Timeline Sicily
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11,000BC A Paleolithic burial in
San Teodoro Cave revealed an arrowhead embedded in the pelvis bone
of an adult female.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.24)
900-800BC Sican and Siculian farmers settled the
valleys of central Sicily.
(WSJ, 6/9/99, p.A24)
729BCE Greek colonists settled in Catania, Sicily.
(SFC, 6/2/03, p.A11)
c600BC The Greeks established city-states along
the southern coast of Italy and the island of Sicily. They
contributed letters to the Roman alphabet, religious concepts and
artistic talent as well as mythology.
(eawc, p.8)
c525BC Acroliths, or partial statues, of Olympian
deities were later found in Morgantina in central Sicily that were
made by Greeks and dated to this time.
(SFC, 4/4/98, p.A13)
c450BC The golden plate known as the “Phiale
Mesomphalos” was made. In 1998 it was valued at $1.2 million and
held by US Customs.
(WSJ, 10/8/98, p.W14)
211BC Roman legions overran the
Greek settlement of Morgantina.
(SFC, 4/4/98, p.A13)
104BC Rome faced a slave
retaliation in Sicily.
(eawc, p.15)
73BC Rome faced a 2nd slave
uprising in Sicily.
(eawc, p.15)
0AD Central Sicily was thick
with native forests that were cut down by the Romans in order to
grow wheat on large estates.
(WSJ, 6/9/99, p.A24)
c200-400AD The Roman Villa del Casale dated to
this time. It was decorated with over 4,200 sq. yards of floor
mosaics and was later placed on the UNESCO world heritage list.
(WSJ, 6/9/99, p.A24)
902 Aug 1, The Aghlabid rulers
of Ifriqiyah (modern day Tunisia) captured Taormina, Sicily.
(HN, 8/1/98)
1000-1100 Sicily was in the possession of the
Fatimid caliph of Cairo.
(Econ, 12/20/03, p.68)
1072 Jan 10, Robert Guiscard
and his brother Roger took Palermo in Sicily.
(HN, 1/10/99)
1154 Feb 26, Rogier II Guiscard
(60), King of Sicily (1101-54), died. William the bad succeeded his
father, Roger the II.
(SC, 2/26/02)(HN, 2/26/99)
1156 May 28, Battle at
Brindisi: King William of Sicily beat a Byzantine fleet.
(MC, 5/28/02)
1194 Feb 20, Tancredo of Lecce,
King of Sicily, died.
(MC, 2/20/02)
1194 Dec 26, Frederick II,
German Emperor (1212-1250) and King of Sicily, was born in Lesi,
Italy.
(HN, 12/26/98)(MC, 12/26/01)
1197 Sep 29, Emperor Henry VI
died in Messina, Sicily.
(HN, 9/29/98)
1266 Feb 26, Charles d’Anjou,
king of the two Sicilies, defeated Manfred (33), in the Battle of
Benevento. Manfred, the bastard son of Emperor Frederik II, king of
Sicily, was killed.
(PCh, 1992, p.114)(SC, 2/26/02)
1282 Mar 30, Furious
inhabitants of Palermo attacked French occupation force in the
"Sicilian Vespers." The Mafia appeared in Sicily to revolt against
French rule after a drunken soldier attacked a young woman on her
wedding day.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)(MC, 3/30/02)
1282 Mar 31, The great massacre
of the French in Sicily, "The Sicilian Vespers," came to an end.
[see Aug 31,1303]
(HN, 3/31/99)
1282 Apr 28, Villagers in
Palermo led a revolt against French rule in Sicily.
(HN, 4/28/98)
1303 Aug 31, The War of Vespers
in Sicily ended with an agreement between Charles of Valois, who
invaded the country, and Frederick, the ruler of Sicily.
(HN, 8/31/98)
1347 Oct, Sailors from Genoa
arrived in Messina, Sicily. Plague had broken out earlier among the
troops of the Kipchak Khan, who was besieging the Black Sea port of
Kaffa. He catapulted dead bodies over the city walls. When Italian
trading vessels in the harbor returned to Genoa, the carried the
plague to Europe. The plague, an infectious fever caused by the
bacillus Yersinia pestis, appears in several varieties: bubonic
(which involves swelling of the lymph glands), pneumonic (which
involves the lungs) and septicemia (which involves severe infection
in the bloodstream).
