Salvatore Giuliano

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Salvatore Giuliano(November 16,1922July 5,1950) was aSicilianpeasant. The

millennial subjugated social status of his class led him to become abanditandseparatistwho has been mythologised during his life and after his death.[1]He is commonly

compared to the legend ofRobin Hoodin popular culture, due to stories pertaining to him

helping the poor villagers in his area by taking from the rich.[2]

As a member of theSicilian Independentist Movement, Giuliano actively pursued efforts

into gaining independence for the island from theItalian government. His story gainedattention in the media worldwide, in part due to his handsome looks, including features in

Time magazine.[3]

Contents

[hide]

1 Biography

o 1.1 Early lifeo 1.2 Rise to infamy

o 1.3 Portella della Ginestra massacre

o 1.4 Decline and death

2 Dramatizations

3 See also

4 References

5 Bibliography

6 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Salvatore Giuliano was born inMonteleprewithin theProvince of Palermoas the fourth

child of Salvatore and Maria Giuliano. As a child he was nicknamed Turiddu or Turi. Hehad a decent primary education, but limited by Sicilian class strictures, went to work on

his father's land at the age of 13.

He transported olive oil and worked as a telephone repairman and on road construction.

Giuliano was due to be called up to the Italian army, but theAllied invasion of Sicilyprevented his actual enlistment. He became involved in the wartime black market and

was armed in case of attacks from bandits.

[edit] Rise to infamy
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Newspaper reports.[4]

OnSeptember 2,1943, he killed a Siciliancarabiniereat a checkpoint nearQuattroMoliniwhile transporting illegally purchased grain. He left his identity papers at the

scene and was wounded when a carabiniere shot him twice as he was running away, it

was then that he returned fire and killed the carabiniere. His family sent him to Palermoto have the bullet removed. In late December, a number of residents of Montelepre,

including Giuliano's father, were arrested during a police raid. Giuliano helped some of

them escape from prison inMonreale, and a number of the freed men stayed with him.

In theSagana mountains, Giuliano collected a gang of approximately fifty bandits,

criminals, deserters, and homeless men under his leadership and gave them military-stylemarksmanship training. The gang took to robbery and burglary for the money they

needed for food and weapons. When carabinieri came to look for them, they were met

with accurate submachinegun fire.

Sicilian independence flag flown by Giuliano.[5]

He also joined a Sicilian separatist group,Movement for the Independence of Sicily(MIS), which included members of very different political views, such as revolutionary

socialistAntonio Canepa, centristGiovanni Guarino Amella, right-wingers, most of them

aristocrats, such as baronLucio Tascaand dukeGuglielmo Patern, as well as somemembers with close ties to theMafia, and outright Mafiosi such asCalogero Vizzini.

The union between Giuliano and separatist leaders came to fruition in the latter part of

1945. Giuliano entered the armed branch of the movement, EVIS (Esercito Volontarioper l'Indipendenza della Sicilia, Volunteer Army for the Independence of Sicily), as a

colonel and was promised that in the event of a separatist victory, he would be pardoned

for his crimes and appointed to some position in the newly independent state. Defendersof the Giuliano-separatist alliance justified the agreement by claiming that Giuliano had

been forced to become a bandit by the cruelty and injustice of the Italian state. Although

an EVIS commander, Giuliano remained cautious about subordinating himself to themovements leadership.[6]
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Giuliano led small-scale attacks on government and police targets in the name of this

movement. He supported the MIS and the similar MASCA with funds for the 1946elections, in which both groups did poorly. Reputedly, Giuliano himself would have liked

to have seen Sicily become a state within the United States of America. He sent president

Harry S. Trumana letter in which he urged him to annex Sicily.

Giuliano remained a long term problem for authorities. He continued to fight the Italian

government in the name of the separatist movement. His attacks gained worldwideattention and made him a legend. In January 1946, atMontedoro, Giuliano and his band

fought a brutal battle with authorities in which perhaps a thousand separatist took part.

His actions kept alive the vision of Sicilian independence accomplished through the force

of arms. Police and military forces were unable to destroy Giulianos EVIS formations.In fact, with the aid of the peasantsmany of whom saw Giuliano as a sort of Robin

Hoodand the landownerswho feared himGiuliano continued to operate almost

untouched.[7]

Giuliano also fostered a number of myths around himself. One tale tells how hediscovered a postal worker was stealing letters that contained money Sicilian families hadsent to their relatives in the USA; he killed the postal worker and assured the letters

continued to their correct destinations. When he robbed the duchess ofPratameno, he left

her with her wedding ring and borrowed a book she was reading; he returned it later withcompliments. He fostered cooperation of poor tenant farmers by sending them money and

food. Contrary to some claims, he was not a Mafioso [citation needed].

