Niccolò Turrisi Colonna
Niccolò Turrisi Colonna | |
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Personal details | |
Born | 10 August 1817 Palermo, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies |
Died | 13 May 1889 (1889-05-14) (aged 71) Palermo, Italy |
Niccolò Turrisi Colonna (10 August 1817 – 13 May 1889), Baron of Gorgo and Bonvicino, was a Sicilian politician from Palermo.
He was a leading landowner and enlightened in the way he ran his business, studying agricultural science. He was a patriot even before the unification of Italy (Italian: il Risorgimento). After the annexation of Sicily by Italy in 1860, Turrisi Colonna was made leader of the Palermo National Guard. He became a member of the Italian Senate (1865) and in the 1880s served twice as mayor of Palermo.[1]
In 1864, Turrisi Colonna wrote a study, Public Security in Sicily, in which he described a "sect of thieves" that operated across Sicily and which is considered to be an early description of the Mafia, although he did not mention the term. This "sect" had special signals to recognize each other, had political protection in many regions, and a code of loyalty and non-interaction with the police known as umirtà or omertà ("humility").[2] The sect was mostly rural, comprising plantation wardens and smugglers, among others. The sect made "affiliates every day of the brightest young people coming from the rural class, of the guardians of the fields in the Palermitan countryside, and of the large number of smugglers; a sect which gives and receives protection to and from certain men who make a living on traffic and internal commerce. It is a sect with little or no fear of public bodies, because its members believe that they can easily elude this."[3]
Turrisi Colonna warned in his report that the Italian government's brutal attempts to crush unlawfulness only made the problem worse by alienating the populace. He seemed to have known what he was talking about, as there was widespread suspicion that he was the protector of some important Mafiosi in Palermo.[2] Domenico Farini, longtime president of the Senate, recalled that some members of Parliament told him in private in 1876 that Turrisi Colonna was the head of the Mafia.[1]
References
- ^ a b Lupo, History of the Mafia, pp. 43-44
- ^ a b Dickie, Cosa Nostra, pp. 39-46
- ^ Paoli, Mafia Brotherhoods, p. 33
- Dickie, John (2004). Cosa Nostra. A history of the Sicilian Mafia, London: Coronet, ISBN 0-340-82435-2
- Lupo, Salvatore (2009). History of the Mafia, New York: Columbia University Press, ISBN 978-0-231-13134-6
- Paoli, Letizia (2003). Mafia Brotherhoods: Organized Crime, Italian Style, New York: Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-515724-9 (Review by Klaus Von Lampe) (Review by Alexandra V. Orlova)
Political offices | ||
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Preceded by Salesio Balsano | Mayor of Palermo 1881-1882 | Succeeded by Piero Ugo delle Fave |
Preceded by Giulio Benso Sammartino Duca della Verdura | Mayor of Palermo 1886-1887 | Succeeded by Giulio Benso Sammartino Duca della Verdura |
- v
- t
- e
- Commission (Cupola)
- Interprovincial Commission
- Capo dei capi
- Family (Cosca)
- Boss (Capomandamento)
- Underboss (Sottocapo)
- Consigliere
- Capodecina (Caporegime)
- Soldato (Soldier)
Agrigento Province | |
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Caltanissetta Province | |
Palermo | |
Palermo Province | |
Trapani Province | |
Other |
- First Mafia War (1962–1963)
- Second Mafia War (1981–1984)
and bombings
- Portella della Ginestra massacre (1947)
- Ciaculli bombing (1963)
- Viale Lazio massacre (1969)
- Circonvallazione massacre (1982)
- Via Carini massacre (1982)
- Via Federico Pipitone massacre (1983)
- Train 904 bombing (1984)
- Pizzolungo bombing (1985)
- Capaci bombing (1992)
- Via D'Amelio bombing (1992)
- Via dei Georgofili bombing (1993)
- Via Palestro massacre (1993)
- 1960s Sicilian Mafia trials
- Maxi Trial (1986–1992)
- Pizza Connection Trial (1985–1986)
- American Cosa Nostra
- Anonima sarda
- Article 41-bis prison regime
- Banda della Comasina
- Banda della Magliana
- Basilischi
- Beati Paoli
- Camorra
- Corsican mafia
- Garduña
- Italian brigandage (19th century)
- Sicilian brigandage and rebels (20th century)
- Mala del Brenta
- 'Ndrangheta
- Sacra Corona Unita
- Stidda
- Stuppagghiari
- Vendicatori