(SFEM, 10/12/97, p.31)(HNQ, 1/20/01)(SSFC,
3/6/05, p.B4)
1347-1350 The Black Death: A Genoese trading post
in the Crimea was besieged by an army of Kipchaks from Hungary and
Mongols from the East. The latter brought with them a new form of
plague, Yersinia pestis. Infected dead bodies were catapulted into
the Genoese town. One Genoese ship managed to escape and brought the
disease to Messina, Sicily. The disease quickly became an epidemic.
It moved over the next few years to northern Italy, North Africa,
France, Spain, Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, Germany, the Low
countries, England, Scandinavia and the Baltic. There were lesser
outbreaks in many cities for the next twenty years. An estimated 25
million died in Europe and economic depression followed. In 2005
John Kelly authored “The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the
Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time.”
(NG, 5/88, p.678)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)(SSFC,
3/6/05, p.B1)(SFC, 10/13/11, p.A6)
1366 Oct 12, King Frederick III
of Sicily forbade decorations on synagogues.
(MC, 10/12/01)
1416 Apr 2, Ferdinand I (52)
the Justified, king of Aragon and Sicily, died.
(MC, 4/2/02)
1428 Feb 5, King Alfonso V
ordered Sicily's Jews to convert to Catholicism.
(MC, 2/5/02)
1452 Mar 10, Ferdinand II, the
Catholic King of Aragon (1479-1516) and Sicily (1468-1516), was
born. He bankrolled Columbus and expelled Jews.
(WUD, 1994 p.524)(MC, 3/10/02)
1492 Dec 31, 100,000 Jews were
expelled from Sicily.
(MC, 12/31/01)
1493 Jan 12, This was the last
day for all Jews to leave Sicily.
(MC, 1/12/02)
1609 Caravaggio (1571-1610)
completed his "Adoration of the Shepherds," during a brief stay in
Messina, Sicily.
(AP, 10/7/09)
1669 Mar 11, Mount Etna in
Sicily erupted killing 15,000. [see Mar 25]
(MC, 3/12/02)
1669 Mar 25, Mount Etna,
Sicily, erupted and destroyed Nicolosi, killing 20,000. [see Mar 11]
(MC, 3/25/02)
1693 Jan 11, Sicily’s Mt. Etna
erupted.
(MC, 1/11/02)
1740 Feb 3, Charles de Bourbon,
King of Naples, invited the Jews to return to Sicily.
(MC, 2/3/02)
1808 Aug 1, Joachim Murat
(1767-1815), French marshal and Napoleon's brother in law, became
king of Naples (1808-1815) and Sicily.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joachim_Murat)
1848 Jan 9, A people's uprising
took place in Palermo, Sicily.
(MC, 1/9/02)
1860 May 11, Giuseppe Garibaldi
landed at Marsala, Sicily. He began a series of campaigns that
politically unified most of the Italian peninsula in 1861.
(HN, 5/11/99)(ON, 10/06, p.7)
1868 Nov 28, Mt. Etna in Sicily
erupted violently.
(HN, 11/28/98)
1892 Mar 9, Frank Puglia, actor
(Black Orchid, Jungle Book), was born in Sicily, Italy.
(MC, 3/9/02)
1896 Nov 11, Charles "Lucky"
Luciano, NYC Mafia gangster, was born in Sicily.
(MC, 11/11/01)
1896 Dec 23, Giuseppe Tomasi di
Lampedusa, Sicilian writer (The Leopard), was born.
(MC, 12/23/01)
1905 Jan 18, Joseph Bonanno
(d.2002), later NYC mafia boss, was born in Castellmare del Golfo,
Sicily.
(SSFC, 5/12/02, p.A23)
1908 Dec 28, Some
70,000-100,000 people died in the Messina earthquake in Sicily. The
government hired a number of steamships, including the Florida, to
ship survivors to America.
(WUD, 1994, p.899)(WSJ, 2/8/99,
p.A21)(http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/eqlists/eqsmosde.html)
1930 Sep 11, The Stromboli
volcano in Sicily threw 2-ton basaltic rocks 2 miles.
(MC, 9/11/01)
1943 Apr 30, The British
submarine HMS Seraph dropped “the man who never was," a dead man
(Welsh laborer Glyndwr Michael) was planted with false invasion
plans, into the Mediterranean off the coast of Spain. Operation
Mincemeat was based on a 1939 suggestion by Lt. Commander Ian
Fleming, and was used to cover Britain’s invasion of Sicily. Details
of the operation were kept secret until 1953 when Ewen Montagu
published “The Man Who Never Was.”