[edit] Portella della Ginestra massacre

Mural of the Portella della Ginestra massacre

As more separatist leaders were arrested, his funds became limited and he was forced tofind new sources of supply. He eventually alienated himself from the peasants and

became a tool of the landowners and conservatives. In this role he was manipulated to

slaughter innocent peasants in the name of halting Communism in May 1947.[7]

In 1947,

with his group steadily shrinking, he turned to kidnapping forransomand turned regularprofits. Also in that year there were more elections, following a limited victory for

socialist-communist groups.
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After receiving a mysterious letter from an unknown source, Giuliano led his remaining

men on a raid to the mountain passPortella della Ginestraon May 1, intending tocapture Sicily's most prominentcommunist,Girolamo Li Causi. However, the event

turned into a massacre. Fourteen civilians, including a woman and three children, were

killed and more than 30 wounded. Giuliano himself (who fired no shots) stated he

ordered his band to fire above the heads of the crowd hoping they would disperse. Somesources accuse theMafiaof infiltrating it and claim mafiosi instead shot at the crowd

causing the massacre.[8]

The incident created a national scandal,[9]

which ended in 1956 with the conviction of the

remaining members of the band.[10]

It still remains a highly controversial topic, especiallyin regards to the contents of the letter Giuliano received before it, the finger of blame has

been pointed at numerous sources, including theItalian government, who had long sought

to destroy the famous bandit.[8]

Leftists, who were the victims of the attack have blamed

thelandedbaronsand theMafia, significantly, the memorial plaque erected by themmakes no mention of Giuliano or his band;[8]

On May 1, 1947, here on the rock of Barbato, celebrating the working class

festival [...] people ofPiana degli Albanesi,San Giuseppe JatoandSan

Cipirello[...] fell under the ferocious barbarity of the bullets of theMafia

and thelandedbarons[...] Portella della Ginestramemorial plaque

[edit] Decline and death

Giuliano continued to work against socialist groups whenever he had the opportunity but

by 1948 his popular support was ebbing. Locals and even the Mafia were less willing toaid Giuliano and helped the police, despite Giuliano's tendency to kill suspected

informers. Giuliano dared police by sending them boisterous letters about himself anddining in Palermo restaurants and leaving a note about his presence with a tip. The

reward for his capture was doubled, and a special police force was instituted to suppress

banditry. 300 carabinieri attacked his mountain stronghold, but most of Giuliano's gang

escaped. OnAugust 14,1949Giuliano's men exploded mines under a convoy of policevehicles near the Bellolampo barracks outside Palermo, killing sevenCarabinieriand

wounding 11.[11]

As a result the Italian government dispatched an additional 1000 troops

to Western Sicily, with all troops under the command of Colonel Ugo Luca.

OnJuly 5,1950, Giuliano was shot inCastelvetrano. According to police, carabiniericaptain Antonio Perenze shot him as he was resisting arrest.[3]

However, the investigativereporterTommaso Besozzisoon exposed the official version as fiction; the headline read:

The only thing certain is that he is dead.[12][13]

Gaspare Pisciotta, Giuliano's lieutenant,

claimed later that police had promised him apardonand reward if he would killGiuliano.[14]Giuliano's mother Maria reportedly believed this story. Pisciotta died four

years later in prison from poisoning, after ingesting 20 centigrams ofstrychnine, hidden

