by Norman Lewis
‘They still kill judges. And chiefs of police.’
‘Outsiders who don’t bother to learn the rules of the game. We try to explain to them, but they refuse to listen. It’s a great help to have been born here.’
Boris and I got on tremendously well. He wanted to talk about Soho, and I about the Mafia, and we had a half dozen such meetings at that time. We exchanged letters and a few years later I spent an hour with him when he stopped off in London on his way to Washington for a conference with the FBI. An earlier visit to the United States had had to do with the assassination of President Kennedy. His opinion as to the possibility of a Sicilian connection in this case suggested the plot of a book based on the assassination I subsequently wrote.
In the early part of 1979 Boris’s letters stopped. I assumed that he was too busy a man to continue a desultory correspondence, but the reason proved later to be different. Ten years earlier the wealth of the Mafia came from the expansion and the rebuilding of cities like Palermo. Since then it had been discovered that no business had ever been known to compare with the trade in narcotics, and the secret laboratories of Sicily stepped up production to meet a quarter of the world demand in heroin. It was no longer possible for a policeman to stand on the sidelines and exercise any measure of control over this explosion of criminality. In July Boris visited Marseilles and Milan, engaged in a crucial investigation into a reallocation between the Italian and American Mafia families of spheres of influence in the narcotics trade.
A few days after his return he went as usual at exactly eight o’clock for his morning cup of coffee in the Bar Lux, a few yards from his home. He was alone as ever. Boris never bothered with bodyguards, as confident as always in his knowledge of the ways of the enemy who opposed him. He shook hands with one or two of the regulars, finished his coffee and turned to go. Only one of the twenty odd men in the bar at the time would admit to having seen what happened next. ‘I noticed a man who was trembling,’ the witness said. ‘He was white in the face. He must be ill, I thought. My first impulse was to offer to help. When the commissario went towards the door the man followed him. He drew a pistol and shot him three times in the neck. Signor Giuliano fell face downwards, and the man then shot him four more times in the back.’
Colonel Giuseppe Russo, the man from Milan who did all the wrong things and could therefore expect to take the consequences, died with his bodyguard in an ambush in July 1977. The assassination in the Bar Lux, of the man who had mastered all the intricate moves in the eternal chess game with the Mafia, took place only two years later, almost to the day.
Publisher’s Note 2003
Since these two epilogues, the law of attrition by the Mafia has continued.
Among many other atrocities, the most famous was committed in May 1992, when Judge Giovanni Falcone, his wife and three bodyguards were all killed by a two-thousand-pound car-bomb. In the judge’s biggest case, the maxi-trial of 1986–7 involving four hundred and seventy-six suspected mafiosi, all of the seven officials involved in investigations were murdered. Two months later Judge Paolo Borsellino, Chief Public Prosecutor of Palermo, was also killed by a car-bomb.
Index
Africa, 1
Agnello, Baron, 1
Agrigento, 1
Albano, Domenico, 1
Allegra, Dr Melchiore, 1, 2
Alliata, Prince, 1, 2