(ON, 10/2010, p.4)
1943 Jul 5, US invasion fleet
(96 ships) sailed to Sicily.
(MC, 7/5/02)
1943 Jul 9, American and
British forces made an amphibious landing on Sicily. The 'man who
never was' pulled off one of the greatest deceptions in military
history--after his death. In April Britain’s Operation Mincemeat had
landed the dead body of an itinerant Welsh laborer, Glyndwr Michael,
disguised as a Major Martin, on the shore of Spain near Huelva.
False papers on the body led the Germans to believe the allies would
attack Greece and Sardinia rather than Sicily. The idea had been
originally devised in 1939 as one of 51 submitted by Lt. Commander
Ian Fleming. Operation Mincemeat was kept secret until 1953, the
same year that “Casino Royale,” Fleming’s first James Bond novel was
published.
(ON, 10/10, p.5)
1943 Jul 10, US and British
forces completed their amphibious landing in Sicily in Operation
Husky.
(AP, 7/10/97)(HN, 7/10/01)(MC, 7/10/02)
1943 Jul 18, There was a
British assault on Catania, Sicily.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1943 Jul 22, The American
Seventh Army forces led by Gen. George S. Patton captured Palermo,
Sicily. Gen Patton moved his troops across Sicily through August.
(TMC,1994,p.1943)(WSJ,12/8/95,p.A-14)(HN,7/22/98)
1943 Aug 17, The Allied
conquest of Sicily was completed as U.S. and British forces entered
Messina.
(AP internet, 8/17/97)(HN, 8/17/98)
1944 The US Army handed over
the reins of power to local "anti-fascists" who were in fact Mafia
leaders.
(SFC, 5/5/99, p.A13)
1950 Jul 5, Salvatore Giuliano
(b.1922), Sicilian bandit, was shot by police in Castelvetrano.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Giuliano)
1969 Oct 18, The painting
"Nativity" by Caravaggio was stolen from the Oratory of San Lorenzo
in Palermo, Sicily. Peter Watson, English novelist, later wrote "The
Caravaggio Conspiracy," an account of his 1981-1982 attempt to
recover the work.
(www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2008/dec/22/caravaggio-art-mafia-italy)(WSJ,
12/11/96, p.A20)
1970 Jul 18, Arthur Brown
(b.1942), English rock singer, was arrested for stripping on stage
in Palermo, Sicily.
(www.godofhellfire.co.uk/60s.htm)
1971 Apr 5, In Sicily, Italy,
Mount Etna began a series of eruptions.
(http://boris.vulcanoetna.com/ETNA_erupt2.html)
1972 May 5, Alitalia’s DC-8
Flight 112 crashed west of Palermo, Sicily; killing 115.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alitalia)
1978-1994 A power struggle raged between Salvatore
“toto” Riina of Corleone and Gaetano “Tanu” Badalamenti of Cinisi.
The “mattanza” killed an estimated 12-14 thousand over 16 years.
(SFC, 1/8/01, p.A4)
1980 Jun 27, A DC-9 crashed
near Sicily and 81 people were killed. In 1999 it was reported that
a fight by warplanes led to the crash and coverup charges were filed
against Italian military officials.
(WSJ, 9/2/99,
p.A1)(www.emergency-management.net/avi_acc_1979_1989.htm)
1986 Feb 10, The largest
Mafia trial in history, with 474 defendants, opened in Palermo,
Italy. The trial ended on December 16, 1987, almost two years after
it commenced. Of the 474 defendants, both those present and those
tried in absentia, 360 were convicted. 2,665 years of prison
sentences were shared out between the guilty, not including the life
sentences. A total of 114 defendants were acquitted.
(HN, 2/10/97)(www.answers.com/topic/maxi-trial)
1988 The film “Cinema Paradiso”
by Giuseppe Tornatore was about life in a Sicilian town following WW
II.
(WSJ, 8/7/98, p.W4)
1991 Aug 29, Libero
Grassi, Italian underwear manufacturer, anti mafia, was gunned down
in Palermo.
(www.bestofsicily.com/mag/art105.htm)
1992 May 23, In Sicily
anti-Mafia investigator Giovannii Falcone was murdered on a highway
outside Palermo. Falcone’s wife and 3 bodyguards were also killed.