in a cup of tea.[15]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portella_della_Ginestra_massacrehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portella_della_Ginestra_massacrehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portella_della_Ginestra_massacrehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communisthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communisthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communisthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girolamo_Li_Causihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girolamo_Li_Causihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girolamo_Li_Causihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Giuliano#cite_note-chandlerbook-7#cite_note-chandlerbook-7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Giuliano#cite_note-chandlerbook-7#cite_note-chandlerbook-7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Giuliano#cite_note-chandlerbook-7#cite_note-chandlerbook-7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Giuliano#cite_note-8#cite_note-8http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Giuliano#cite_note-8#cite_note-8http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Giuliano#cite_note-8#cite_note-8http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Giuliano#cite_note-9#cite_note-9http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Giuliano#cite_note-9#cite_note-9http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Giuliano#cite_note-9#cite_note-9http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_governmenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_governmenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_governmenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Giuliano#cite_note-chandlerbook-7#cite_note-chandlerbook-7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Giuliano#cite_note-chandlerbook-7#cite_note-chandlerbook-7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Giuliano#cite_note-chandlerbook-7#cite_note-chandlerbook-7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_ownerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_ownerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baronhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baronhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baronhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Giuliano#cite_note-chandlerbook-7#cite_note-chandlerbook-7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Giuliano#cite_note-chandlerbook-7#cite_note-chandlerbook-7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Giuliano#cite_note-chandlerbook-7#cite_note-chandlerbook-7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piana_degli_Albanesihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piana_degli_Albanesihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piana_degli_Albanesihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Giuseppe_Jatohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Giuseppe_Jatohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Giuseppe_Jatohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Cipirellohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Cipirellohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Cipirellohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Cipirellohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_ownerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_ownerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baronhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baronhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baronhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portella_della_Ginestra_massacrehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portella_della_Ginestra_massacrehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Salvatore_Giuliano&action=edit&section=5http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Salvatore_Giuliano&action=edit&section=5http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Salvatore_Giuliano&action=edit&section=5http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_14http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_14http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_14http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1949http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1949http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1949http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carabinierihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carabinierihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carabinierihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Giuliano#cite_note-servadio128-10#cite_note-servadio128-10http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Giuliano#cite_note-servadio128-10#cite_note-servadio128-10http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Giuliano#cite_note-servadio128-10#cite_note-servadio128-10http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_5http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_5http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_5http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castelvetranohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castelvetranohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castelvetranohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Giuliano#cite_note-tim170750-2#cite_note-tim170750-2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Giuliano#cite_note-tim170750-2#cite_note-tim170750-2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Giuliano#cite_note-tim170750-2#cite_note-tim170750-2http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tommaso_Besozzi&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tommaso_Besozzi&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tommaso_Besozzi&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Giuliano#cite_note-dickie265-11#cite_note-dickie265-11http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Giuliano#cite_note-dickie265-11#cite_note-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5/35

At the trial for thePortella della Ginestra massacre,Gaspare Pisciottahad said: "Those

who have made promises to us are calledBernardo Mattarella,Prince Alliata, themonarchist MP Marchesano and also SignorScelba, Minister for Home Affairs it wasMarchesano, Prince Alliata and Bernardo Mattarella who ordered the massacre of

Portella di Ginestra. Before the massacre they met Giuliano" However the MPs

Mattarella, Alliata and Marchesano were declared innocent by the Court of Appeal ofPalermo, at a trial which dealt with their alleged role in the event.[11]

ITALY: Battle of the InkpotsMonday, May. 12, 1947

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Through a Sicilian mountain valley 400 workers and peasants were making their way to

a May Day celebration. They carried red flags and sang Communist songs. At a crossroad

shots rang out. According to the most coherent accounts, they were fired from machine

guns by men on horseback. Ten peasants (including one woman) were killed, more than

30 injured. Next day, in the Italian Constituent Assembly, the battle was resumed.

Interior Minister Mario Scelba (Christian Democrat) reported to his fellow assemblymen

that, so far as the police could determine, the Sicilian shooting was nonpolitical. The

valley in which it occurred was notoriously infested by bandits. Sicilian Communist

Deputy Girolamo Licausi disagreed. He charged that the Maffia (Sicily's ancient, bloody
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secret society) had perpetrated the attack, in cahoots with monarchists and the rightist

Uomo Qualunque Party.

Qualunquist Leader Giannini rose to protest. Communist deputies shouted: "Assassin!"

Communist Carlo Farini advanced with clenched fists upon the rightist deputies. He wasfollowed by a strong Communist detachment. Then Pietro Nenni, a follower of the party

line, led a sizable Socialist task force into the fray. Inkwells hurtled. Chairs were swung.

Fists landed with a satisfying thud on legislative noses. Nearly 200 deputies took part in

the brawl. Centrists tried frantically to untangle the Right and the Left.

Only minor casualties resulted. But Monarchist Roberto Bencivenga, who had been

struck on the back of the neck with a club, posted a notice on the Assembly's bulletin

board: "I challenge the unknown hero who struck me from behind to meet me face to

face."

The Communist-controlled General Confederation of Italian Labor called a general strike

in protest against the Sicilian "massacre." In most cities, the strike lasted only a few

hours. Nevertheless, it was a grim reminder that the Communists, through their control

of Italy's trade unions, have the country's economic life by the throat. Before 50,000

workers at Rome's Basilica of Constantine, Communist Labor Leader Nazzareno Buschi

cried: "The workers do not want civil war, but our enemies, and above all, the

Government, must be warned. . . ."

