Giusy Vitale

Last updated
Giusy Vitale, donna d'onore Giusy Vitale.jpg
Giusy Vitale, donna d'onore

Giuseppa Vitale (born in Partinico, 1972), better known as Giusy, is the sister of Mafia bosses Leonardo, Michele and Vito Vitale from Partinico, Sicily. Giusy took over the command over the clan when her brothers were in prison or fugitives, despite the formal Mafia rule that excludes the participation of women in the criminal organisation. [1] As such she was considered one of a new breed of 'bosses in skirts'. [2] Later she became a pentita, a state witness breaking the "omertà," or code of silence, testifying against her own family.

Contents

Mafia heritage

She was raised in a traditional Mafia family in Partinico, 40 kilometres from Palermo. The Vitale clan had taken over the Partinico mandamento from Nenè Geraci in 1991–92. [3] At the age of six she started to visit prison regularly when her brother Leonardo was jailed. "Life for me was with my brothers," she told a court after she became a state witness. "It was impossible to have any relationship with people of my own age. I had absolutely no idea of how to live a different life." [2] [4]

At the age of 13 she left school. Her brother Leonardo, who was 17 years her major and acted as her father, was jealous, she explained. "I'd reached the third year of middle school but he wouldn't let me go any further." [2] She knew her brothers were men of honour in Cosa Nostra and they kept her informed. [3]

Capo mandamento

Her brothers became fugitives and, later, were arrested and both given long jail sentences for murder. Leonardo and Vito turned to Giusy to keep the clan moving and exchange messages while they were separate. While not a "man of honour" in both senses – women are not allowed to enter the Mafia as made members – Giusy Vitale became the regent of the mandamento after the arrest of her brother Vito in April 1998 and managed the affairs of the Vitale clan, although she could not participate in Mafia meetings. [2] [3]

Her brothers had several reasons to give her the position: their sister was already fully aware of all the secrets of the family because she had been the go-between for the members inside and outside jail. [3]

She showed remarkable resourcefulness and autonomy. The court attributed to Vitale a decisively different role from the one that Mafia women had performed in the past. She took part in the decisions her brothers made in prison, personally contacted leading Mafia personalities, such as Corleone bosses Leoluca Bagarella and Giovanni Brusca. Such an essential position had never been seen involving a woman. [5] Other Mafia bosses accepted the nomination by her brothers, and she could be considered a veritable donna d'onore. [3]

Arrest

Two months after she has assumed the leadership of the mandamento, she was arrested in June 1998. [1] she was sentenced to six years. In December 2002, she was released, but arrested again in March 2003 for ordering a murder. [3]

Pentita

While in jail, Giusy, mother of two, met a pentito, Alfio Garozzo, a former head of the Cursotti clan from Catania. Her husband, Angelo Caleca, was serving time for a killing that she allegedly ordered. In February 2005, she became a state witness (pentita), from behind bars. [6] [7] [8]

She justified her decision to testify simply "for the good of my children." She said: "I want to be a mother and I want to be near my children. They've got to grow up with me. If I stay in prison, I'll lose them." [7] "While I was in jail, they brought my son, who is now 12, to see me. He was about six then.

She petitioned for divorce, violating yet another of the Cosa Nostra's strict rules, which forbids adultery. Vitale today lives outside Sicily under Italy's witness protection programme, and is making a new life for herself with her children. [2]

Biography

Notes

  1. 1 2 Mafia showdown averted, BBC News, June 26, 1998
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 'La prima donna boss' Vitale tells court of her Mafia family life, The Independent on Sunday, July 3, 2005
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 (in Italian) L’altra metà della Cupola Archived 2011-07-22 at the Wayback Machine , by Teresa Principato, Narcomafie, October 2005
  4. ↑ (in Italian) "Mamma spiegami cos'è la mafia?" Così il boss divenne una pentita, La Repubblica, June 18, 2005
  5. ↑ Fiandaca, Women and the Mafia, p. 286
  6. ↑ (in Italian) La donna boss si pente: lo faccio per i figli, Corriere della Sera, March 26, 2005
  7. 1 2 Mafia 'godmother' turns supergrass on own family, The Daily Telegraph, April 17, 2005
  8. ↑ (in Italian) Mafia, il boss rinnega la sorella: "Sei pentita, che tu possa morire", La Repubblica, April 8, 2005

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Filippo Marchese</span> Sicilian Mafia hitman (1938–1982)

Filippo Marchese was a leading figure in the Sicilian Mafia and a hitman suspected of dozens of homicides. Marchese was one of the most feared killers working for mafia boss Vincenzo Chiaracane, closely related to the Giuseppe Greco family which was in control of the Ciaculli neighbourhood of Palermo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matteo Messina Denaro</span> Italian mafia boss (1962–2023)

Matteo Messina Denaro, also known as Diabolik, was a Sicilian Mafia boss from Castelvetrano. He was considered to be one of the new leaders of the Sicilian mob after the arrests of Bernardo Provenzano on 11 April 2006 and Salvatore Lo Piccolo in November 2007. The son of a Mafia boss, Denaro became known nationally on 12 April 2001 when the magazine L'Espresso put him on the cover with the headline: Ecco il nuovo capo della Mafia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leonardo Vitale</span> Member of the Sicilian Mafia

