Blood Brotherhoods (131 page)

Ditto
, 15/4/1926, n. 192, Minniti Antonio, vol. 215.

Ditto
, 2/8/1926 n. 395, Mafrici Stefano + 13, vol. 216.

Ditto
, 7/5/1927 n. 153, De Gaetano Andrea + 28, vol. 218. Three of the accused get themselves photographed with pistols pointing at a sheet of paper and raising hands as if to take an oath. They are all acquitted.

Ditto
, 29/3/1927, Schimizzi Giacomo + 64, vol. 217. In Melito the gang initiation oath emerges from insider evidence: ‘before us there is a tomb covered in flowers, and he who breaches secrecy will receive five dagger blows to the chest’. The judge explains why such insider evidence often emerges: ‘judicial psychology teaches us, members of criminal associations always betray one another’.

Ditto
, 13/7/1928 n. 395, Bruzzaniti Giovanni + 51, vol. 224. A case in Africo where there was an upsurge in picciotteria violence after the First World War. The judge lamely blames ‘social causes’ and reduces the sentences on the grounds that the culprits are reformed characters.

Ditto
, 19/6/1928, Putortì Vittorio +5, vol. 223.

Ditto
, 14/8/1930, Passalacqua Giuseppe + 19, vol. 234. A nasty case involving the rape of a mentally handicapped prostitute.

Ditto
, 26/5/1930 n. 341, Curatola Francesco, vol. 232.

Ditto
, 12/6/1931 n. 524, Altomonte Carmelo + 8, vol. 238.

Ditto
, 16/7/1931 n. 752, De Gaetano Domenico + 20, vol. 239. Describes a battle for territory in San Roberto (near Villa San Giovanni) between Fascists and
picciotti
. The latter have a close web of kinship and marriage ties between them.

Ditto
, 6
aprile
1933 n. 174, Spanò Demetrio + 106, vol. senza numero
Anno
1933—
dal
15
gennaio al
30
aprile
. Trial of a whole network of picciotteria groups in Reggio Calabria. The leaders pimp and extort money from junior members. A detailed picture of the organisation emerges. There is, as always, a
Società minore
and a
Società maggiore
, but the latter is further divided between the
Società in testa
a.k.a.
Gran criminale
grouped around the boss, and the
Società indrina
of which there are several based in different quarters of the city.

ASC:

Corte di Appello di Catanzaro, Sentenze, 7/6/1922, De Paola Gregorio + 11, vol. 486.

Ditto
, 8/8/1923, Noto Domenico + 46, vol. 489. The flying boss.

Ditto
, 14/11/1923, Alfinito Donato + 36, vol. 489. Prosecution of a group in Petronà. Two women accused of being in the
cosca
are acquitted for insufficient evidence. The boss was unseated because his wife betrayed him, ostensibly.

Ditto
, 16/4/1923, Costa Salvatore + 6, vol. 488.

Ditto
, 19/7/1924, Bruzzi Camillo + 18, vol. 491. From Radicena and Gioia Tauro. The gang’s practice of forced initiation produces a witness for the prosecution.

Ditto
, 11/3/1925, Cotela Giuseppe + 14, vol. 492. Some members admit the existence of the association, based in Serrata. Forcible enlisting of members still practised, at least according to some witnesses.

Ditto
, 19/12/1925, Barbara Antonio + 35, vol. 494.

Ditto
, 26/1/1925, Panucci Gesuele + 17, vol. 492.

Ditto
, 22/5/1926, Fabrizio Giuseppe + 26, v. 495. Like many rulings, this one shows an organisation divided between
picciotti
and
camorristi
. Once again the evidence is from turncoats inside the group.

Ditto
, 6/2/1926, Pandurri Pietro + 14, vol. 495.

Ditto
, 10/2/1926, Facchineri Giuseppe + 18, vol. 495.

Ditto
, 12/4/1926, Notarianni Vincenzo + 34, vol. 495. Dagger duels.

Ditto
, 13/2/1926, Mascaro Camillo + 3, vol. 495.

Ditto
, 17/3/1926, De Caro Vincenzo, vol. 495. A group in the ethnically Albanian village of Santa Sofia d’Epiro. The group kept women’s clothes for disguise purposes.

Ditto
, 26/4/1926, Albanese Domenico + 26, vol. 495. The ruling describes the disorder following demobilisation in Rosarno.

Ditto
, 28/6/1926, Gullà Francesco, v. 496. Gullà, from Celico in the province of Cosenza, has ties with the Black Hand in the USA.

Ditto
, 10/10/1927, Biancamaro Arturo + 6, vol. 500.

Ditto
, 4/12/1928, Bumbaca Vincenzo + 45, vol. 505. One of several cases where the prosecution case fails to stand up.

Ditto
, 8/6/1928, De Santis Giuseppe + 21, vol. 503.

Ditto
, 9/7/1928, Lucà Luigi + 38, vol. 504. In Gioiosa Jonica the picciotteria calls itself the ‘Montalbano family’.

Ditto
, 12/11/1928, Speranza Stefano + 26, vol. 505.

Ditto
, 17/12/1928, Cristiano Giuseppe + 13, vol. 505. The
Carabinieri
fail to produce enough evidence against this group from Staiti.

Ditto
, 18/8/1928, Saccomanno Antonio + 11, vol. 504. The defendants are acquitted because, in the judge’s view, the prosecution has not proved that this society was a
criminal
association, despite several confessions.