ITALY: Bandit's End (1950)All day the wrinkled mother screamed denials of her son's death. "They'll never catch

him," she cried, "never!" Next morning, when the carabinieri thrust her through the

throng outside the morgue gates to view his body, Maria Giuliano at last broke down.

"My blood," she croaked hoarsely, "my own blood." Then, turning fiercely towards a

bank of news photographers, she spat out, "It's you who've brought my son to hell."

"If I Win." Like Maria, few Sicilians could believe at first that Salvatore Giuliano was

really dead. He had been as handsome as a schoolgirl's dream, as vain and indestructible

as a god on Olympus. For seven years in the mountain fastnesses of Sicily, he had been


7/35

the king of bandits in a land where every bandit is looked upon as a king. Giuliano had

gathered about him an army of 600 or more followers.

Like Robin Hood's men, his army would strike swiftly in small groupskidnaping some

purse-proud landlord here, killing a sheriff's man there

and fade elusively intomountain caves, vineyards and wheatfields. In seven years Giuliano's men had killed 79

national carabinieri, 25 local policemen, 40 civilians. They had collected more than

$1,000,000 in ransoms from 30 kidnapings. Like Robin Hood's men they were said to

rob only the rich & powerful. Half in hero worship and half in fear, the local peasants

clamped their lips tight and kept their faces deadpan when police asked questions about

Giuliano.

Giuliano took care to see that his name did not rust. When interest in his exploits

flagged, Giuliano wrote letters to Palermo editors. Once he declared war on Italy and

offered to meet ten government officials, one at a time, in mortal combat. "If I lose, I lose

only my life," he said. "If I win, I take over the government." Two years ago Mama

Giuliano was arrested for abetting the bandits. When she was later released in a general

Holy Year amnesty, her son issued a statement to the papers thanking all concerned and

suggesting an armistice between himself and the government. Several times he held

press conferences in his mountain hideouts and permitted grateful photographers to

spread his handsome features over the world's press.

Screen Test. Last year, Rome sent to Sicily hard-eyed Colonel Ugo Luca, a World War II

Italian intelligence officer. With a special task force of 2,000 picked men, mostly

bachelors, Luca set about combing Sicily for his prey.

Probing the hills and villages, Luca and his men identified one bandit after another,

painstakingly weaned peasants away from their hero worship of Giuliano. Some of the

bandits surrendered. When word got around that Luca treated them well, others

followed, 76 in all. The carabinieri shot seven more on the hills and arrested 157. As theband scattered, some of the leaders fled to other lands, but the bandit king himself

remained in Sicily.

Two months ago, Luca heard that Giuliano was moving down from the hills towards the

vineyards of the south. The colonel ordered all his men in the area out of uniform and let


8/35

it-be known that he himself was off to Rome. Then he baited a trap for Giuliano's vanity.

He sent a troop of carabinieri into the wine district camouflaged as a moving picture

unit. They were ordered to spread the word that they were making a picture about

bandits. The unit was told to drop strong hints that a leading role might be available for

Giuliano. With no names mentioned, a series of return hints from Giuliano soon led the

"moviemakers" into the town of Castelvetrano.

ITALY: ExecutionerMonday, Apr. 30, 1951


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The police took official credit for the job, but it was not they who had killed famed Bandit

Giuliano. The machine-gun fire which Italy's carabinieri last July pumped into the

glamorous outlaw who had terrorized and fascinated Sicily for seven years (TIME, July

17) was aimed at a man they knew to be already dead. The police shots were a blind to

cover the real executioner. Last week, on trial in Viterbo for an assortment of killings and

other acts of banditry, Giuliano's former lieutenant and confidant, Gaspare Pisciotta,