allies, and occupation of Sicily, 1
Alongi, 1
America see USA
Angrisani, Captain, 1
Aparo, Filadelfio, 1
Aprile, Finocchiaro, 1, 2
Axis forces, 1; see also fascism;
Mussolini, Benito
Badalamenti, Nunzio, 1
Badalamenti, Don Tanu, 1
Bagheria, 1
‘Bananas, Joe’ see Bonnano, Giuseppe
Barbaccia family, 1, 2, 3
Barcellona, 1
Bartolomeo, Carmelo, 1
Basile, Emanuele, 1
Benigno, Ludovico, 1
Biondi, Father, 1, 2
Bonnano, Giuseppe (‘Joe Bananas’), 1
Bontà, Don Paolino, 1
Bontà, Stefano, 1
Bonventre, John, 1
Bosio, Sebastiano, 1
Branca, General, 1
Brigate Rosse (The Red Brigades), 1
Brod, Colonel Max, 1
Busacca, Ciccio, 1
Caglia, Francesco, 1
Calandra, Maresciallo G., 1, 2, 3, 4; I Could Have Captured the
Bandit Giuliano, 1, 2
Caltagirone, 1
Calò, Don see Vizzini, Calogero
Caltanissetta, 1, 2
Calvi, Roberto, 1
Cammarata, Mount, 1, 2, 3
Camporeale, 1, 2
Candela, Rosario, 1
Candido, Renato, 1
Canepa, Antonio, 1, 2
Cannada, Angelo, 1, 2
Capitano gang, 1
Capone, Al, 1
Carcaci, Duke of, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Carletini, 1
Carmelo, Father, 1
Carnelutti, Francesco, 1
Castellamare, 1
Cassino, Monte, 1
Castelvetrano, 1, 2
Catania, 1
Cerda, 1, 2
Chinnici, Rocco, Judge, 1
Christian Democractic Party, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Ciaculli, 1
Cimino, Marcello, 1
Cinisi, 1
Coccia, Ivo, 1
Collura, Vincenzo, 1
Commission of Enquiry (‘Anti-Mafia’ Commission), 1, 2
Communist Party, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Copolla, Frank, 1
Corleone, 1, 2, 3
Cosa Nostra, 1, 2; see also Mafia
Costa, Gaetano, 1
Cottone, Antonio, 1
Cracolici family, 1
Crime in America see Kefauver, Estes
Criscione, Pasquale, 1
Cuccia, Ciccio, 1, 2, 3
Cucinella, 1
Cumeta, Monte, 1
Cusumano, 1
D’Agate, Giulio, 1
D’Agostino (Sicilian murderer), 1
D’Aleo, Mario, 1
Dalla Chiesa, Carlo Alberto, 1
D’Amico, Salvatore, 1
De Gaspari, Alcide, 1, 2
De Maria (mafioso lawyer), 1, 2, 3
De Mauro, Mauro, 1, 2
Di Giovanni, Father, 1, 2
Di Peri family, 1, 2
Di Peri, Serafino, 1
Di Pisa, Calcedonio, 1
Di Stefano, Maresciallo, 1
Dolci, Danilo, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; To Feed the Hungry, 1;
Waste, 1
Don Calò see Vizzini, Calogero
drugs, trade in, 1, 2
emigration, 1
fascism, 1, 2, 3, 4; see also
Mussolini, Benito
Fava, Giuseppe, 1, 2
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 1
Ferreri, Salvatore (‘Fra Diavolo’), 1, 2, 3, 4
Ferro, Vito Cascio, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
feudalism, 1, 2
Ficuzza, Bosco, 1, 2
Filippi, Mgr (Archbishop of Monreale), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Filippone, Giovanni (‘Zu Tanu’), 1
Fleres, Cavalier Santos, 1, 2
‘Fra Diavolo’ see Ferreri, Salvatore
Francese, Mario, 1
Fratuzzi family, 1
freemasons, 1
Galletti, Anna, 1
Gallo, Concetto, 1, 2, 3, 4– 5, 6
Gandolfo (mafioso), 1
Garibaldi, Giuseppe, 1, 2, 3
Gela, 1, 2, 3, 4
Geloso, Cusumano, 1
Genco Russo, Giuseppe, 1
Genovese, Giovanni, 1, 2
Genovese, Vito, 1, 2
Gentile, Nicola, 1, 2, 3
Ghibellina, 1
Giaccone, Paolo, 1
Giacinto, Fra’, 1
Giarre, 1
Giornale di Sicilia (newspaper), 1
Giuliano
, Boris, 1, 2
Giuliano, Salvatore (the bandit): and police, 1, 2;
Separatists and, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5;
background and early career, 1;
as reformer, 1;
as bandit, 1, 2, 3;
and massacre, 1, 2;
death, 1, 2
Godrano, 1
Grado, Dr, 1
Grasso, Mommo, 1
heroin see drug trade
I Could Have Captured the Bandit Giuliano see Calandra, Maresciallo
G.
