CRACKDOWN ON THE MAFIA
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This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from October 1984.
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With a strict hierarchial structure, the mafia chieftains order murders, abductions and torture at will, sometimes simply for "fun," according to judicial sources quoted by Italian media.
Spurred by the confessions of a jailed crime boss who defied the mafia's code of silence, police last week rounded up at least 62 suspected mobsters in a massive sweep described as the biggest breakthrough against the mafia in 20 years.
U.S. Attorney General William French Smith called the crackdown, which also put U.S. authorities on the trail of other mobsters, "the single most devastating assault on the mafia in its entire history."
Details of the structure and tactics of the mafia have emerged from the testimony by the mobster who turned state's evidence, Tommaso Buscetta, and the arrest warrants against the arrested suspects.
Some have questioned the value of Buscetta's 721-page confession, pointing out that the 56-year-old Sicilian spent the last 12 years in prison or abroad, in Brazil, and that he was a relatively low-echelon boss of a family on the losing side of the battle for control of the multi-billion dollar drug trade.
However, Italian investigators say Buscetta's testimony confirms what authorities have long suspected but lacked an insider's corroboration. Investigators have said Buscetta's confessions could help shed light on numerous kidnappings and murders by gangs.
The description by Buscetta and other imprisoned mafia suspects essentially confirms the overall picture of the syndicate sketched by Joseph Valachi, an organized crime figure in the United States, in his confession to a U.S. senate panel in 1963.
The latest disclosure includes these points: organized down to tiny villages, the entire island of Sicily, divided in numerous sectors and assigned to crime "families," is "run" by a hierachy of mobsters, headed by the "pope" with the veto power. He presides over a super commission of 10 "cardinals" representing clans controlling the island's nine provinces, which directs crime operations. murders, as easily committed as "having a cup of coffee," nevertheless have to be authorized by the boss of the family controlling the area where the victim will be killed. "Death sentences" for politicians, judges and prosecutors can be issued only by the commission, based in Palermo, the island capital. some of the political killings in the past several years were linked to feuds among rival clans fighting for control of Sicily's drug trafficking network.
In the bottom of the pyramid-like structure are thousands of "soldiers" and "men of honour" -- who carry out daily chores, ranging from collecting "protection money" from merchants to acting as their bosses' bodyguards.
According to Buscetta, who violated "omerta" -- or the gangland code of silence -- allegedly to avenge the killings of seven relatives by rival gangs, these men are tested for their loyalty.before they take the formal oath required for mobsters to become mafia men.
Anyone breaking the "honour code" is subject to harsh punishment, sometimes hacked to death or thrown into a bathtub full of acid after torture.
Directing the "soldiers" in a designated area is the capofamiglia (the boss of the family), who is aided by a select group of counselors.
These bosses in turn report to the head of a region, or one of Sicily's nine provinces. The syndicate is also supported by the so-called "terzolivello" (third level), allegedly composed of politicians, officials and other influential people beyond suspicion who help the mafia or at least condone their criminal activities, according to Buscetta's testimony.
Buscetta, however, gave no names of "third member" levels, saying the list is a closely guarded secret known only to the top few mafiosi. Buscetta reportedly identified the mafia's "pope" as Michele Greco, 60, a convicted gangland leader who has been a fugitive from justice for nearly two years.
Greco and his 57-year-old cousin, Salvatore Greco, were tried in absentia and sentenced to life imprisonment in July for planning the car-bomb killing of an anti-mafia judge last year.
Judge Rocco Chinnici, his two police bodyguards and a doorman were killed when the remote-controlled car bomb exploded on a Palermo street on July 29, 1983.
