Calcedonio Di Pisa
Calcedonio Di Pisa | |
|---|---|
| Born | 11 October 1931 First Mafia War |
| Allegiance | Sicilian Mafia |
Calcedonio Di Pisa (Italian pronunciation: [kaltʃeˈdɔːnjo di ˈpiːza]; 11 October 1931 – 26 December 1962), also known as Doruccio, was a member of the Sicilian Mafia. He was the boss of the Mafia family in the Noce neighbourhood in Palermo and sat on the first Sicilian Mafia Commission, the coordinating body of Cosa Nostra in Sicily.
Mafia career
Di Pisa was born in
Di Pisa was present at a series of
Di Pisa was killed on 26 December 1962, on the Piazza Principe di Camporeale in Palermo while walking to a tobacco kiosk. Three men shot him with a sawn-off shotgun and a revolver. None of the bystanders on the square could even recall hearing any shots, when questioned by the police.[1][5][6]
First Mafia War
Di Pisa's murder triggered the outbreak of the
Di Pisa was summoned to appear before the Sicilian Mafia Commission but managed to convince most of the members that he was not guilty. However, the La Barbera brothers contested the decision, and they were suspected to be behind the murder of Di Pisa and Manzella. The disagreement led to a bloody conflict between the Grecos and the La Barberas.[5] The war ended with the Ciaculli massacre which changed the Mafia war into a war against the Mafia. It prompted the first concerted anti-mafia efforts by the state in post-war Italy. The Sicilian Mafia Commission was dissolved and of those mafiosi who had escaped arrest many went abroad.[8]
Only later did it become clear that Mafia boss Michele Cavataio had killed Di Pisa, according to Tommaso Buscetta after he became a cooperating witness in 1984. Cavataio had lost out to the Grecos in a war of the wholesale market in the mid 1950s. Cavataio killed Di Pisa in the knowledge that the La Barberas would be blamed by the Grecos and a war would be the result. He kept fueling the war through other bomb attacks and killings.[8][9][10]
Notes
- ^ a b Lewis, The Honoured Society, p. 234-36
- ^ (in Italian) Catanzaro, Il delitto come impresa, p. 216
- ^ Servadio, Mafioso, p. 189
- ^ Sterling, Octopus, p. 83
- ^ a b Shawcross & Young, Men Of Honour, p. 62
- ^ Dickie, Cosa Nostra, p. 311
- ^ Shawcross & Young, Men Of Honour, p. 57
- ^ a b c Lupo, History of the Mafia, pp. 228-29
- ^ Stille, Excellent Cadavers, p. 103
- ^ Dickie, Cosa Nostra, p. 315
References
- (in Italian) Catanzaro, Raimondo (1988). Il delitto come impresa. Storia sociale della mafia, Milan: Rizzoli, ISBN 978-8876755347
- Dickie, John (2004). Cosa Nostra. A history of the Sicilian Mafia, London: Coronet, ISBN 0-340-82435-2
- ISBN 0-907871-48-8
- Lupo, Salvatore (2009). History of the Mafia, New York: Columbia University Press, ISBN 978-0-231-13134-6
- Servadio, Gaia (1976), Mafioso. A history of the Mafia from its origins to the present day, London: Secker & Warburg ISBN 0-436-44700-2
- Shawcross, Tim & Martin Young (1987). Men Of Honour: The Confessions Of Tommaso Buscetta, Glasgow: Collins ISBN 0-00-217589-4
- ISBN 0-671-73402-4
- ISBN 0-09-959491-9