Defiance (23 page)

But what has remained constant over the years is the overwhelming evidence of collusion between both Sicilian and national politicians and the Mafia. Politicians are regularly arrested and convicted for links with the Mafia, but at the end of the day the system grinds on. The existing structures of parliament, the police and the judiciary are unchanged. The Mafia finds it relatively easy to do deals with corrupt officials, and so it goes on.

People often find it uncomfortable to look the truth in the face, especially when it is right in front of them. Influential politicians and top business players want to defend their power, wealth and privileges. If that means entering into some kind of alliance with organised crime, then so be it.

While the anti-Mafia industry holds conferences in luxury hotels, passes laws, comments on individual cases of corruption, virtually nobody states the obvious: it is the system that needs changing, not some individuals within it. Dozens of anti-Mafia laws and thousands of arrests since Peppino’s time have not solved the problem. As long as we live in a society dominated by the rich and the powerful, these kinds of issues – essentially their strategic decisions concerning with whom they will make alliances – are decisions whose effects on ordinary people will continue to weigh heavily.

Peppino’s relevance today is undimmed. Not only did he battle the Mafia but he denounced the dominance of the Church and a rigid family structure, as well as calling for a new classless society. And at the risk of turning a true iconoclast into a saint, I’ll end this book with the slogan written on the opening banner carried at his funeral, reproduced in this book: ‘With Peppino’s courage and ideas we shall continue’.

lthough much of the book has been built around interviews, the following books have all been essential: the three volumes edited and published by Umberto

Santino’s ‘Peppino Impastato Research Centre’ –
L’assassinio e il depistaggio
(Palermo, 1998),
Cara Felicia
(Palermo, 2005) and
Lunga è la notte
(2nd edition, Palermo, 2003); the parliamentary Anti-Mafia Commission report released in 2000, published commercially as
Peppino Impastato: anatomia di un depistaggio
(Editori Riuniti, Rome, 2001) and finally Salvo Vitale’s biography,
Nel cuore dei coralli
(2nd edition, Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli, 2002).

More general books in English that have been a big help are: John Dickie,
Cosa Nostra
(Hodder and Stoughton, London, 2004); John Follain,
A Dishonoured Society
(Warner Books, London, 1996) and Alexander Stille,
Excellent Cadavers
(Vintage, London, 1995). Three books in Italian that were used frequently are: Alfio Caruso,
Da Cosa Nasce Cosa
(Longanesi, Milan, 2000); Umberto Santino,
Storia del movimento antimafia
(Editori Riuniti, Rome, 2000) and the 1,300-page report of the Anti-Mafia commission published in February 1976,
Relazione sul traffico mafioso di tabacchi e stupefacenti nonché sui rapporti fra mafia e gangsterismo italo americano
(Tipografia del Senato, Rome, 1976).

Other than these, the following sources were used for individual chapters – in some cases they were used in several chapters, but to keep the list short only the first use is cited.

Giuseppe Casarrubea,
Portella della Ginestra. Microstoria di una strage di Stato
(3rd edition, Franco Angeli, Milan, 2002); Giuseppe Casarrubea,
Storia segreta della Sicilia
(Bompiani, Milan, 2005); Giovanni Di Capua,
Il biennio cruciale. L’Italia di Charles Poletti
(Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli, 2005); Paul Ginsborg,
A History of Contemporary Italy
(Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1990); Franco Grasso (ed.),
Girolamo Li Causi e la sua azione politica per la Sicilia
(Edizioni Libri Siciliani, Palermo, 1966); Pietro Manali (ed.),
Portella della Ginestra 50 anni dopo
(2 volumes, Salvatore Sciascia, Caltanisetta-Rome, 1997); Maria Occhipinti,
Una donna di Ragusa
(Sellerio, Palermo, 1993); Alfredo Pecoraro,
Dai campi e dalle officine. Storie di operai e contadini nella Sicilia dal 1947 al 1970
(Doramarkus, Palermo, 2003); Francesco Petrotta (ed.),
Mafia e banditismo nella Sicilia del dopoguerra
(La Zisa, Palermo, 2002); Giuliana Saladino,
Terra di rapina
(Sellerio, Palermo, 2001); Umberto Santino,
Sicilia 102. Caduti nella lotta contro la mafia e per la democrazia dal 1893 al 1994
(Centro Siciliano di documentazione Giuseppe Impastato, Palermo, 1995) plus several editions of the journal
La Voce della Sicilia
.

Shana Alexander,
The Pizza Connection
(Weidenfeld & Nicolson, New York, 1988); Danilo Dolci,
The Man Who Plays Alone
(MacGibbon and Kee, London, 1968); Michele Pantaleone,
The Mafia and Politics
(Chatto & Windus, London, 1966); Umberto Santino and Giovanni La Fiura,
L’impresa mafiosa
(Franco Angeli, Milan, 1991); Claire Sterling,
The Mafia. The Long Reach of the International Sicilian Mafia
(Grafton, London, 1991); Nicola Tranfaglia,
Mafia, politica e affari 1943–2000
(Laterza, Bari-Rome, 2001); Leone Zingales,
La Mafia negli anni ’60 in Sicilia
(Terzo Millennio, Caltanissetta, 2003) and
I boss della Mafia
(Editori Riuniti, Rome, 1971).

