A Small Town in Sicily

With a lot of murders

You might be forgiven for thinking that not much happens in any of the towns along the edge of Mount Etna, such as Bronte and Randazzo, which are served by the train from Catania called the Circumetnea, which supposedly runs round Etna, but in fact does not, but stops at Randazzo. Bronte is uninteresting, even if it is the fiefdom that Lord Nelson, created Duke of Bronte, once owned but never visited. One of the towns, which I have never visited, is Adrano, which seems attractive but is now in the news again for all the wrong reasons.

On the 16th June 2016, Nicola Ciadamidaro, a Mafioso, was murdered near Adrano, in uniquely horrible circumstances. He had been in jail until 2014, and left the town for a while, only to return. On the day of his death he was riding his scooter to the gym when he was nabbed by several men, shoved into a minivan, and then taken to an isolated place in the countryside where he was tortured and then beheaded. This was not an execution, that is a ‘clean’ killing designed to get rid of someone, but rather a revenge killing, designed to punish the victim and intimidate his fiends and family.

What had Ciadamidaro done? According to pentito Giovanni La Rosa, Ciadamidaro was killed as revenge for the triple murder of Alfio Rosano, Daniele Crimi e Alfio Finocchiaro, which happened on 27th July 2006 at Bronte. The order for the death of Ciadamidaro was given by the leaders of the Santangelo clan, namely Gianni Santangelo, known as Giannetto (‘little Johnny’), Nicolò Rosano, Antonino Bulla and Salvatore Crimi. Ciadamidaro’s murder was what was called a lupara bianca, a ‘white shotgun’, in other words, his body was not destined to be found, and indeed was not. We only know the details of what was done to him thanks to the testimony of the pentito. That might be problematic in some jurisdictions, but under Italy’s Mafia legislation, people can be sent down on the words of a pentito, who are the single most effective weapon in the hands of the state. Eighteen people are now under arrest.

Adrano is quite a small place, with a population of 35, 767, but, my goodness, the goings on. The three guilty men who killed Ciadamidaro, along with one other, are responsible for other murders too. It is all here in a sensationalist article which I have tried to render into less sensational English.

“Revenge and retaliation were the motives behind the two murders that took place in Adrano in 2008, that of Francesco Rosano and that of Alfio Neri, and solved today with four people who have ended up in prison: Antonino Bulla (born in 1983); Salvatore Crimi, known as Turi u cani (1986); Alessio Sampieri (1985) and Gianni Santangelo (1983). All four are believed to belong to the Santangelo-Taccuni mafia clan. “These are two episodes to be traced back to the dynamics of organised crime in Adrano,” reads the order for the application for their arrest signed by the judge Luigi Barone. A turning point came 15 years after the facts through the stories told to the investigators by some former members of the mafia who have become pentiti: in particular Vincenzo Rosano (brother of one of the victims) and his two sons Francesco and Valerio, and Giovanni La Rosa.

“The murder of Francesco Rosano: Bulla, Crimi and Santangelo - together with a fourth man not yet identified - were arrested by the police for the murder of Francesco Rosano, known as Franco Palazzo. It was January 18, 2008 when the victim's body was found inside his car – a blue Seat Toledo – parked in Via Bruno (near the victim's house). His lifeless body was riddled with 14 bullets. This crime was to avenge the triple murder of Alfio Rosano, Daniele Crimi and Alfio Finocchiaro committed by three friends of the victim, the brothers Antonino and Alfredo Liotta and Vincenzo Mazzone. "We knew this person had to be killed because he was a spy," admits La Rosa. In short, Rosano was in cahoots with the rival Adrano clan (that of the Scalisi). “He was a relay runner”, La Rosa continues, reporting the belief that Rosano took information back and forth between the clans. “After the murder, they burned the motorbike (the vehicle with which the crime was allegedly committed), they threw away the guns and vomited. They felt like throwing up because it was their first time.” The perpetrators of the crime are described by Valerio Rosano as “a shooting group nicknamed i carusi, or the boys in Sicilian dialect because they were always armed and even kept their guns inside the glove compartment of a Honda moped.” And they were always ready to use them.

The Murder of Alfio Neri: For the murder of Alfio Neri, known as ‘Grated Pasta’, Bulla, Crimi, Samperi and Santangelo have ended up in prison. The victim was found dead around midday on 15th August 2018. His lifeless body, struck by six gunshots, was found lying on the side of a road in Adrano where he fell after being hit while he was on his scooter. The bullets were fired from medium range and hit and killed him while he was trying to escape. The murder was immediately attributed to revenge by individuals belonging to the Santangelo clan. In fact, the victim, despite not being affiliated, was notoriously close to the group of Francesco Coco, an important member of the rival Scalisi clan. Two years earlier, in May 2006, Neri had been the victim of another ambush: on that occasion he had been wounded in the shoulder while the man who was with him, Coco, was shot in the leg. “Behind the killing of Neri,” the investigating judge wrote in the order, “there was the conflict with the Scalisi clan of Adrano and the retaliation for some criminal acts committed by Francesco Coco - Neri's associate - against the Santangelo clan.” From the testimonies of collaborators of justice it emerged that Neri “was killed because they thought he was a bodyguard and associate of Francesco Coco. He was someone who brought them intelligence.” These are the words of Francesco Rosano. To commit the crime, the clan required his participation. His father Vincenzo, who at first formally consented, then told investigators “I told my son not to be found. When they came looking for him on the morning of August 15, I said he was at the seaside in Sant'Alessio.”

Confused? I certainly am. Adrano is a small place, but divided by two gangs, both of whom are addicted to deadly force. It has seen rather a lot of murders for a small place, and they all seem to be revenge killings. What a story! Now that arrests have been made, one hopes that the quiet town will be just that - quiet, and for some time to come.