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Antonino Giuffrè

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Antonino Giuffrè
Born
Antonino Giuffrè

(1945-07-21) 21 July 1945 (age 79)
Caccamo, Italy
NationalityItalian
Other names"Nino"
OccupationMobster
RelativesJohn Stanfa (uncle)
AllegianceCorleonesi

Antonino "Nino" Giuffrè (Italian pronunciation: [(anto)ˈniːno dʒufˈfrɛ]; born 21 July 1945) is an Italian former mafioso who later became a justice collaborator. The head of the mandamento of Caccamo, he was the second-highest ranked member of Cosa Nostra. He became one of the most important Mafia turncoats, or pentito, after his arrest in April 2002, providing further information about its inner workings.

As a state witness, Giuffrè provided information about the ties of Giulio Andreotti, Silvio Berlusconi, Salvatore Cuffaro, and Marcello Dell'Utri with the Mafia. He also testified on the role of the Mafia in the murder of Roberto Calvi and their plot to kill the then Antimafia Commission president Giuseppe Lumia.

Early life and Mafia career

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Giuffrè was born in Caccamo, in the province of Palermo, in the modern-day Southern Italian region of Sicily. Among his relatives was John Stanfa, an Italian-born American former boss of the Philadelphia crime family from 1991 to 1995; Stanfa was his uncle.[1] Giuffrè was trained as an agricultural sciences specialist. He had a top position within Cosa Nostra, and his rise in the Mafia ran parallel to the ascension of the Corleonesi clan headed by Salvatore Riina and later by Bernardo Provenzano, to whom he was particularly close. After the arrest of Caccamo boss Francesco Intile, Giuffrè became the head of the mandamento of Caccamo.[2] Giuffrè was known in Mafia circles as Manuzza ("Small Hand") because his right hand was crippled by polio. Others claim he lost his hand in a hunting accident.[3]

Pentito

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Giuffrè was arrested on the morning of 16 April 2002,[3] in a sheepfold near Roccapalumba. At the time of his arrest, the police found hundreds of pizzini on him. Giuffrè started feeding investigators information even before he agreed to turn state' witness in June 2002. He is one of the most important Mafia turncoats since Tommaso Buscetta in 1984. His collaboration updated investigators' knowledge and provided a new interpretation for the sensitive issue of Cosa Nostra's relations with politics in the early 1990s. Giuffrè said: "It's very simple: we are the fish and politics is the water."[4]

Giuffrè showed an encyclopedic knowledge of Cosa Nostra's affairs over the past two decades, partly from having played host to "The Pope" Michele Greco in the 1980s, when the supreme mafia boss was on the run and took refuge near Caccamo, Giuffrè's home town. Subsequently, he became one of the right-hand man of Provenzano, who became the Mafia's reference point when Riina was arrested in January 1993.[5] According to Antonio Ingroia, a leading anti-Mafia magistrate in Sicily, Giuffrè became part of the directorate that was established by Provenzano. This group "of about four to seven people" met very infrequently, only when necessary, when there were strategic decisions to make.[6] Among the other members of the directorate were Salvatore Lo Piccolo from Palermo; Benedetto Spera from Belmonte Mezzagno; Salvatore Rinella from Trabia; Giuseppe Balsano from Monreale; Matteo Messina Denaro from Castelvetrano;[7][8] Vincenzo Virga from Trapani; and Andrea Manciaracina from Mazara del Vallo.[9] Messina Denaro, who was the latest fugitive of the Mafia's massacres until his arrest in January 2023,[10] reportedly asked for the execution of pentiti like Giuffrè.[11]

Relations between the Mafia and Forza Italia

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According to Giuffrè the Mafia turned to Forza Italia, the political party of Berlusconi, to look after the Mafia's interests following the decline in the early 1990s of the ruling Christian Democracy party, whose leaders in Sicily looked after the Mafia's interests in Rome. The Mafia's fall out with Christian Democracy became clear when Salvatore Lima, their strong man in Sicily, was killed in March 1992. Giuffrè told the court: "The Lima murder marked the end of an era. A new era opened with a new political force on the horizon which provided the guarantees that the Christian Democracy were no longer able to deliver. To be clear, that party was Forza Italia."[12][13] According to Giuffrè, Dell'Utri — Berlusconi's right-hand man and the man who invented Forza Italia — was the go-between on a range of legislative efforts to ease pressure on mobsters in exchange for electoral support. Giuffrè said that Bernardo Provenzano told him that they "were in good hands" with Dell'Utri, whom he described as a "serious and trustworthy person", and was close to Berlusconi.[14] Giuffrè stated that "Dell'Utri was very close to Cosa Nostra and a very good contact point for Berlusconi."[4] Provenzano said that the Mafia's judicial problems would be resolved within 10 years after 1992 thanks to the undertakings given by Forza Italia.[12]

Giuffrè said that Berlusconi himself used to be in touch with Stefano Bontade, a top Mafia boss, in the mid-1970s. At the time, Berlusconi was still just a wealthy real estate developer and started his private television empire; Berlusconi became prime minister from 1994 to 1995, and again from 2001 to 2006 and from 2008 to 2011. Bontade visited Berlusconi's villa in Arcore. Bontade's contact at Berlusconi's villa was the late Vittorio Mangano, a convicted mafioso who was alleged to work there as a stableman. Giuffrè declared that other Mafia representatives who were in contact with Berlusconi included the Palermo bosses Filippo Graviano and Giuseppe Graviano — arrested in 1994 and jailed for life ordering the murder of anti-Mafia priest Pino Puglisi in their territory Brancaccio.[15][16] The alleged pact with the Mafia fell apart in 2002. Cosa Nostra had achieved nothing as there were no revisions of Mafia trials, no changes in the law of asset seizures, and no changes in the harsh prison laws (41 bis).[17]

