafia, but in the 1990s he admitted that he knew of such ties, claiming that he had feigned ignorance during the 1980s because the politician
s in question were then in power, and he had feared for his life even within the security afforded by the Witness Protection Program.
Only after the murders on Antimafia judges Giovanni Falcone
and Paolo Borsellino
, in 1992, did Buscetta decide to talk about the links between the Mafia and politicians. On November 16, 1992, Buscetta testified before the Antimafia Commission
presided by Luciano Violante
about the links between Cosa Nostra and Salvo Lima and Giulio Andreotti
. He indicated Salvo Lima as the contact of the Mafia in Italian politics. "Salvo Lima was, in fact, the politician to whom Cosa Nostra turned most often to resolve problems for the organisation whose solution lay in Rome," Buscetta testified.
In court, Buscetta also elaborated in great detail the hidden exchanges that linked politicians and the Mafia. He stated:
When fellow mafioso Salvatore Cancemi
confessed to Buscetta at a trial in 1993 that he had strangled Buscetta's two sons, Buscetta forgave him saying that he knew that he could not have refused the order.
Buscetta died in New York of cancer
in 2000, aged 71, having lived out his final years peacefully in the US.
in the 1999 movie Excellent Cadavers
and by Vincent Riotta
in the 2007 mini-series Il Capo dei Capi
.
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,...
mafioso. Although he was not the first 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...
(informant
Informant
An informant is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law enforcement world, where they are officially known as confidential or criminal informants , and can often refer pejoratively to the supply of information...
) in the Italian witness protection program, he is widely recognized as the first important one breaking 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...
. Many mafiosi would follow his example.
Early life
He was the youngest of 17 children raised in a povertyPoverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
-stricken area of 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...
, which he escaped by getting involved with crime at a young age. He first became involved with the Mafia in 1945 and by the following year he was a full-fledged member of the Porta Nuova Family and his first boss was Giuseppe "Pippo" 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....
. His first work was mostly smuggling cigarettes.
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, Buscetta fled to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
where the local 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...
helped him to get started in the pizza business. In 1968, Buscetta was convicted of double murder, but the conviction was in absentia as he was not actually in custody (In 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...
, it is possible for fugitives to be prosecuted without them being present).
In 1970 Buscetta was arrested in New York. Because Italian authorities did not ask for his extradition he was released. Buscetta moved on to 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 set up a drug trafficking network. In 1972 Buscetta was arrested and torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
d by the Brazilian military regime, and subsequently extradited to Italy where he began a life sentence for the earlier double murder conviction. In 1980, while on a day-release from prison, he fled again to Brazil to escape the brewing 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...
instigated by Totò Riina that subsequently led to the deaths of many of Buscetta's allies, including 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...
. Arrested once more in 1983, Buscetta was sent back to Italy. He attempted suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
, and when that failed, he decided that he was utterly disillusioned with the Mafia. Buscetta asked to talk to Giovanni Falcone
Giovanni Falcone
Giovanni Falcone was an Sicilian/Italian prosecuting magistrate born in Palermo, Sicily. From his office in the Palace of Justice in Palermo, he spent most of his professional life trying to overthrow the power of the Mafia in Sicily...
and began his life as an informant.
Pentito
In Italy he helped the judgeJudge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
s Giovanni Falcone
Giovanni Falcone
Giovanni Falcone was an Sicilian/Italian prosecuting magistrate born in Palermo, Sicily. From his office in the Palace of Justice in Palermo, he spent most of his professional life trying to overthrow the power of the Mafia in Sicily...
and Paolo Borsellino
Paolo Borsellino
Paolo Borsellino was an Italian anti-Mafia magistrate who was killed by a Mafia car bomb in Palermo, less than two months after his fellow anti-Mafia magistrate Giovanni Falcone had been assassinated....
to achieve significant successes in the fight against organized crime
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
(the two judges were later both killed by the Mafia). He was the star witness in 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...
that led to almost 350 Mafia members being sent to prison.
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...
. It enabled Falcone to argue that Cosa Nostra was a unified hierarchical structure ruled by a Commission and that its leaders-–who normally would not dirty their hands with criminal acts–-could be held responsible for criminal activities that were committed to benefit the organization. This premise became known as the Buscetta theorem and would be recognised legally with the confirmation of the Maxi Trial sentence in January 1992.
His testimony in the New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
Pizza Connection Trial
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:...
in the mid-1980s allowed the conviction of hundreds of mobsters in 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...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, including Gaetano Badalamenti
Gaetano Badalamenti
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...
.
As a reward for his help, Buscetta was allowed to live in the USA under a new identity in the Witness Protection Program. He was reported to have undergone plastic surgery
Plastic surgery
Plastic surgery is a medical specialty concerned with the correction or restoration of form and function. Though cosmetic or aesthetic surgery is the best-known kind of plastic surgery, most plastic surgery is not cosmetic: plastic surgery includes many types of reconstructive surgery, hand...
to conceal his identity. He sometimes gave interviews to journalists although his face was pixelated when he appeared in documentaries. In an interview with the Italian journalist Enzo Biagi
Enzo Biagi
Enzo Biagi was an Italian journalist and writer.-Biography:Biagi was born in Lizzano in Belvedere, and began his career as a journalist in Bologna. Active in journalism for six decades and author of some eighty books, Biagi won numerous awards, among which the 1979 Saint Vincent prize and the...