Gabriella Badalamenti,
Come l’oleandro
(Sellerio, Palermo,
2002); Mario Francese,
Una vita in cronaca
(Gelka, Palermo,
2000) and Salvo Vitale, ‘Gli assassini’,
Antimafia
, March
2002.

Vito Mangiapani,
Cinisi. Memorie e documenti
(Grifo, Palermo, 2001 [first published 1910]) and Leonardo Pandolfo,
Cinisi. L’erba della memoria
(Ila Palma, Palermo, 1997).

Felicia Bartolotta Impastato,
La mafia in casa mia
(2nd edition, La Luna, Palermo, 1987); Gabriella Ebano,
Felicia e le sue sorelle
(Ediesse, Rome, 2005); Valeria Pizzini Gambetta, ‘Becoming Visible: Did the Emancipation of Women Reach the Sicilian Mafia?’, in A. Cento Bull and A. Giorgio (eds),
Speaking Out and Silencing. Culture, Society and Politics in Italy in the 1970s
(Legenda/MHRA, London, 2006); Frederic Sondern Jr,
Brotherhood of Evil: The Mafia
(Victor Gollancz, London, 1959) and several issues of
L’Idea Socialista
.

Pino Arlacchi,
Gli uomini del disonore. La mafia siciliana nella vita del grande pentito Antonino Calderone
(Mondadori, Milan, 1992); Raimondo Catanzaro,
Men of Respect. A Social History of the Sicilian Mafia
(The Free Press/Macmillan, New York, 1992); Alessandra Dino, ‘Ritorno a Mafiopoli’,
Meridiana
, no. 40, 2001; Saverio Lodato,
Potenti. Sicilia, anni Novanta
(Garzanti, Milan, 1992); Nicola Tranfaglia (ed.),
Cirillo, Ligato e Lima
(Laterza, Bari-Rome, 1994) plus the March 2001 Palermo Court of Appeal sentence against Vito Palazzolo.

Pino Manzella and Salvo Vitale, as interviewed in the video produced by Antonio Bellia,
Peppino Impastato: Storia di un siciliano libero
(Il Manifesto, Rome, 1998); Anna Puglisi,
Donne, Mafia e Antimafia
(DG Editore, Trapani, 2005) and Radio Aut, ‘Radiografia di Mafiopoli’, in
Accumulazione e cultura mafiose
(Cento Fiori, Palermo, 1979).

Gianni Barbacetto, Peter Gomez and Marco Travaglio,
Mani pulite. La vera storia
(Editori Riuniti, Rome, 2002); Francesco Forgione,
Amici come prima
(Editori Riuniti, Rome, 2004); Peter Gomez and Marco Travaglio (eds),
L’amico degli amici
(BUR, Milan, 2005); Saverio Lodato and Marco Travaglio,
Intoccabili
(BUR, Milan, 2005); Stefano Maria Bianchi and Alberto Nerazzini,
La mafia è bianca
(BUR, Milan, 2005) and Livio Pepino,
Andreotti, la mafia, i processi
(EGA Editore, Turin, 2005).

For further information, the main websites are: centroimpastato.it and peppinoimpastato.com. The basic starting point, however, is to get hold of the second biggest grossing Italian film of the last decade:
I cento passi/The Hundred Steps
(2000, Italy, dir. Marco Tullio Giordana); it can be found at sites such as at: internetbookshop.it.

This is neither an academic book that pretends it can detach itself from the world that surrounds it, nor a crime thriller obsessed with describing bloodshed and psychopaths. It is a book committed to ridding the world of the Mafia. This is why a large amount of the profits created will go to the ‘Peppino Impastato Research Centre’, an organisation independent of the institutions, which for nearly 30 years has survived thanks to both personal commitment and public donations.

s the Italians say, this book is
corale
– there is a virtual chorus of voices within it, primarily of people who have conducted a long battle against the Mafia

and the institutional collusion it benefits from.
So thanks to all those who agreed to be interviewed:
Gabriella Ruffino Badalamenti, Gaspare Cucinella, Pino
Di Stefano, Margherita Galati, Graziella Iacopelli, Felicetta
Vitale Impastato, Felicia Bartolotta Impastato, Giovanni
Impastato, Luisa Impastato, Piero Impastato, Nino La Fata,
Salvatore Maltese, Nino Mannino, Pino Manzella, Giuseppe
Nobile, Ludovico Pizzo, Giovanni Riccobono, Umberto
Santino, Gino Scasso, Pino Vitale, Salvo Vitale and somebody
who wanted to remain anonymous.
Equally, I have had valuable help, advice and hospitality
– often in ways that were not imagined or planned – from:
Giuseppe Di Lello, Mariantonietta Mangiapane, the current
mayor of Cinisi Salvatore Palazzolo, Giancarla Pantaleo,
Caterina Pellingra, Salvo Ruvolo, Antonella Venezia,
Mariangela Venuti and Felicetta Vitale’s family.
Two people whose advice and generosity have been
invaluable are Giovanni Impastato and Giuseppe Nobile. Of
equal if not greater importance has been Barbara Rampoldi’s
help on earlier drafts.

