Minore Mafia clan
Founded | 1940s |
---|---|
Founding location | Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily |
Years active | 1940s–1986 |
Territory | Trapani, Valderice and Paceco in Sicily |
Allies | Buccellato Mafia clan Corleonesi Mafia clan (1970s) |
Rivals | Rimi Mafia clan (1960s and 1970s) Corleonesi Mafia clan (1980s) |
The Minore Mafia clan was a historical Sicilian Mafia clan originating from the city of Castellammare del Golfo on Sicily's west coast. It was probably founded sometime at the start of the 20th century, it later came to control the city of Trapani and held considerable influence throughout the entire province, and also in Palermo and Catania. They historically maintained good relations with the Buccellato Mafia clan, which also hailed from Castellammare del Golfo.
History and notable members
The first recorded mention of the clan is from the 1910s, when Salvatore Minore, nicknamed "Don Totò", was named as a powerful mafioso in the city. Minore's sister Elisabetta married Salvatore Maranzano, who would later emigrate to the United States and become an important figure within the American Mafia.[1]
The best known members of the clan, however, are the Minore brothers and cousins who took control of the city of
Totò Minore developed very close ties to the province of Catania. In 1960, he was the godfather at the baptism of the son of Giuseppe Calderone, the Mafia boss of Catania. Minore was also in business relations with Carmelo Costanzo, dubbed one of "the four horsemen of the Mafia apocalypse" by journalist Pippo Fava. According to pentito Antonino Calderone, Minore was a family friend of Carmelo Costanzo and his other relatives, and some "men of honor" who were forced to leave the province of Trapani due to police attention were employed at the Costanzo facilities under Minore's direction. Both Totò and Calogero Minore came to own two hundred hectares of land each near Trapani, which were frequently used for Mafia summits and hiding fugitives, and they owned many businesses in and around the city, including tourism facilities, vehicle dealerships, cooperatives, and most importantly the city's banks.[5]
Both the Minore and Buccellato clan developed a fierce rivalry with the Rimi Mafia clan over the course of the 1970s, and in turn with the Mafia family of Cinisi headed by Gaetano Badalamenti, who was related to the Rimis by marriage. The Minore and Buccellato clans resented the Rimis' strong links with the Palermitan families, and when Badalamenti was in power he even warned Minore against going to the province of Palermo under the threat of death. The emerging Corleonesi Mafia clan at this point backed the Minores and Buccellatos against the Rimis and Badalamentis in their quest to isolate the Palermo families. But while such threats of violence and other acts of hostility abounded, the rivalry never developed into a proper war.
The Minore clan was involved in a controversy in the late 1970s with the prosecutor of Trapani,
Decline
The Minore and Buccellato clans had been close to the
from Trapani.On 20 November 1982, Totò Minore, Nicolò Miceli, Martino Buccellato from Castellammare del Golfo and Vincenzo Palazzolo from Cinisi were summoned to a meeting in Palermo by the boss of Partanna-Mondello, Rosario Riccobono. There, on the orders of Totò Riina, the four were strangled and their bodies made to disappear, a practice colloquially known as lupara bianca. News of the massacre did not emerge in mainstream media until 1998, when Calogero Ganci, son of Raffaele Ganci and one of the killers of Totò Minore, confessed to police.[6] Underworld legend goes that Totò Minore's severed head, on Riina's orders, was delivered to his relatives as a warning.[7] Ironically, this would be Rosario Riccobono's last betrayal on behalf of the Corleonesi, as the boss of Partanna-Mondello himself would be murdered in similar circumstances only ten days later, on 30 November. Totò Minore's brother Calogero remained a fugitive until 1986, when he was arrested while hiding in a house in Trapani. He died of natural causes in 1998, before any of his trials had concluded. Many other associates of the Minores were either murdered or forced to step down during the war, and the clan lost all of the power it had accumulated over decades in Sicily, as did the Buccellatos and many other "old guard" Mafia clans defeated by the Corleonesi.
References
- ^ David Critchley, The Origin of Organized Crime in America: The New York City Mafia, 1891–1931; page 144
- ^ Vincenzo Ceruso, Le più potenti famiglie della mafia; page 144
- ^ Pino Arlacchi, Addio Cosa Nostra
- ^ Vincenzo Ceruso, Le più potenti famiglie della mafia; page 145
- ^ Vincenzo Ceruso, Le più potenti famiglie della mafia; page 146
- ^ Luciano Mirone, Gli insabbiati, Castelvecchi, pag. 277
- ^ [https://www.trapaninostra.it/Edicola/Trapani_Nuova_1992_anno_33_n_041.pdf Totò minore è stato eliminati dai "Corleonesi"