2002 in organized crime

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Sammy Gravano American mobster

Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano is an American gangster who became underboss of the Gambino crime family. Gravano played a major role in helping the prosecution sentence John Gotti, the crime family's boss, by agreeing to testify as a government witness against him and other mobsters in a deal in which he confessed to involvement in 19 murders.

Gambino crime family Italian-American organized crime group

The Gambino crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the American Mafia. The group, which went through five bosses between 1910 and 1957, is named after Carlo Gambino, boss of the family at the time of the McClellan hearings in 1963, when the structure of organized crime first gained public attention. The group's operations extend from New York and the eastern seaboard to California. Its illicit activities include labor and construction racketeering, gambling, loansharking, extortion, money laundering, prostitution, fraud, hijacking, and fencing.

The Five Families is the organization of the five major New York City organized crime families of the Italian American Mafia formed in 1931 by Salvatore Maranzano following his victory in the Castellammarese War.

Leoluca Bagarella Italian murderer

Leoluca Bagarella is an Italian criminal and member of the Sicilian Mafia. He is from the town of Corleone. Following Salvatore Riina's arrest in early 1993, Bagarella had taken over as il capo dei capi of the Corleonesi, rivalling Riina's putative successor, Bernardo Provenzano. Bagarella was captured in 1995, having been a fugitive for four years, and sentenced to life imprisonment for Mafia association and multiple murders.

Giuseppe Calò Italian mobster

Giuseppe "Pippo" Calò is an Italian mobster and member of the Sicilian Mafia in Porta Nuova. He was referred to as the "cassiere di Cosa Nostra" because he was heavily involved in the financial side of organized crime, primarily money laundering. He was arrested in 1985 and charged with ordering the murder of Roberto Calvi – nicknamed "Il banchiere di Dio" – of the Banco Ambrosiano in 1982, but was acquitted in 2007 due to "insufficient evidence" in a surprise verdict. After Calò was sentenced to 23 years' imprisonment as part of the 1986/87 Maxi Trial, he was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1989 for organising the 1984 Train 904 bombing. He was given several further life sentences between 1995 and 2002.

Frank Locascio

Frank "Frankie Loc" Locascio is a New York mobster who became the Consigliere to the Gambino crime family, under boss John Gotti. He was one of Gotti's closest lieutenants.

Pietro Aglieri

Pietro Aglieri is a Sicilian mafioso from the Guadagna neighbourhood of Palermo. He is known as 'u Signurinu for his relatively sophisticated education and refined manners. He had a classical education and studied Greek, Latin, philosophy, history and literature to a level that guaranteed him entry to university. Instead he chose for a career in Cosa Nostra. The British journal The Guardian listed him as the emerging man of the year 1995 in Italy.

Sicilian Mafia Commission

The Sicilian Mafia Commission, known as Commissione or Cupola, is a body of leading Sicilian Mafia members to decide on important questions concerning the actions of, and settling disputes within the Sicilian Mafia or Cosa Nostra. It is composed of representatives of a mandamento that are called capo mandamento or rappresentante. The Commission is not a central government of the Mafia, but a representative mechanism for consultation of independent Mafia families who decide by consensus. "Contrary to the wide-spread image presented by the media, these superordinate bodies of coordination cannot be compared with the executive boards of major legal firms. Their power is intentionally limited [and] it would be entirely wrong to see in the Cosa Nostra a centrally managed, internationally active Mafia holding company," according to criminologist Letizia Paoli.

Michele Cavataio

Michele Cavataio, also known as Il cobra was an Italian mobster and powerful member of the Sicilian Mafia. He was the boss of the Acquasanta mandamento in Palermo and was a member of the first Sicilian Mafia Commission. Some sources spell his surname as Cavatajo.

Michael DiLeonardo is a former Italian-American mobster turned government informant. He was a capo belonging to the Gambino family. In the early 2000s, DiLeonardo decided to cooperate with the FBI and managed to convict over 80 mobsters. He was temporarily in a witness protection program.

Corleonesi Mafia clan Crime family of the Sicilian mafia

The Corleonesi Mafia clan was a faction within the Corleone family of the Sicilian Mafia, formed in the 1970s. Notable leaders included Luciano Leggio, Salvatore Riina, Leoluca Bagarella and Bernardo Provenzano.

Thomas Francis Gambino is an Italian-American New York City mobster and a longtime caporegime of the Gambino crime family who successfully controlled lucrative trucking rackets in the New York City Garment District. He is the son of Carlo Gambino and nephew of Paul Castellano.

Louis Vallario, also known as "Big Louie" and "Big Lou", is a member of the Gambino crime family who was a top aide to boss John Gotti and Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano in the late 1980s.

Calogero Bagarella was an Italian criminal and member of the Sicilian Mafia. He was from the town of Corleone and belonged to the Mafia clan of Corleonesi.

Viale Lazio massacre

The Viale Lazio massacre on 10 December 1969 was a settling of accounts in the Sicilian Mafia. Mafia boss Michele Cavataio and three men were killed in the Viale Lazio in Palermo (Sicily) by a Mafia hit squad. The bloodbath marked the end of a ‘pax mafiosa’ that had reigned since the Ciaculli massacre until the end of the Trial of the 114 against Cosa Nostra.

John Gambino

Giovanni "John" Gambino was an Italian-born American mobster. Born in Palermo, Sicily, he became a made member of the Gambino crime family in 1975 and a capodecina or captain, and head of the crime family's Sicilian faction, appointed by family boss John Gotti in 1986, according to Mafia turncoat Sammy Gravano.

Bonanno crime family Italian-American organized crime group

The Bonanno crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, and in the United States, as part of the criminal phenomenon known as the American Mafia.

Capaci bombing

The Capaci bombing was a terror attack by the Sicilian Mafia which took place on 23 May 1992 on Highway A29, close to the junction of Capaci, Sicily. It killed magistrate Giovanni Falcone, his wife Francesca Morvillo, and three police escort agents, Vito Schifani, Rocco Dicillo and Antonio Montinaro; agents Paolo Capuzza, Angelo Corbo, Gaspare Bravo and Giuseppe Costanza survived.

References

  1. (in Italian) "Pronti a sciogliere Cosa Nostra", La Repubblica, April 17, 2002.
  2. Cosa Nostra bosses provoke outrage with plea bargain offer, The Independent, June 10, 2000; and (in Italian) Quando Vigna tentò di far dissociare i mafiosi Archived 2007-03-13 at the Wayback Machine , Il Velino, April 26, 2001.
  3. Are Mob Hits Bad for Business? Time Magazine Europe, September 30, 2002