MAFIA: SICILY: The Godfather 1972 - The Godfather II 1974 - The Godfather III 1990 - Italian Noir: The Story of Italian Crime Fiction TV - Mafia Vendetta TV - Mafia Empire: Vow of Silence TV - Alexander Stille - Organised Crime: A World History TV - Andrew Graham-Dixon & Giogio-Locatelli TV - Inside the Mafia TV - Wartime Crime: The Sicilian Connection TV - Mafia Confidential TV - A Very Sicilian Justice: Taking on the Mafia TV - Corleone TV - Killer Trials: Murdered By the Mob TV - Falcone 1999 -
20,018. Forget it, Michael. Sicilian women are more dangerous than shotguns. (GBH Films & Sicily & Gangstas: New York & Mafia: New York & Gangstas: Sicily & Mafia: Sicily) The Godfather 1972 starring Marlon Brando & Al Pacino & James Caan & Richard S Castellano & Richard Duvall & Sterling Hayden & John Marley & Richard Conte & Diane Keaton et al, director Francis Ford Coppola, sidekick
20,024. The godfather was born Vito Andolini, in the town of Corleone in Sicily. In 1901 his father was murdered for an insult to the local Mafia chieftain. His older brother Paolo swore revenge and disappeared into the hills, leaving Vito, the only male heir, to stand with his mother at the funeral. (GBH Films & Mafia: Sicily & Sicily & Gangstas: Sicily & Mafia: New York & Gangstas: New York) The Godfather II 1974 starring Robert De Niro & Al Pacino & Robert Duvall & Diane Keaton & Talia Shire & Morgana King & John Cazale & Marianna Hill & Lee Strasberg et al, director Francis Ford Coppola
20,050. Why is such a beautiful country so violent? (GBH Films & Sicily & Mafia: Sicily & Sicily & Gangstas: Sicily & Mafia: New York & Gangstas: New York) The Godfather III 1990 starring Al Pacino & Andy Garcia & Diane Keaton & Talia Shire & Sofia Coppola & George Hamilton & Bridget Fonda et al, director Francis Ford Coppola, Anthony
120,511. Into the 1960s Leonardo Sciascia’s novels would expose the power of the Sicilian Mafia. (Gangstas: Sicily & Italy & Fiction & Mafia: Sicily & Gangstas: Italy) Italian Noir: The Story of Italian Crime Fiction
19,787. In Italy the Sicilian Mafia embarked on a campaign of terror in a last-ditch attempt to intimidate the State as their political supporters failed to protect them. The prosecution and arrest of the Mafia godfathers changed the face of organised crime, and raised the prospect of its eventual disappearance. (Gangstas: Sicily & Sicily & Mafia: Sicily) Mafia Empire – Vendetta
19,788. While the Sicilian Mafia dominated the heroin trade in the 1980s the American Mafia were opposed to it. (Gangstas: Sicily & Sicily & Mafia: Sicily & Heroin) ibid.
19,789. Surrounded by massive security at the courthouse in Palermo, Buscetta testified that as head of the Corleonesi and the Commission of the Sicilian Mafia Riina was directly responsible for all the killings. (Gangstas: Sicily & Sicily & Mafia: Sicily) ibid.
19,790. In defiance of popular feeling Riina escalated his campaign against the State in the autumn of 1992 by resorting to terrorism, extending Mafia violence to the Italian mainland. (Gangstas: Sicily & Sicily & Mafia: Sicily & Italy) ibid.
19,791. 19th century Sicily was the birthplace of the modern Mafia ... Hidden in what seemed to be ordinary neighbourhoods was a secret society that would eventually make its mark on two continents. (Gangstas: Sicily & Sicily & Mafia: Sicily) Mafia Empire: Vow of Silence
120,553. For years the true history of the Mafia has been a closed book to the outside world. But now high-ranking members are betraying the Mafia and are telling the real story. (Gangstas: Sicily & Sicily & Mafia: Sicily) ibid.
19,792. In Palermo in 1957 American and Sicilian Mafia held a series of secret meetings to discuss their common future. In attendance were American godfathers Joe Bonanno and Lucky Luciano, now living back in Italy. (Gangstas: Sicily & Sicily & Mafia: Sicily) ibid.
19,793. It’s estimated he [Salvatori Reiina] and the families aligned with him killed as many as a thousand people in the area around Palermo. (Gangstas: Sicily & Sicily & Mafia: Sicily) Alexander Stille, author Excellent Cadavers
19,794. On the island of Sicily beauty and brutality have lived side by side for thousands of years. It was here in a world of shadows and secrets that the Mafia was born. Through terror and murder a small minority of men held Sicily in their grip. Eventually their influence reached all the way to the highest levels of Italian government and beyond. (Gangstas: Sicily & Sicily & Mafia: Sicily & Italy) Organised Crime – A World History: Sicily
19,795. But soon after his arrival the 53-year-old prosecutor was pronounced dead. His wife died a few hours later. For more than a decade Falcone had worked tirelessly to bring down the Sicilian Mafia. (Gangstas: Sicily & Sicily & Mafia: Sicily) ibid.
19,796. Borsellino and five of his bodyguards were killed instantly. For the second time in as many months Sicily mourned the loss of a crusader for justice. (Gangstas: Sicily & Sicily & Mafia: Sicily) ibid.