State witness

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Giuffrè was a state witness in many important trials. He told an Italian court that Andreotti was a key Mafia contact during his long political career. Giuffrè said Mafia bosses had asked Andreotti to shield them from magistrates.[18] Giuffrè also gave testimony in the Calvi murder trial,[19] although all the defendants were acquitted.[20] He testified that Mafia bosses had been angry at the way Calvi had mishandled their money and ordered the hit. He named Giuseppe Calò as the man who organised the crime. Giuffrè said: "Within Cosa Nostra, we had some big laughs when we read in the newspapers that Calvi had committed suicide. Cosa Nostra's problems get resolved in only one way: by elimination."[21] According to Giuffrè, the Mafia plotted to kill Lumia during the period he was president of the Antimafia Commission (2000–2001). The plan to kill Lumia was decided at the very highest level of Cosa Nostra and had been approved by Provenzano but was not carried out.[22][23][24] He also stated that Cosa Nostra had supported Cuffaro as president of Sicily.[25]

References

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  1. ^ Torrealta, Maurizio (31 May 2011). La trattativa (in Italian). Milan: Bur. p. 179. ISBN 978-88-586-1116-6. Retrieved 27 May 2024 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ Bolzoni, Attilio (18 October 2002). "Il racconto di Giuffrè 'Così sono stato tradito'". La Repubblica (in Italian). Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  3. ^ a b "Mafia, preso Giuffrè fedelissimo di Provenzano". La Repubblica (in Italian). 17 April 2002. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  4. ^ a b Willan, Philip (12 January 2003). "Mafia supergrass fingers Berlusconi". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Archived from the original on 15 March 2007. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  5. ^ "Mafia: chi e' Giuffre', il pentito che fa tremare Cosa nostra". Adnkronos (in Italian). 23 November 2002. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  6. ^ Pullella, Philip (12 April 2006). "The Mafia after Provenzano-peace or all-out war?". Reuters. Retrieved 27 May 2024 – via Redorbit.
  7. ^ "Giuffrè: 'Le carte del covo di Riina |nelle mani di Messina Denaro'". Live Sicilia (in Italian). 28 November 2013. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  8. ^ Bongiovanni, Giorgio (6 April 2018). "Messina Denaro e le stragi nelle parole di Giuffré". Antimafia Duemila (in Italian). Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  9. ^ Oliva, Ernesto; Palazzolo, Salvo (2001). L'altra mafia. Biografia di Bernardo Provenzano (in Italian). Soveria Mannelli: Rubbettino Editore. ISBN 978-88-498-0107-1. Archived from the original on 12 January 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2024 – via CapitanoUltimo.it.
  10. ^ Legato, Giuseppe (17 January 2023). "Dall'agenda di Borsellino all'archivio di Riina: i segreti di Matteo Messina Denaro". La Stampa (in Italian). Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  11. ^ Pipitone, Giuseppe (16 December 2014). "'Messina Denaro, oltre a Di Matteo, voleva uccidere anche Spatuzza e Giuffrè'". Il Fatto Quotidiano (in Italian). Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  12. ^ a b Willan, Philip (8 January 2003). "Berlusconi aide 'struck deal with mafia'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  13. ^ "Il pentito Antonino Giuffrè 'Dell'Utri vicino a Cosa nostra'". La Repubblica (in Italian). 7 January 2003. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  14. ^ Israely, Jeff (12 January 2003). "Who Are You Going To Believe?". Time. Archived from the original on 12 March 2007. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  15. ^ "Giuffré: il boss Graviano era il tramite con Berlusconi". La Repubblica (in Italian). 3 December 2002. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  16. ^ Willan, Philip (5 December 2002). "Berlusconi implicated in deal with godfathers". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 25 May 2024.
  17. ^ D'Avanzo, Giuseppe (4 December 2002). "Giuffrè, gli obiettivi della confessione". La Reepubblica (in Italian). Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  18. ^ "Ex-PM was Mafia's man says turncoat". BBC News. 16 January 2003. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  19. ^ Viviano, Francesco (13 October 2002). "Anche Antonino Giuffré nell'inchiesta Calvi". La Repubblica (in Italian). Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  20. ^ Tescaroli, Luca (28 June 2022). "La morte di Calvi: le verità accertate, gli interrogativi tuttora senza risposta". Antimafia Duemila (in Italian). Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  21. ^ "Calvi Trial to Expose 'Dark' Side of Italian History". Bloomberg News. 23 November 2005. Archived from the original on 20 July 2012. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  22. ^ "Mafia, parla il superpentito 'Volevamo uccidere Lumia'". La Reepubblica (in Italian). 20 September 2002. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  23. ^ "Nel mirino l'ex presidente dell'Antimafia E Provenzano disse: 'Lumia si può uccidere'". La Repubblica (in Italian). 20 February 2007. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  24. ^ "Italian police foil Mafia plot". BBC News. 20 February 2007. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  25. ^ "Secondo il N° 2 di Cosa nostra, Nino Giuffrè, la mafia appoggiò il governatore Totò Cuffaro". Guida Sicilia (in Italian). 6 July 2004. Retrieved 27 May 2024.

Further reading

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  • Dickie, John (2004). Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia. London: Coronet. ISBN 0-340-82435-2.
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