Impastato, Giuseppe, 1
Italy, 1
Jevolella, Vito, 1
Johnson, Lyndon, B., President, 1
Juin, General, 1
Kefauver, Estes, Crime in America, 1
Kennedy, John F., President, 1
L’Ora (newspaper), 1, 2, 3
La Barbera, Angelo, 1, 2
La Barbera, Salvatore, 1, 2
La Motta, Baron Stefan, 1, 2
La Torre, Pio, 1, 2
Lampedusa, Giuseppe di, 1, 2, 3;
The Leopard, 1, 2, 3, 4
Le Ore (journal), 1
Lentini, 1
Leopard, The see Lampedusa, Giuseppe di
Lercara, Friddi, 1
Lewis, Norman, 1, 2, 3;
The Honoured Society, 1, 2
Li Causi, Girolamo, 1
Liggio, Luciano, 1, 2, 3, 4
Lipari, Giuseppe, 1
Lo Bianco, Maresciallo, 1
London, 1
Lorello family, 1, 2
Lottò (mafioso), 1
Luca, Ugo, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Luciano, ‘Lucky’, 1, 2, 3
Lumia, Domiano, 1
Madonia, 1, 2
Madrid, 1, 2
Mafia, the: origins and history, 1, 2, 3; activities, 1;
organisation, 1, 2;
and politics, 1, 2, 3, 4;
and landholdings, 1, 2;
‘New Mafia’, 1, 2;
in Corleone, 1;
and Giuliano, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5;
and Ucciardone prison, 1;
internal struggles, 1, 2;
dealings, 1, 2;
monks and, 1;
and ‘Anti-Mafia’ Commission of Enquiry, 1, 2, 3;
in Palermo, 1;
Cimino on, 1
Malta, Salvatore, 1, 2
Mansueto, Simone, 1
Manzella, Cesare, 1
Marchesano, 1
Marotta, 1
Marsala, 1
Marseilles, 1, 2
Mattarella, Bernardo, 1, 2
Mattarella, Piersanti, 1
Mazzarino, convent of, 1
Messana, Ettore, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Messina, 1, 2
Messina, Pietro, 1
Messina, Rosa, 1
Miceli, Nino, 1, 2, 3, 4
Michel, Pierre, 1
Milan, 1, 2
Minasola, Nitto, 1, 2
Mistretta, 1
Molinelli, Joseph, 1
monarchists, 1, 2; see also separatist movement
Monreale, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Monroe, Major, 1
Montalto, Giacomo Ciaccio, Judge, 1
Montelepre, 1, 2, 3, 4
Mori, Cesare, 1, 2, 3
Mussolini, Benito, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Mussomeli, 1, 2
NATO, 1
Navarra, Michele, 1, 2, 3, 4
Nicoletti, 1
Nicosia, 1
Pafundi, Donato, 1
Palermo: allies take, 1; aristocrats in, 1;
fascists in, 1;
Don Vito in, 1;
life in, 1;
Mafia operations in, 1, 2, 3, 4;
Don Calò in, 1;
Giuliano in, 1;
informers in, 1;
Pisciotta in, 1, 2;
L’Ora and, 1;
La Torre, 1
Palma di Montechiaro, 1
Pampiglione, Silvio, 1
Pantaleone, Michele, 1
Paolantonio, Colonel, 1, 2
Partinico, 1
Passalacqua, 1
Patton, General George, 1
Perenze, Captain Antonio, 1, 2, 3
Perugia, 1
Petralia, 1
Petrosino, Jack, 1
Piana dei Greci, 1, 2
Pianelli brothers, 1
Piazza Armerina, 1
Pio, Padre, 1
Pisciotta, Gaspare, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Pizzuta, Monte, 1
Polacco, Giovanni, 1
Ponzio, 1, 2
Popular Front, 1, 2, 3
Porchera, Maresciallo, 1
Portella della Ginestra, 1, 2
Provenzano, 1
Ragusa, Lieutenant, 1, 2
Red Brigades, the see Brigate Rosse Reina, Michele, 1
religious devotion, 1
Riccioli, Angelo, 1
Riccobono family, 1
Rizza, Jacopo, 1
Rizzo, 1
Rizzotto, Placido, 1
Roman Catholic Church, 1, 2; see also religious devotion
Russo, Angelo, 1
Russo, Giuseppe, 1, 2, 3
Sacco, Vanni, 1, 2, 3
Salemi, Colonel, 1, 2
San Cipirrello, 1
San Giuseppe Jato, 1, 2, 3
San Mauro, 1
Santa Maria di Gesù (convent), 1
Santo Stefano, 1
Santo Stefano monastery, 1
Sapienza, Giuseppe, 1
Scaglione, Pietro, 1, 2
Scarlata family, 1
Scelba, Mario: signature on pass, 1, 2;
Minister of Interior, 1;
and massacre, 1;
holds press conference, 1;
and death of Giuliano, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Sciara, 1
Sciascia, Leonardo, 1
Sciortino, Pasquale, 1, 2, 3, 4
separatist movement, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6;