19,797. For over a century the Mafia had been poisoning Sicily, cloaking generations of violence and corruption in a mantle of respectability. (Gangstas: Sicily & Sicily & Mafia: Sicily) ibid.
19,798. In the absence of legitimate government these new local bosses filled the political vacuum. (Gangstas: Sicily & Sicily & Mafia: Sicily) ibid.
19,799. This dedication to complete secrecy coupled with the threat of violence allowed the Sicilian underworld to gradually tighten its grip on the island’s economy. (Gangstas: Sicily & Sicily & Mafia: Sicily) ibid.
19,800. It was the beginning of a long and close relationship between the Christian Democrats and the Mafia. (Gangstas: Sicily & Sicily & Mafia: Sicily) ibid.
19,801. After five years of thuggery the Mafia bosses in Palermo realised that war between the families was cutting into their profits. They decided to call a meeting to discuss their differences. In October 1957 scores of Mafiosi converged on ... a summit meeting that would last four days. As a result of these discussions it was decided to form a Commission to govern Mafia affairs. (Gangstas: Sicily & Sicily & Mafia: Sicily) ibid.
19,802. In the early 1960 the Sicilian Mafia moved into a lucrative new area: the international drugs trade. (Gangstas: Sicily & Sicily & Mafia: Sicily & Drugs) ibid.
88,371. The Mafia: in the early 60s the Mafia infiltrated the city council and managed to have many of Palermo’s historic buildings demolished. (Sicily & Mafia: Sicily & Gangstas: Sicily) Andrew Graham-Dixon & Giorgio Locatelli, Sicily Unpacked 1/3
105,341. They were two very different godfathers separated by 4,000 miles of ocean. John Gotti was the Teflon don, a New York mobster who adored public attention and defied lawmen to get him. Toto Riina was a peasant from rural Sicily, a boss who operated in the shadows. In the late 80s and early 90s it required two very different approaches to bring them to justice. (Mafia: Sicily & Sicily & Gangstas: Sicily) Inside the Mafia: The Godfathers, National Geographic 2005
105,342. In Sicily it would take a revolution by the people to put Riina behind bars. (Mafia: Sicily & Sicily & Gangstas: Sicily) ibid.
105,344. Toto Riina – an elusive psychopathic killer from the two of Corleone. (Mafia: Sicily & Sicily & Gangstas: Sicily) ibid.
105,346. Falcone needed a way of connecting Mafia boss Riina to the crimes carried out in his name by his army of killers. (Mafia: Sicily & Sicily & Gangstas: Sicily) ibid.
105,359. It was perhaps the most lucrative criminal racket in history. Between 1979 and 1984 the Sicilian Mafia smuggled nearly two billion dollars’ worth of heroin into the US. It made mobsters on both sides of the Atlantic rich. It also led to war. In Sicily rival bosses fought for control of the heroin-trafficking empire. The terror this war unleashed drove on godfather to break Omerta, the Mafia’s sacred code of silence. His act of betrayal would lead to a transatlantic assault on the Mafia and make the first serious dent in their worldwide power. Heroin was flooding into the United States in the late 1970s. Smuggled inside Italian food products and distributed through Pizzarias owned by the Sicilian Mafia. It was known as the Pizza Connection. The US faced an epidemic of heroin addiction. But for American gangstas heroin meant money. And lots of it. (Mafia: Sicily & Sicily & Gangstas: Sicily & Heroin) Inside the Mafia: The Great Betrayal
105,361. In 1981 & 1982 the bodies of Riina’s victims were turning up on the streets of Palermo every three days. (Mafia: Sicily & Sicily & Gangstas: Sicily & Heroin) ibid.
105,362. Riina had murdered his way to the top of the Sicilian Mafia to seize control of the heroin trade to the US. Hundreds of people may have been killed on his orders. Few in Sicily had the courage to stand up to him. (Mafia: Sicily & Sicily & Gangstas: Sicily & Heroin) ibid.
105,363. The most spectacular trial in Mafia history – the Maxi trial was about the begin. Falcone would lead the prosecution. The star witness was Tommaso Buscetta. The trial began in February 1986. 3,000 armed soldiers guarded the bunker. Plus an army tank. Nearly 500 defendants were scheduled for trial … He was on the witness stand for a week protected by bullet-proof glass repeating what he had already told Judge Falcone … 344 Mafiosi were found guilty. (Mafia: Sicily & Sicily & Gangstas: Sicily & Trial) ibid.
115,720. It’s a plan in part relying on the help of one of the most notorious gangstas in America and his criminal empire. This is the story of mob boss Lucky Luciano and the astonishing secret coalition the US Navy never want told. (Mafia: Sicily & Gangstas: Sicily & Sicily) Wartime Crime s1e6: The Sicilian Connection, Yesterday 2018
115,721. Sicily: Benito Mussolini’s rise to power has threatened to put an end to the Mafia. (Mafia: Sicily & Gangstas: Sicily & Sicily) ibid.
115,722. WWII: ‘Operation Husky is fledged, and this plan is to take the US 7th army and the British 8th army and hit Sicily in the south.’ (Mafia: Sicily & Gangstas: Sicily & Operations & Sicily) ibid. Geoffrey Wawro, University of Texas