confessed that he had killed Giuliano.
http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,814775,00.htmlhttp://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,814775,00.htmlhttps://s100.copyright.com/AppDispatchServlet?publisherName=TIME&publication=TIME&title=ITALY%3A%20Executioner&publicationDate=04/30/1951&author=&contentID=814775&orderBeanReset=truehttps://s100.copyright.com/AppDispatchServlet?publisherName=TIME&publication=TIME&title=ITALY%3A%20Executioner&publicationDate=04/30/1951&author=&contentID=814775&orderBeanReset=truehttp://void%280%29/http://void%280%29/http://twitter.com/home?status=reading%20from%20@time%20http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,814775,00.htmlhttp://twitter.com/home?status=reading%20from%20@time%20http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,814775,00.htmlhttp://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Etime%2Ecom%2Ftime%2Fmagazine%2Farticle%2F0%2C9171%2C814775%2C00%2Ehtml%23&title=ITALY%3A%20Executioner&summary=%5BOPEN%5FP%5DThe%20police%20took%20official%20credit%20for%20the%20job%2C%20%0Abut%20it%20was%20not%20they%20who%20had%20killed%20famed%20Bandit%20Giuliano%2E%20The%20%0Amachine%2Dgun%20fire%20which%20Italy%26%2339%3Bs%20carabinieri%20last%20July%20pumped%20into%20the%2E%2E%2E&source=Time.comhttp://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Etime%2Ecom%2Ftime%2Fmagazine%2Farticle%2F0%2C9171%2C814775%2C00%2Ehtml%23&title=ITALY%3A%20Executioner&summary=%5BOPEN%5FP%5DThe%20police%20took%20official%20credit%20for%20the%20job%2C%20%0Abut%20it%20was%20not%20they%20who%20had%20killed%20famed%20Bandit%20Giuliano%2E%20The%20%0Amachine%2Dgun%20fire%20which%20Italy%26%2339%3Bs%20carabinieri%20last%20July%20pumped%20into%20the%2E%2E%2E&source=Time.comhttp://buzz.yahoo.com/buzz?publisherurn=time&guid=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.time.com%2Ftime%2Fmagazine%2Farticle%2F0%2C9171%2C814775%2C00.html&targetUrl=http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzz?publisherurn=time&guid=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.time.com%2Ftime%2Fmagazine%2Farticle%2F0%2C9171%2C814775%2C00.html&targetUrl=http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,814775,00.html&t=ITALY:%20Executionerhttp://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,814775,00.html&t=ITALY:%20Executionerhttp://del.icio.us/post?url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,814775,00.html&title=ITALY:%20Executioner&notes=The%20police%20took%20official%20credit%20for%20the%20job,%20but%20it%20was%20not%20they%20who%20had%20killed%20famed%20Bandit%20Giuliano.%20The%20machine-gun%20fire%20which%20Italy/%27s%20carabinieri%20last%20July%20pumped%20into%20the...http://del.icio.us/post?url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,814775,00.html&title=ITALY:%20Executioner&notes=The%20police%20took%20official%20credit%20for%20the%20job,%20but%20it%20was%20not%20they%20who%20had%20killed%20famed%20Bandit%20Giuliano.%20The%20machine-gun%20fire%20which%20Italy/%27s%20carabinieri%20last%20July%20pumped%20into%20the...http://www.technorati.com/faves?add=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,814775,00.htmlhttp://www.technorati.com/faves?add=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,814775,00.htmlhttp://reddit.com/submit?url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,814775,00.htmlhttp://reddit.com/submit?url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,814775,00.htmlhttp://www.google.com/bookmarks/mark?op=edit&output=popup&bkmk=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,814775,00.html&title=ITALY:%20Executionerhttp://www.google.com/bookmarks/mark?op=edit&output=popup&bkmk=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,814775,00.html&title=ITALY:%20Executionerhttp://www.mixx.com/submit?page_url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,814775,00.htmlhttp://www.mixx.com/submit?page_url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,814775,00.htmlhttp://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,814775,00.html&title=ITALY:%20Executionerhttp://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,814775,00.html&title=ITALY:%20Executionerhttp://www.typepad.com/services/quickpost/post?v=2&qp_show=ac&qp_title=ITALY:%20Executioner&qp_href=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,814775,00.html&qp_text=The%20police%20took%20official%20credit%20for%20the%20job,%20but%20it%20was%20not%20they%20who%20had%20killed%20famed%20Bandit%20Giuliano.%20The%20machine-gun%20fire%20which%20Italy/%27s%20carabinieri%20last%20July%20pumped%20into%20the...http://www.typepad.com/services/quickpost/post?v=2&qp_show=ac&qp_title=ITALY:%20Executioner&qp_href=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,814775,00.html&qp_text=The%20police%20took%20official%20credit%20for%20the%20job,%20but%20it%20was%20not%20they%20who%20had%20killed%20famed%20Bandit%20Giuliano.%20The%20machine-gun%20fire%20which%20Italy/%27s%20carabinieri%20last%20July%20pumped%20into%20the...http://www.livejournal.com/update.bml?usescheme=nonavigationhttp://www.liv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9/35