Ditto
, 2/5/1929, Palermo Rinaldo + 48, vol. 507. Interesting case from Gerace in which the picciotteria extort bribes on marriages. Two wealthy members were acquitted on the flimsy grounds that ‘it was implausible that they would have shady dealings with what was essentially a bunch of beggars’.

Ditto
, 17/5/1929, Napoli Pasquale + 7, vol. 507. A spike in thefts follows the return of a
picciotto
from the United States.

Ditto
, 25/11/1929, Gareri Domenico + 13, vol. 509.

Ditto
, 26/9/1929, Romeo Stefano + 75, vol. 508. Important trial of the picciotteria in San Luca. Giuseppe Delfino uses the evidence of an informer (subsequently murdered) to dismantle the local cattle-rustling operation.

Ditto
, 1/4/1930, Gullace Domenico + 20, vol. 512.

Ditto
, 6/12/1930, Spanò Vincenzo + 33, vol. 517.

Ditto
, 11/7/1930, Vallone Giuseppe + 6, vol. 514.

Ditto
, 13/6/1930, Carioti Francesco, vol. 513.

Ditto
, 15/11/1930, Corio Santo + 144, vol. 516. Several women are involved in this clan from Palmi, Gioia Tauro and Rosarno.

Ditto
, 20/10/1930, Sorace Salvatore + 9, vol. 515.

Ditto
, 25/11/1930, Annacorato Vincenzo + 93, vol. 516. A ‘Montalbano family’ in Nicotera, Polistena and Gioia Tauro. One boy is initiated at age eleven. The judge is unsurprised that most of the evidence comes from turncoats inside the picciotteria: ‘It is natural that underworld trials grow from the revelations of gangsters who betray the secrets of the sect that they were affiliated to’.

Ditto
, 29/11/1930, Mollica Vincenzo + 41, vol. 516.

Ditto
, 29/8/1931, Ponzano Gaetano+ 10, vol. 521.

Ditto
, 1/3/1932, Lupino Giovanni + 16, vol. 525.

Ditto
, 25/11/1932, Argentano Menotti + 12, vol. 529.

Ditto
, 12/5/1933, Piccione Francesco + 10, vol. 531.

Ditto
, 21/9/1934, Pollifrone Rocco + 22, vol. 536. The picciotteria in the Locride smuggles its stolen animals to market in the Plain of Gioia Tauro.

ASC:

Corte di Assise di Catanzaro, Sentenze, 2/11/1931, Pugliese Francesco + 4, vol. 62.

Ditto
, 21/5/1932, Rosello Francesco + 2, vol. 63. A
Carabiniere
is murdered for trying to prevent an underworld marriage alliance. He may have got too close to one of the factions involved.

ASC:

Corte di Assise di Locri, Sentenze, 2/2/1933, Andrianò Vincenzo + 8, b. 1.

Ditto
, 19/7/1937, Commisso Francescantonio + 56, b. 3. The boss rules that a man spreading rumours about his wife must die, and orders a sixteen-year-old boy to perform the deed.

Ditto
, 8/2/1938, Oppedisano Francesco + 5, b. 3.

Ditto
, 6/9/1939, Macrì Francesco + 141, b. 4. The case involving Maria Marvelli.

Ditto
, 9/2/1939, Canario Vincenzo + 26, b. 4.

ASC:

Corte di Assise di Palmi, Sentenze, 11/6/1937, Vicari Francesco, b. 3.

Ditto
, 18/3/1937, Romeo Procopio + 2, b. 3. A butcher in a
frazione
of Oppido Mamertina is hit by shotgun pellets in the thighs, genitals, scrotum, penis and left hand while excreting in an olive grove. There follows a chain of attacks that the judge puts down to family rivalries.

Ditto
, 6/12/1938, Vinci Alfonso + 10, b. 3. Acquittals despite an outbreak of razor slashes to the face in Cittanova.

Ditto
, 8/4/1938, Corso Rocco + 1, b. 3.

Ditto
, 7/3/1940, Barone Michele + 37, b. 4. The gang, under the leadership of Michele Barone convicted of smothering an old lady in her bed and throwing a prostitute off a bridge, seems not to have been part of the picciotteria, despite operating in the classic ’ndrangheta territories of Polistena and Taurianova.

ASC:

Gabinetto di prefettura, Affari gen. e disposizioni riguardanti la P.S.—b. 14. On the picciotteria that has ‘almost been crushed’, see letter from chief of police to the Prefect, 21/11/1931.

Gabinetto di prefettura, Ordine Pubblico—b. 609.

Ufficio Storico Stato Maggiore Aeronautica (USSMA), Fondo aviatori Grande Guerra, b. 132, fasc. 14. Noto Domenico. The flying boss’s war record.

Comando Generale dell’Arma dei Carabinieri. Ufficio Storico, various documents on the career of Giuseppe Delfino including:
Bollettino Ufficiale dei Carabinieri Reali
1911 (p. 289), 1919 (p. 285), 1927 (p. 104); Comune di San Luca, ‘Deliberazione del consiglio comunale’, 4/12/1915 and another dated 14/7/1921; Partito Nazionale Fascista, Sezione de Platì, ‘Deliberazione’, 20/12/1926; letter from the Procuratore del Re, Gerace Marina, 3/6/1929.

Cronaca di Calabria
. Has low-key coverage of the picciotteria during the early Fascist years, 1922–28. On the actions of Giuseppe Delfino, see ‘Vasta associazione a delinquere’, 8/12/1927.

Gazzetta di Messina e delle Calabrie
, 1924–27. On Giuseppe Delfino’s tireless work, see, ‘Da Platì. Un maresciallo dei carabinieri che si fa onore’, 3/4/1927.