VITO CASCIO FERRO

'Vito Cascio Ferro' (January 22, 1862 - 1943), known as Don Vito, he was a prominent Sicilian mafioso who also operated for a time in the United States, where he was a "pioneer" of sorts in the American Mafia.
Cascio Ferro was born in Bisacquino in the province of Palermo and worked in his early adulthood as a revenue collector, which provided a cover for his protection racket. He traveled to New York City in 1901, where he became associated with an extortion ring known as "La Mano Nera" (The Black Hand). In 1909, he was arrested on suspicion of murder by New York police officer Giuseppe "Joe" Petrosino, a pioneer in fighting organized crime. Cascio Ferro was acquitted, however, and returned to Sicily, where he became increasingly involved with the Sicilian Mafia. Petrosino was murdered in Sicily in 1909 while there on New York police business. Cascio Ferro was arrested for the murder but released after an associate provided an alibi; however, he later told other crime figures that he had killed Petrosino, a claim which helped propel him into the position of capo di tutti capi (boss of bosses).
Cascio Ferro was arrested sixty-nine times for various crimes but always acquitted. After his seventieth arrest, however, he was convicted by Benito Mussolini's anti-mob prefect Cesare Mori and sentenced to fifty years in prison. Cascio Ferro was killed in 1943 during an Allied air raid in Palermo while serving his sentence.

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References

Marino, Giuseppe Carlo (2001). ''I Padrini''. Rome: Newton & Compton.

External links

★ Biography of Vito Cascio Ferro on Gangrule

★ Mafia-International.com - Vito Cascio Ferro