"We Must Do Something." Pisciotta had a falling out with his chief. Some of their

followers were being held for trial for the murder of May Day marchers at Portella della

Ginestra (TIME, May 12, 1947). Pisciotta proposed a raid to save them. "We must do

something for our friends," he urged. But Giuliano was hesitant. "There is little we can

do," he said. "If, we allow our organization to be destroyed, our friends will have no

hope." Giuliano made a gesture. He wrote a letter to the trial judge in which he took

personal blame for the murders. Pisciotta, far from satisfied, arranged a meeting in

Rome with Carabinieri Colonel Ugo Luca, whose sole assignment for two years had been

to kill or capture Giuliano. The two talked long and earnestly. Then the bandit lieutenant

drove to Castelvetrano, where his chieftain was hiding out.

A carload of carabinieri was waiting outside of the house where Giuliano was hiding. The

bandit chief was in a room upstairs. "Your letter," Pisciotta told him after the two hadexchanged greetings, "has brought no help to our friends. They will be sentenced to life

imprisonment."

Giuliano glared at him in quick suspicion. "What do you mean?" he asked. Pisciotta

shrugged, laughed and guided the talk into reminiscences. Ah, banditry today was not

what it once was. Remember the old days when . . .

Giuliano forgot his suspicions. As the clock struck 3, he rose, stretched and unbuckled

his cartridge belt. He laid his pistol on the table, placed a wad of notes beside it and

stretched out on the bed. He was just lifting his arms to put them back of his head when

Pisciotta whipped out his gun and fired.-The waiting police rushed in, seized the bandit's

body, dragged it into the street and fired their bullets into it.

"Please Arrest Me." Two days later, cold with fear, Pisciotta turned up at police

headquarters. He had just learned that fierce, vindictive old Maria Lombardo, the

mother of Giuliano, knew who had killed her son. "Arrest me," Pisciotta begged, "or I'll

tell everyone what I've done." The police obliged and tossed him into prison with theother bandits. But the loyalty even of those he had tried to save belonged not to him but

to Giuliano. On visiting day, the executioner begged his mother to "please bring me food

from outside." Prison food, he knew, might well be poisoned by his old comrades.


10/35

-Making Giuliano's end oddly similar to that of U.S. Bandit Jesse James, who was murdered in his St. Joseph, Mo. home in 1882 by his

henchmen the Ford brothers, Bob and Charlie, who had joined forces with the police partly in grudge against Jesse, partly to gain a pardon

for another bandit, Dick Liddil.

Foreign News: The Big MouthMonday, Feb. 22, 1954


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Up to three years ago, swart young Gaspare Pisciotta was the close friend and trusted

lieutenant of Sicily's most notorious bandit chieftain, Salvatore Giuliano (TIME, July 17,

1950 et seq.). Thanks to the unremitting efforts of Mario Scelba, who was then Italy's

Interior Minister, Giuliano was killed and Pisciotta captured. At his trial, the boastful

bandit lieutenant proudly admitted that it was he who had told the police where to find

Giuliano, that it was he and not the police who fired the fatal bullet into the bandit's

body. The confession earned him no forgiveness for his other crimes; he was sentenced

to life imprisonment. And it left him haunted by the certainty that Giuliano's friends

would seek revenge. "One of these days they will kill me," he was sometimes heard to

mutter as he paced the tiny cell he shared with his father (also a convicted bandit) in

Palermo's grim Ucciar-done Prison.
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11/35

One day last week, the guards at Ucci-ardone heard a cry for help from Pisciotta pere.

"Gasparino is feeling bad," called the old man. "Help him in God's name." The guards

arrived in time to find the young bandit writhing convulsively on his bunk. Rushed off to

the prison hospital, he died some 40 minutes later. What had happened? On the face of

it, nothing. Gaspare had brewed his own and his father's coffee as he did every morning.

As usual, he had stirred into his own cup a spoonful of vitamin preparation. The

medicine was not even new; he had already taken two doses from the bottle. Yet scarcely

had Pisciotta downed the coffee when he was seized with the violent cramps that led to

his death soon afterward. "Cardiac paralysis," was the prison doctor's first hesitant

diagnosis, but prison officials were far from satisfied.

All Italy was alive with theories about who killed Pisciotta. The fascist and Communist

press did their best to put it on newly appointed Premier Scelba's administration, buthad no evidence to go on. Others whispered the dread and legendary name of Mafia. But

in Sicily, where the ways of bandits are better understood, the people cared little for such

sophisticated argument. For Sicilians, it was enough that an informer had been killed.