Leonardo Vitale was a member of the Sicilian Mafia who was one of the first to become an informant, or pentito, although originally his confessions were not taken seriously. Vitale was a "man of honour" or member of the Altarello di Baida cosca or family, Altarello being a small village just outside Palermo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sicilian Mafia Commission</span> Body of leading Sicilian Mafia members

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cuntrera-Caruana Mafia clan</span> Italian Mafia clan

The Cuntrera-Caruana Mafia clan was a Mafia clan of the Cosa Nostra and held a key position in the illicit drug trade and money laundering for Cosa Nostra in the 1980s and 1990s. The Italian press baptized the clan as "The Rothschilds of the Mafia" or "The Bankers of Cosa Nostra".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Domenico Raccuglia</span> Member of the Sicilian Mafia

Domenico "Mimmo" Raccuglia, nicknamed 'u vitirinariu, is a member of the Mafia in Sicily. He was a fugitive and included on Italy's most wanted list since 1996, until his capture on November 15, 2009, near Trapani.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nenè Geraci</span> Member of the Sicilian Mafia

Antonino Geraci, better known as Nenè or il vecchio, was the historical boss of the Mafia in Partinico, in the Metropolitan City of Palermo. Geraci sat on the Sicilian Mafia Commission since the mid-1970s and belonged to the hard line faction allied with the Corleonesi of Totò Riina and Bernardo Provenzano. According to the pentito Tommaso Buscetta, Geraci took care of the fugitive Riina while he stayed in Partinico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giuseppe Graviano</span> Italian mob boss

Giuseppe Graviano is an Italian mafioso from the Brancaccio quarter in Palermo. He also was one the men of the death squad that murdered Salvatore Contorno's relatives. He is currently serving several life sentences. He and his three siblings became members of the Sicilian Mafia Commission for the Brancaccio-Ciaculli mandamento, substituting Giuseppe Lucchese who was in prison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vito Vitale</span> Member of the Sicilian Mafia

Salvatore "Vito" Vitale, also known as Fardazza, is a member of the Sicilian Mafia. For a while he was considered the heir of Totò Riina and was closely connected to Leoluca Bagarella.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gianni Nicchi</span> Member of the Sicilian Mafia

Giovanni "Gianni" Nicchi is a member of the Sicilian Mafia. Despite his young age – he is nicknamed 'u picciutteddu – he is considered to be one of the leading mafiosi of Cosa Nostra in Palermo. He was on the "most wanted list" of the Italian ministry of the Interior since 2006, until his arrest on 5 December 2009.

Pietro Tagliavia is a member of the Sicilian Mafia. Despite his young age, he is considered to be one of the upcoming leading Mafiosi of Cosa Nostra in Palermo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maria Licciardi</span> Italian criminal

Maria Licciardi is an Italian criminal affiliated with the Camorra, head of the Licciardi clan, and one of the bosses of the Secondigliano Alliance. She was one of the most powerful bosses of the Camorra in the city of Naples from 1993 until her arrest in 2001.

Raffaele Ganci was a member of the Mafia in Sicily from the Noce neighbourhood in Palermo. He was considered to be the right-hand man of Cosa Nostra boss Totò Riina and sat on the Sicilian Mafia Commission.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gaetano Fidanzati</span> Mafia boss

Gaetano Fidanzati was a Sicilian Mafia boss of the Resuttana mandamento in Palermo and heavily involved in drug trafficking. He was among the first Mafia bosses to establish a presence in Northern Italy, in particular Milan, and was the protagonist of the alliances between the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, the American Cosa Nostra, the Neapolitan Camorra and the Colombian drug cartels.

Maria Serraino was an Italian female criminal and a member of the 'Ndrangheta in Calabria. She is one of the rare examples of a woman leading a 'Ndrangheta clan.

Giovanni Bonomo was a member of the Sicilian Mafia. He was on the "most wanted list" of the Italian ministry of the Interior since 1996 for two murders, drug trafficking and money laundering, and Mafia association, until his arrest in Senegal in November 2003.

The Secondigliano Alliance is a strategic alliance of Camorra clans in Naples, Italy and its hinterland which controls drug trafficking and the extortion racket in many areas of Naples since the 1990s. The Alliance has branches in the Netherlands and in Spain, with interests in international drug trafficking and massive money laundering.

The Graviano family is a Sicilian Mafia clan, composed of four mafioso siblings: Benedetto, Filippo, Giuseppe and Nunzia. Their father was Michele Graviano, uomo d'onore that belonged to the Brancaccio Mafia family and was murdered by Gaetano Grado in 1982.

Settimo Mineo is an Italian member of the Sicilian Mafia Pagliarelli mandamento from Palermo.

The Galatolo Mafia clan was a criminal family originating from the Acquasanta neighborhood of Palermo. They are one of the longest-running Mafia clans in the city, having held important positions throughout most of the 20th century and beyond and even coming to rule the entire Resuttana mandamento in the early 21st century.

References

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.