Sicilian politician Salvo Lima was also murdered. Anti-Mafia
investigator Paolo Borsellino was killed in another blast some
months later. In 1997 Pietro Aglieri, aka "U Signurinu" (The Little
Gentleman), was arrested for involvement in all three murders. 24
mobsters were convicted in the murder in 1997, including Leoluca
Bagarella.
(SFC, 9/27/97, p.A12)(SFEC, 6/7/98,
p.A23)(http://giovanni-falcone.foosquare.com/)
1993 Jan 8, Sicilian journalist
Beppe Alfano (b.1945) was killed by the Mafia.
(SSFC, 12/19/10,
p.D3)(http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beppe_Alfano)
1993 Jan 15, In Sicily
Salvatore "The Beast" Riina was arrested. "Toto" Riina, the Sicilian
boss of bosses, was arrested for his role in the murder of
prosecutor Giovanni Falcone. Bernardo Provenzano was considered to
have taken over as boss of the Sicilian Mafia following Riina’s
arrest. Provenzano’s right-hand man was Mariano Troia.
(USAT, 9/16/98,
p.14A)(www.answers.com/topic/salvatore-riina)(SFC, 1/22/00, p.A11)
1993 May 9, Pope John Paul II
made an anti-Mafia speech in Agrigento, Sicily.
(www.cbc.ca/news/obit/pope/timeline.html)
1993 In Catania a “man of
honor” reportedly ordered the strangling of 4 boys, aged 12-14, for
the robbery of his mother’s handbag.
(SFC, 9/3/97, p.C2)
1993 Rev. Giuseppe Puglisi
(56), a spokesman against organized crime, was shot in the back of
the neck while on the doorstep of his home. In 1999 Giuseppe
Graviano, a Mafia boss, was convicted and sentenced to life in
prison for ordering the murder.
(SFC, 10/6/99, p.C16)
1997 Sep 3, It was reported
that Catania (pop. 378,000) has some 100 gangland killings per year.
(SFC, 9/3/97, p.C2)
1998 Jul 11, It was reported
that fires in southern Italy and Sicily burned 2,500 acres of forest
and grassland.
(SFC, 7/11/98, p.A8)
1998 Sep 15, Italian police
arrested Mariano Troia (65), one of the Mafia’s most notorious
figures, near Palermo.
(USAT, 9/16/98, p.14A)
1999 Oct 23, In Palermo, Italy,
Giulio Andreotti (80), 7 times prime minister, was acquitted of
charges that he was the Sicilian Mafia's protector in Rome.
(SFEC, 10/24/99, p.A17)
2001 Jan 8, The Mafia
Archipelago under the new Cosa Nuova was estimated to have annual
earnings of $30 billion.
(SFC, 1/8/01, p.A4)
2001 Jun 10, Silvio Berlusconi
(64), known as Il Cavaliere, became premier for a 2nd time and
formed his Cabinet. He promised a 100-day revolution to transform
the economy. All 61 single-member constituencies in Sicily went to
the center-right.
(SFC, 6/11/01, p.A8)(SFC, 9/7/01, p.A15)(Econ,
3/25/06, p.56)
2002 Jun 7, It was reported
that Italy had committed to a $4.3 billion project for a suspension
bridge linking Sicily over the 2-mile-wide straits of Messina.
(WSJ, 6/7/02, p.A1)(Econ, 11/22/03, p.75)
2002 Jul 20, In northeastern
Sicily a passenger train derailed and apparently crashed into an
abandoned house, killing at least eight people and injuring some 30
others.
(AP, 7/21/02)
2002 Sep, In Sicily the
strongest earthquake in 20 years caused some $500 million in damage.
(SFC, 9/14/02, p.A20)
2002 Oct 27, In Sicily Mount
Etna began spewing thick clouds of ash and magma.
(AP, 10/28/02)
2002 Nov 19, Vito Ciancimino
(b.1924), former mayor of Palermo and leading Mafioso tied to the
Corleonese clan, died while under house arrest. In 2006 Francesco
Zummo faced charges of laundering money to Monaco on behalf of
Ciancimino.
(Econ, 2/18/06,
p.70)(www.centroimpastato.it/php/crono.php3?month=11&year=2002)
2003 May 2, In eastern Sicily
Giuseppe Leotta (42), a disgruntled worker, opened fire with a
handgun in the Aci Castello town hall, killing 5 people. He fled and
then killed himself.