As Gaspare Pisciotta's dead body was borne from the church in the small town of

Montelepre to the little cemetery on its outskirts, it passed the drygoods shop of

Mariannina Giuliano, Salvatore's sister. The windows were banked high with cheerful

red carnations, as if for a village festival. "At last," signed Giuliano's vindictive old

mother, Maria, when the procession wound by her house, "the big-mouthed one is

silent."

There one night last week they found their man. The carabinieri opened fire. Giuliano

fled, firing over his shoulder as he went. For 15 minutes the chase led on through

labyrinths of twisted alleys and courtyards. Captain Antonio Perenze, leader of the

carabinieri, hid in a doorway. A stalking figure crept up, machine gun set. Perenze

blasted pointblank. The figure whirled, tottered and fell face down, a dark red splotch

welling up under his white shirt.


12/35

A few minutes later Salvatore Giuliano lay dead, his upper body shattered by bullets. In

his pocket was a package of mentholated cigarettes, a small flashlight and a photograph

of himself.

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE SICILIAN ROBIN HOOD

Bandit and Murderer, or Hero and Patriot?

Introduction

"I live by my conscience and I do nothing anonymously. I am willing to take full responsibility in

the eyes of God and man for all that I do. I have killed when it is just to do so, but never has

Giuliano soiled his hands with blood for the sake of money."

Salvatore Giuliano, 1946 (Quoted in Maxwell, G. Bandit. 1956)

A young man of twenty, handsome and fearless, was carrying two bags of grain from one Sicilian

village to another. The state police, the caribineri, ordered him to stop. He was asked to produce

his identity card. He gave it to one of the officers, who commanded him to release his bags of

grain. The two argued. The young man protested that he was merely transporting food to the

hungry people in his village, and the caribinereinsisted that the young man reveal the source of

his black-market grain. The young man felt threatened by the rifle that the frowning caribinere

was pointing at him. He drew a Beretta from his waist and fired at the officer. Suddenly, the

young man ran, leaving his identity card behind. He was fired upon by the other officer, and fell

to the ground. The caribinerethat he had shot was bleeding to death as the second officer firedagain and hit the fleeing smuggler. The young man dragged himself into the scruffy vegetation.

He was bleeding from a wound in his back. Because the caribinerihad his identity card, it was

not necessary for the officer to pursue the wounded culprit. It was another case of a black-market

Sicilian peasant trying to avoid the authorities. He would either die like a dog in the underbrush,

or find some other peasant to nurse his wound. They would find him soon enough.

Thus began the outlaw career of Salvatore Giuliano. Not only would he become the most famous

fugitive in Sicily, but he would become a legend that fascinated most of the western world for the

next seven years. A featured story with photographs appeared in Life. Articles about him

appeared a half a dozen times in Time. Newspapers throughout Europe ran stories about hisexploits almost daily.

The Two Robin Hoods

Salvatore Giuliano, the Sicilian Robin Hood, had much in common with the legend of Sherwood

Forest. Both were outlaws. Both reportedly stole from the rich and gave to the poor. Both


13/35

practiced their craft in relatively small areas of some 200 square miles. And both were clearly

legends.

But there is a difference. Robin Hood may or may not have existed. There is no doubt that

Salvatore Giuliano existed. Rather than fanciful paintings, we have photographs of him. We

have first-hand accounts of those who met him and knew him well.

Errol Flynn as 'Robin Hood'

Nonetheless, both Robin Hoods are legends in many senses of the word. Salvatore Giuliano not

only became a legend in his own time, but the half-century since his death has embellished it,

even as some writers have revised their estimate of him as nothing more than a common

criminal. During his lifetime, women adored him, children prayed for him, fathers and mothers

protected him, and young men joined him in the mountains above his home village of

Montelepre. (It is not without irony that the home village of the elusive bandit is translated

"Mountain of the Hare.")

Montelepre, Sicily

Who was this young man who became an outlaw at the age of twenty and was mysteriously killed

at the age of 27? What did he do that made him world-famous while alive, and long remembered

in his native land 56 years after his death? Was he indeed a hero, or was he nothing more than a


14/35

bandit and a cold-blooded killer? To this day, historians are conflicted. He is either elaborated as

a unique force in post-war Sicily, or dismissed as a mere outlaw, a common profession in the

south of Italy.