, Buscetta cheerfully bragged that he lost his virginity
Virginity
Virginity refers to the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. There are cultural and religious traditions which place special value and significance on this state, especially in the case of unmarried females, associated with notions of personal purity, honor and worth...
at the age of eight to a prostitute who charged him just a bottle of olive oil
Olive oil
Olive oil is an oil obtained from the olive , a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. It is commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps and as a fuel for traditional oil lamps...
. Buscetta married three times and had six children, and at one point, he was briefly suspended from the Mafia for walking out on his first wife, adultery
Adultery
Adultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...
being a greater crime than murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
in the eyes of his fellow mobsters. While in prison in the seventies, he learned that his boss wanted to expel him from the organisation altogether for the treatment of his wives.
Judges and policemen found Buscetta to be very polite and intelligent, albeit sometimes prone to vanity. Like most informants, Buscetta was occasionally somewhat economical with the truth. He once claimed he had never dealt in narcotics even though he once contradicted himself by saying that everyone in the Mafia was involved in drugs, without exempting himself from this statement. Originally, he denied ever killing anyone, but he later admitted in a television interview that he was a murderer.
Some of his lies had understandable motives. In the 1980s he said he had no knowledge of the links that various politicians like Salvo Lima and 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...
had with the Mafia, but in the 1990s he admitted that he knew of such ties, claiming that he had feigned ignorance during the 1980s because the politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
s in question were then in power, and he had feared for his life even within the security afforded by the Witness Protection Program.
Only after the murders on Antimafia judges Giovanni Falcone
Giovanni Falcone
Giovanni Falcone was an Sicilian/Italian prosecuting magistrate born in Palermo, Sicily. From his office in the Palace of Justice in Palermo, he spent most of his professional life trying to overthrow the power of the Mafia in Sicily...
and Paolo Borsellino
Paolo Borsellino
Paolo Borsellino was an Italian anti-Mafia magistrate who was killed by a Mafia car bomb in Palermo, less than two months after his fellow anti-Mafia magistrate Giovanni Falcone had been assassinated....
, in 1992, did Buscetta decide to talk about the links between the Mafia and politicians. On November 16, 1992, Buscetta testified before the Antimafia Commission
Antimafia Commission
The Italian Antimafia Commission is a bicameral commission of the Italian Parliament, composed of members from the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate . The Antimafia Commission is a commission of inquiry into, initially, the “phenomenon of the Mafia”...
presided by Luciano Violante
Luciano Violante
Luciano Violante is an Italian judge and politician, Member of Parliament since 1979. He is particularly interested in questions of justice, the struggle against the Mafia and institutional reform.-Biography:...
about the links between Cosa Nostra and Salvo Lima and 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...
. He indicated Salvo Lima as the contact of the Mafia in Italian politics. "Salvo Lima was, in fact, the politician to whom Cosa Nostra turned most often to resolve problems for the organisation whose solution lay in Rome," Buscetta testified.
In court, Buscetta also elaborated in great detail the hidden exchanges that linked politicians and the Mafia. He stated:
- "It is not Cosa Nostra that contacts the politician; instead a member of the Cosa Nostra says, that president is mine (è cosa mia), and if you need a favor, you must go through me. In other words, the Cosa Nostra figure maintains a sort of monopoly on that politician. Every family head in the Mafia selects a man whose characteristics already make him look approachable. Forget the idea that some pact is reached first. On the contrary, one goes to that candidate and says, "Onorevole, I can do this and that for you now, and we hope that when you are elected you will remember us." The candidate wins and he has to pay something back. You tell him, "We need this, will you do it or not?" The politician understands immediately and acts always.
When fellow mafioso Salvatore Cancemi
Salvatore Cancemi
Salvatore Cancemi was a member of the Sicilian Mafia. He would be the first member of the Sicilian Mafia Commission that turned himself in voluntarily and became a pentito, a collaborator with the Italian judicial authorities...
confessed to Buscetta at a trial in 1993 that he had strangled Buscetta's two sons, Buscetta forgave him saying that he knew that he could not have refused the order.
Buscetta died in New York of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
in 2000, aged 71, having lived out his final years peacefully in the US.
In popular culture
He was played by F. Murray AbrahamF. Murray Abraham
Fahrid Murray Abraham is an American actor. He became known during the 1980s after winning the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Antonio Salieri in Amadeus. He has appeared in many roles, both leading and supporting, in films such as All the President's Men and Scarface...
in the 1999 movie Excellent Cadavers
Excellent Cadavers
Excellent Cadavers is a 1995 non-fiction book by American author Alexander Stille about the Sicilian Mafia, concentrating on magistrate Giovanni Falcone's fight against the Mafia and his 1992 assassination....
and by Vincent Riotta
Vincent Riotta
Vincent Riotta is an English-born stage and film actor of Italian descent. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He went on to perform in various stage plays, such as Shakespeare's Romeo, which was held at the Young Vic, Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, held at the Leicester...
in the 2007 mini-series Il Capo dei Capi
Il Capo dei Capi
Il Capo dei Capi is a six part miniseries which debuted on the Canale 5 between October and November 2007, in Italy. It tells the story of Salvatore Riina, alias Totò u Curtu, a mafioso from Corleone, Sicily. Riina is played by Claudio Gioè, and the series was directed by Alexis Sweet and Enzo...
.