Thanks also to Paolo Chirco for allowing reproduction of his photo of Peppino. Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders for the images, and the author will be happy to acknowledge them in any future editions.

187–9
Anti-Mafia Commission 26,
32, 71, 78, 141, 176,
179–80, 194, 199

Badalamenti, Emanuele 30–1
Badalamenti, family 27–30, 163–4, 195, 198–9
Badalamenti, Gaetano, aka ‘Don Tano’ 21, 23–34, 54–5, 62, 67–8, 72–8, 91, 99–109, 113, 122–6, 129, 137, 144, 153, 158–65, 169, 172–9, 181, 184, 188, 194, 196, 199, 201
Bartolotta, Fara 52, 64, 138–9, 151–2, 155–7
Bartolotta, Felicia (see
Impastato)
Bartolotta, Matteo 52–4, 57, 61–2, 64, 95
Berlusconi, Silvio 175, 183, 185–8
Bonanno, Giuseppe, aka ‘Joe Bananas’ 18–21,
Buscetta, Tommaso 21, 26, 77, 103

Calderone, Antonino 73–4, 102
Carini 13, 23, 67, 74, 164, 177
Castellammare del Golfo 18, 30, 120, 178
Christian Democrat Party 2, 10, 12, 19, 55–7, 61–2, 70, 73, 77, 81–2, 84, 105–7, 117–18, 122–4, 127, 131, 134–6, 143–5, 147, 151–2, 169–71, 187, 197–8
Cinisi 1–2, 14, 16, 21–6, 28, 30–6, 38–48, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58–60, 62, 68–9, 74–6, 78–83, 85, 87–9, 91, 101–2, 107, 109–14, 120–1, 123–4, 127–8, 131–2, 134, 140, 142, 144–7, 149–51, 153–4, 158, 161–6, 168–9, 171–5, 177–85, 189, 193, 195–9, 201
Cinisi Corso (main street) 39–40, 47, 63, 86, 111, 113, 121, 125, 133, 135, 144–5, 162, 165, 168, 172, 176–7, 181, 185, 189
Cinisi station 1, 41, 45, 120, 138
Communist Party 7–10, 12– 14, 47–8, 53, 57, 60–1, 82, 85, 87, 90, 110, 116, 124, 131, 134, 136, 143, 147–8, 150, 152
Coppola, Agostino 74–5, 105
Coppola Frank, aka ‘Three Fingers’ 17, 32, 74
Cucinella, Gaspare 21–2, 32, 46, 51, 101, 113, 133, 168, 199, 201
Cuffaro, Salvatore 197–8

Di Maggio, Procopio 29, 32,
38, 45–6, 48, 51, 82–3,
91, 162, 181, 189
Dolci, Danilo 16, 65, 120

Genco Russo, Giuseppe 5, 19–20, 23, 55–6
Giuliano, Salvatore 10–11, 14, 52
Greco, Salvatore, aka ‘Little Bird’ 21, 24, 26, 100, 103

Impastato, family 50, 52,
56–8, 62, 64, 116, 118,
125, 128–9, 143–4, 156,
158, 167–8, 172, 176,
178, 180, 183
Impastato, Felicia Bartolotta
25, 44, 50–7, 61–4, 78,
84, 95–7, 101, 108, 116–
17, 119, 125–6, 128–9,
132, 136, 138–9, 143–4,
151–2, 155–6, 163–5,
167–8, 171, 173–82,
185–6, 194–5
Impastato, Giovanni 38, 51–
5, 62, 64, 78, 80, 96–8,
114, 116–19, 126, 129,
132, 136, 140, 143–5,
149–50, 155–6, 163, 165–8, 173–5, 177–8, 181, 184, 195, 198, 200 Impastato, Giuseppe, aka ‘Leadspitter’ 55, 63, 127–8, 143, 163
Impastato, Luigi 50–5, 57–8, 63–4, 96–8, 108, 116– 19, 125–9, 155
Impastato, Masi 14, 38, 47–8, 50–1, 63, 70
Impastato, Nick, aka ‘Killer’ 50, 143
Impastato, Peppino 25, 49, 51–4, 56–66, 69, 78, 80–1, 83, 85–6, 90–8, 108–36, 138–58, 161, 163–9, 171–8, 180–5, 187–8, 191, 193, 196, 198–202
Impastato, Piero 38, 69, 91, 107, 110, 147–8