see also Giuliano, Salvatore; monarchists, the Sindona, Michele, 1
socialists, 1, 2, 3
Solazzo family, 1
Stern, Michael, 1
Stoppaglieri family, 1
Tagliavia, 1
Tandoy, 1
Tasca, Lucio, 1, 2
Task Force Report on Organized Crime, 1
Terranova, Antonio, 1, 2, 3
Terranova, Cesare, 1, 2
The Honoured Society see Lewis, Norman
Times, The (newspaper), 1
To Feed the Hungry see Dolci, Danilo
Tommaso, Natale, 1
Trabia, Princess Giulia Florio Dontes di, 1
Trabona, Salvatore (‘Rickets’), 1, 2
trade unions, 1
Trapani, 1
Turi (mafioso), 1
Umberto II, King of Italy, 1
USA, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Vallelunga, 1
Varsalona, Paolo, 1
vendetta, 1, 2, 3, 4
Verdiani, Caro, Inspector–General, 1, 2, 3, 4
Verga, Giovanni, 1
Viale Lazio, 1
Villabate, 1
Villalba: and allied landings, 1; elections in, 1;
Don Calò and, 1, 2, 3;
and Mafia domination, 1
Viterbo, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Vittorio Emanuele, King of Italy, 1
Vizzini, Calogero (Don Calò): and allied landings in Sicily, 1, 2;
and Lottò 1;
and Luciano, 1;
and fascists, 1;
asserting Mafia unity, 1;
and landholdings, 1, 2, 3;
and Mafia politics, 1;
nature of his rule, 1;
background and early career, 1;
and Mussolini, 1;
and postwar politics, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5;
and bandits, 1, 2;
death, 1
Washington, 1
Waste see Dolci, Danilo
World War II, 1
About the Author
Norman Lewis’s early childhood, as recalled in Jackdaw Cake (1985), was spent partly with his Welsh spirit
ualist parents in Enfield, North London, and partly with his eccentric aunts in Wales. Forgoing a place at university for lack of funds, he used the income from wedding photography and various petty trading to finance travels to Spain, Italy and the Balkans, before being approached by the Colonial Office to spy for them with his camera in Yemen.
He moved to Cuba in 1939, but was recalled for duty in the Intelligence Corps during the Second World War. It was from this that Norman Lewis’s masterpiece, Naples ’44, emerged, a resurrection of his wartime diary only finally published in 1978.
Before that came a number of novels and travel books, notably A Dragon Apparent (1951) and Golden Earth (1952), both of which were best sellers in their day. His novel The Volcanoes Above Us, based on personal experiences in Central America, sold six million copies in paperback in Russia and The Honoured Society (1964), a non-fiction study of the Sicilian Mafia, was serialised in six instalments by the New Yorker.
Norman Lewis wrote thirteen novels and thirteen works of nonfiction, mostly travel books, but he regarded his life’s major achievement to be the reaction to an article written by him entitled Genocide in Brazil, published in the Sunday Times in 1968. This led to a change in the Brazilian law relating to the treatment of Indians, and to the formation of Survival International, the influential international organisation which campaigns for the rights of tribal peoples. He later published a very successful book called The Missionaries (1988) which is set amongst the Indians of Central and Latin America.
More recent books included Voices of the Old Sea (1984), Goddess in the Stones: Travels in India (1991), An Empire of the East: Travels in Indonesia (1993) and The World the World (1996), which concluded his autobiography, as well as collections of pieces in The Happy Ant Heap (1998) and Voyage by Dhow (2001). With In Sicily (2002) he returned to his much-loved Italy, and in 2003 his last book, A Tomb in Seville, was published.