(AP, 5/2/03)
2004 Feb, Experts were
dispatched to the village of Canneto di Caronia, Sicily, following a
series of mysterious fires that charred dozens of objects.
(SFC, 2/21/04, p.A22)
2004 Jun 11, In Palermo,
Sicily, a court convicted and sentenced 30 top Sicilian mobsters to
life imprisonment after a 10-year trial covering a total of 77
murders.
(AP, 6/12/04)
2005 Jul 11, A judge ordered
the arrest and isolation of 3 senior officers of the Banco di
Credito Cooperativo Sofige Gela, a small bank on Sicily’s southern
coast. The had been under investigation for aiding and abetting the
Mafia.
(Econ, 7/16/05, p.72)
2005 Aug 6, A Tunis Air jet
carrying 35 passengers went down in the sea off the Sicilian coast,
and rescuers were on their way. 16 people were killed, while 23
survived. A bad fuel gauge on the Tuninter plane caused the crash.
On March 23, 2009, the Tunisian pilot who paused to pray instead of
taking emergency measures before crash-landing his plane, was
sentenced to 10 years in jail by an Italian court along with his
co-pilot. Another five employees of Tuninter, a subsidiary of
Tunisair, were sentenced to between 8 and 9 years in jail.
(AP, 8/5/05)(AP, 8/7/05)(WSJ, 9/8/05,
p.A1)(Reuters, 3/24/09)
2005 Oct 28, Police in Sicily
said they have arrested two suspected mobsters accused of plotting
to murder a judge with a car bomb.
(AP, 10/28/05)
2005 Dec 26, Character actor
Vincent Schiavelli (57), who appeared in scores of movies, including
"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Ghost," died at his home in
Sicily.
(AP, 12/26/05)
2006 Feb 10, In Sicily NATO
defense ministers sought to calm Islamic anger over cartoons of the
Prophet Muhammad at a counterterrorism meeting with Arab countries
including Israel, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan and
Mauritania.
(AP, 2/10/06)
2006 Apr 11, Bernardo
Provenzano (73), Italy's reputed No. 1 Mafia boss, was arrested at a
farmhouse in Sicily after frustrating investigators' efforts to
catch him during more than 40 years on the run.
(AP, 4/11/06)(SFC, 4/12/06, p.A7)
2006 May 21, Local authorities
said boats carrying more than 400 migrants have been intercepted off
Lampedusa over the past 48 hours, overwhelming the tiny island south
of Sicily.
(AP, 5/21/06)
2006 Aug 18, At least 10 people
died and as many as 40 were feared missing when a small boat packed
with illegal immigrants sank off Sicily, prompting Italy to call for
greater cooperation to fight human trafficking.
(Reuters, 8/19/06)
2006 Aug 19, Ten bodies were
found and about 20 other people were believed missing after a 2nd
boat in 2 days carrying would-be immigrants sank off the Italian
island of Lampedusa. Some 70 survivors were plucked from the water
after the boat sank, several of whom said there had been 120 people
on the boat.
(AP, 8/20/06)
2006 Sep 2, A small boat of
African migrants from Eritrea was intercepted off the coast of
Sicily. They said eight people died during their grueling trip. They
had left from Libya 10-12 days earlier.
(AP, 9/3/06)
2006 Nov 15, A court in
Palermo, Sicily, convicted 46 deputies, confidants and helpers of
jailed Mafia boss Bernardo Provenzano, many of whom helped the
former fugitive evade capture, and sentenced them to terms of up to
18 years in prison.
(AP, 11/16/06)
2007 Jan 15, A cargo ship and a
commuter hydrofoil collided near the entrance to the Sicilian port
of Messina, killing four people and leaving dozens of passengers
injured.
(AP, 1/16/07)
2007 May 30, In Sicily a
dedicated anti-Mafia economic crime unit began running under Antonio
Ingroia.
(Econ, 6/9/07, p.87)
2007 Aug 22, Wind-whipped fires
that have been ravaging parts of Sicily consumed a hotel near the
port city of Messina, killing at least two people.
(AP, 8/22/07)
2007 Nov 5, In Sicily Salvatore
Lo Piccolo (65), who magistrates believe is the Sicilian Mafia's new
"boss of bosses," was arrested after nearly a quarter of a century
on the run. He was arrested with his son, Sandro (32), and two other
Mafia bosses.
