Paolo De Stefano
Paolo De Stefano | |
---|---|
Born | Unknown |
Died | Reggio Calabria, Italy | October 13, 1985
Nationality | Italian |
Allegiance | De Stefano 'ndrina / 'Ndrangheta |
Paolo De Stefano (Italian pronunciation:
Early years
De Stefano clan hailed from the Archi neighbourhood in Reggio Calabria. Paolo and his brother Giorgio De Stefano went to university for several years.[1] According to the pentito Giacomo Lauro, who held important positions in the Reggio Calabria clans: “In 1970 … the De Stefanos … were nobody, they were nobody. The De Stefano brothers became the owners of Reggio Calabria after the war, the first mafia war. … I do not want to swear, but who the fuck were the De Stefanos in the 1970s? They had killed a certain Sergi for four oxen, for a fraud of four oxen in Modena … These were the De Stefanos. They committed petty fraud for four cows, … then with cigarettes.”[2]
The De Stefano brothers would come to prominence as members of the clan of Domenico Tripodo, the old capobastone of Reggio Calabria, who had acquired considerable financial resources through tobacco smuggling. Within two years (as a result of the First 'Ndrangheta war in 1974–1976) they moved from being simple 'Ndranghetisti to being the new "lords" of Reggio Calabria.[2] They won a monopoly of construction work in northern Reggio Calabria, moving the rival Tripodo group out of the market of public work contracts with the support of the Piromalli and Mammolito cosche.[3] They also robbed a shipment of smuggled tobacco belonging to Tripodo.[4]
Paolo's brother Giovanni De Stefano was killed in 1974 and his other brother Giorgio was wounded. The attack triggered the First 'Ndrangheta war. Tripodo was arrested in February 1975 and incarcerated in the Poggioreale prison in Naples. He was killed with the help of Camorra boss Raffaele Cutolo, the boss of the Nuova Camorra Organizzata (NCO) who worked with the De Stefano's in drug trafficking.[5]
Political connections
The De Stefano brothers had connections with the political right in all its political expressions (that is, from the official party, the
In the second half of the 1970s, he co-founded with Girolamo Piromalli La Santa, a branch of the Italian 'ndrangheta Born with the purpose of establishing permanent contacts between the Freemasonry, the mafia and political world. De Stefano entered in a masonic lodge in order to better take care of business and political interests.[7][8] His cousin Giorgio De Stefano was prosecuted and jailed for his activity as mediator between the Freemasonry-mafia and a set of prominent Italian politicians.[9]
Paul supported his cousin, the lawyer
After the First 'Ndrangheta war, De Stefano became one of the undisputed bosses of Reggio Calabria, and attracted significant police attention. He was convicted in the maxi trial against the 'Ndrangheta in 1979 (known as de Stefano+59 trial) and sent into internal banishment, a legal measure to dislodge mafiosi from their home towns. He fled to France and in 1983 he was arrested in
Second 'Ndrangheta war
A second 'Ndrangheta war was triggered by the marriage between Giuseppina Condello – the sister of the
According to the sociologist Pino Arlacchi, the background of the war was the attempt of the De Stefano brothers to turn their accumulated wealth and power to account by claiming contracts for the Gioia Tauro port. The resulting clash with the Piromalli family, whose monopoly this was, half destroyed the De Stefano cosca and left the leader, Paolo De Stefano, dead.[16]
Succession
Paolo’s brother Orazio De Stefano and his cousin, the lawyer Giorgio De Stefano, took over the leadership of the clan. Both were seen as the main mentor of the "pax mafiosa" that ended the Second 'Ndrangheta war.[17] Subsequently, Paolo's son Giuseppe De Stefano became the boss. He was arrested in December 2008.[18] His other son Carmine De Stefano had been arrested in December 2001.[19]
According to prosecutor
References
- ^ Arlacchi, Mafia Business, p. 121
- ^ a b Paoli, Mafia Brotherhoods, pp. 50-51
- ^ Arlacchi, Mafia Business, p. 156
- ^ (in Italian) Relazione mafie nel Lazio: Le famiglie mafiose operanti nel Lazio[permanent dead link], LiberaInformazione
- ^ a b c "'Ndrangheta 2005" (PDF) (in Italian). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 29, 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-29., Nisio Palmieri, Dossier della Fondazione Cesar e dell’Associazione Sicurstrada per conto della Consulta Nazionale dei Consigli Regionali Unipol Assicurazioni
- ^ Godson, Menace to Society, p. 42
- ^ Nicola Gratteri e Antonio Nicaso, Fratelli di sangue. Storie di boss e affari dell'ndrangheta
- ^ Mario Guarino, Poteri segreti. L'intreccio inconfessabile tra 'ndrangheta, massoneria e apparati dello stato
- ^ Consolato Minniti (September 19, 2019). "Il boss recluso ammette: "In Italia comanda la massoneria!" e augura la morte ai giudici". lacnews24.it (in Italian). Archived from the original on September 2, 2020.
- ^ a b (in Italian) Ucciso il 're delle cosche' e ora lotta per la successione, La Repubblica, October 15, 1985
- ^ Paoli, Mafia Brotherhoods, pp. 88-89
- ^ (in Italian) Catturati a Reggio Calabria i killer del boss De Stefano, La Repubblica, January 7, 1988
- ^ Godfather's arrest fuels fear of bloody conflict, The Observer, February 24, 2008
- ^ (in Italian) Condello, leader pacato e spietato, La Repubblica, February 19, 2008
- ^ (in Italian) Relazione annuale, Commissione parlamentare d’inchiesta sul fenomeno della criminalità organizzata mafiosa o similare, July 30, 2003
- ^ Arlacchi, Mafia Business, p. 157
- ^ (in Italian) 'Ndrangheta, preso De Stefano, La Repubblica, February 22, 2004
- ^ (in Italian) Arrestato Giuseppe De Stefano capocosca della 'ndrangheta, La Repubblica, December 10, 2008
- ^ (in Italian) Colpo alla 'ndrangheta. Preso a Reggio Calabria il superboss De Stefano, Corriere della Sera, December 9, 2001
- ^ (in Italian) L’atteggiarsi delle associazioni mafiose sulla base delle esperienze processuali acquisite: la ’ndrangheta Archived 2007-02-05 at the Wayback Machine, by Salvatore Boemi, prosecutor in Reggio Calabria
- Arlacchi, Pino (1988). Mafia Business. The Mafia Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Oxford: Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-285197-7
- Godson, Roy (2003). Menace to Society: Political-Criminal Collaboration Around the World, Edison (NJ): Transaction Publishers ISBN 0-7658-0502-2
- Paoli, Letizia (2003). Mafia Brotherhoods: Organized Crime, Italian Style, New York: Oxford University Press by Alexandra V. Orlova)