(Reuters, 11/5/07)
2007 Dec 3, Daniele Emmanuello
(43), the Mafia godfather of Gela, Sicily, was killed while trying
to escape police. He was considered one of Italy's 30 most dangerous
Mafia fugitives.
(AP, 12/3/07)(Econ, 12/8/07, p.62)
2007 Dec 4, In Italy Vincenzo
Santapaola, a suspected Mafia boss, and scores of alleged mobsters
were arrested during raids in Catania, Sicily. Police also seized
weapons and drugs, and found a book that listed extortion fees and
salaries of the people working for the family.
(AP, 12/4/07)
2008 Jan 16, Italian police
arrested scores of suspected mobsters in Palermo in the latest raid
on suspected Sicilian Mafia hideouts.
(AP, 1/16/08)
2008 Jan 18, A court in Palermo
convicted Sicily's Gov. Salvatore Cuffaro of helping a Mafia boss
and sentenced him to five years in prison.
(AP, 1/18/08)
2008 Nov 18, Italian
authorities in Sicily seized assets worth euro700 million ($885
million) from Giuseppe Grigoli, a supermarket chain owner, suspected
of letting the Mafia use his businesses to launder money.
(AP, 11/18/08)
2008 Dec 16, Italian police
backed by helicopters arrested almost 90 suspected mobsters and
thwarted a plan by the hobbled Sicilian Mafia to reconstitute itself
and form a new ruling commission to set strategy. Gaetano Lo Presti
(52), the alleged Mafia boss of a Palermo neighborhood, hanged
himself in jail, hours after he was arrested in a blitz against Cosa
Nostra.
(AP, 12/16/08)(AP, 12/17/08)
2009 Jan 24, In Italy some 600
migrants and refugees broke out of an overcrowded immigration
facility on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa to protest their
treatment. The migrants returned to the facility after several
hours.
(AP, 1/24/09)
2009 Apr 29, Youssef Magied
al-Molqui, one of the 4 Palestinians who hijacked the Achille Lauro
cruise ship and killed an American passenger in 1985, left prison in
Palermo, Sicily, after more than 23 years in jail. Ibrahim Fatayer
Abdelatif, another convicted Achille Lauro hijacker, was released
last year.
(AP, 4/30/09)
2009 Jun 16, Italian police
said they had arrested 13 people suspected of helping a top Mafia
fugitive hide, communicate with other mobsters and conduct his
business. Investigators said they are closing in on Matteo Messina
Denaro, a fugitive who is among a handful of mobsters vying to take
over the Sicilian Mafia. Most of the arrests were carried out in
Trapani, a city in Western Sicily that is the power base of Messina
Denaro.
(AP, 6/16/09)
2009 Jun 20, Italian police in
Sicily said they have arrested 14 people and placed more than 250
under investigation in the country's biggest sweep against Internet
child pornography.
(AP, 6/20/09)
2009 Oct 2, In Italy rivers of
mud unleashed by heavy rains overnight flooded parts of the Sicilian
city of Messina, leaving at least 22 people dead while sweeping away
cars and collapsing buildings. 40 people remained missing.
(AP, 10/3/09)(AP, 10/4/09)
2009 Nov 15, Italian police
captured convicted mobster Domenico Raccuglia, one of Sicily’s top
mafia fugitives, in an apartment near Trapani.
(SFC, 11/16/09, p.A2)
2010 Feb 2, The key witness in
a Mafia trial in Sicily told a court that a close ally of PM Silvio
Berlusconi had direct links with the former "Boss of Bosses" of the
Cosa Nostra.
(Reuters, 2/2/10)
2010 Mar 10, National police in
Rome said 20 warrants have been issued so far in Palermo and six
arrests have been made in the United States. Police say the
crackdown targeted a Palermo-based Mafia crime family, and those
named in the warrants are suspected of being mobsters and running
extortion, money laundering and drug trafficking operations.
(AP, 3/10/10)
2010 Oct 23, In Italy mafia
fugitive Gerlandino Messina (38) was nabbed by Carabinieri in
Favara, near Agrigento, his power base in Sicily. He had been on the
run for 11 years before being caught.
(AP, 10/23/10)
2011 Mar 19, Six Danish F-16
fighter jets landed at the US air base in Sigonella, Sicily, and a
half-dozen US aircraft arrived elsewhere as the military buildup
mounted in Italy for possible action against Libya.
(AP, 3/19/11)
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