Salvatore Giuliano

To look upon a photograph of Salvatore Giuliano is to look upon a young man of great physical

beauty, of nobility, and of dark, cold eyes. His thumbs are hooked in his belt. He has an

elaborate gold belt buckle and is wearing a large diamond ring and a gold wristwatch. His clothesare rough and serviceable, as if he were a hunter. He looks at the camera without emotion.

Most of all, he is defiant.

The Making of the Legend

After that chance encounter with the killing of the state police officer in 1943, Salvatore Giuliano

became a fugitive. He would be hunted relentlessly for the next seven years, defying the

authorities to capture him. His legend began almost immediately after his wound had healed.


15/35

Giuliano showing his healed wounds

The identity card he had left behind gave the caribinerihis name. Unfortunately for his father,

Salvatore Giuliano, Sr., the authorities did not particularly care which Salvatore Giuliano they

arrested. Giuliano's father, uncle, and several cousins were imprisoned. Furious, Giuliano

managed to free all but his father from the regional jail, an act so daring that it immediately

captured the attention of the small towns west and south of Palermo. The lightly guarded jail was

no match for the ferocity of Giuliano, as he literally shot his way into the building, wounded one

guard, and subdued the cowering three others. Thus, with this audacious jail break, he no longer

was a mere outlaw, but had now begun his career as a bandit. One of his closest friends,

Gaspare Pissciotta, became his second in command. The core group of bandits probably

numbered no greater than a dozen, though at times the government claimed that he had as manyas a thousand men. (Later, when Giuliano took on more complex missions, he would augment

his band with others, so that the group became as large as fifty. It was never much larger than

that.)

The jail break was the first act to bring Giuliano notoriety. Soon thereafter he and his bandits

attacked a caribineribarracks outside of Palermo, killing two of the officers and making off with a

load of arms and ammunition. The mystique of Salvatore Giuliano was growing.

The Legend Grows

For the next three years Giuliano carried out a number raids, robberies, and killings. Some of the

events surrounding these missions formed individual legends, the accuracy of which is difficult to

determine. Some were probably true, some partly true, and some doubtlessly embroidered from


16/35

a single, small incident. There are so many tales, however, that a great many of them probably

happened.

The "Robin Hood" designation grew slowly from a number of small reported acts. Giuliano

slipped money under the door of a sick old woman unable to pay for her medical treatment. He

gave money to small children he found crying who had their money taken from them by thethuggish caribineri. He hijacked a truck of pasta and distributed it to hungry families in the village

piazza. Whether true or not, the peasants in the villages around Montelepre marveled at these

stories.

The most famous anecdote concerned his robbery of the Duchess of Pratemeno. According to

accounts, Giuliano entered the sitting room of the duchess, addressed her courteously and

formally, and proceeded to relieve her of her jewelry. The jewelry was produced, and, as

Giuliano bent to kiss her hand, he noticed a diamond ring on her finger.

(The words of Giuliano in this anecdote are those reported by Maxwell.) "That, madam, isperhaps the finest of them all. May I have it, please?" She tearfully told Giuliano that it was a

gift from her husband, a token of her first love. Giuliano removed it, purportedly saying, "Then I

shall not sell it, but wear it myself. Knowing its history will make me value it the more."

In Dubious Battleby John Steinbeck

Giuliano noticed a book lying on the sofa. It was a translation of John Steinbeck's In Dubious

Battle. "I shall borrow this, but unlike the jewels, I shall return it," he said. He returned the book a

month later with a note:

"My dear Duchess,

I am returning herewith the book which I borrowed from you. I do not understand how a

reactionary like you could possibly appreciate it, and I was tempted to keep it. But when Giuliano

gives his word he does not break it."


17/35

Giuliano

Salvatore Giuliano

This story is obviously embellished, because the ring that was on Giuliano's third finger (and

appears in the famous Michael Stern photograph of him) was clearly larger than one the Duchess

could have worn. Giuliano had kidnapped the Duke a year before, and it was then that he

probably appropriated the ring. But Giuliano's admirers found the story of the Duchess and the

ring too romantic not to believe.

The King of the Mountain

There were more than acts of kindness that contributed to the legend. The entire village of

Montelepre supported Giuliano, and refused to provide information to the hundreds of caribineri

who occupied the town. A few of its citizens dared to inform on him. One, a seventeen-year-old

who joined Giuliano's band on occasion, was caught listening at the door for scraps of information

that he could sell to the local captain of police. Giuliano warned the boy that he was engaged in a

risky business: "Never again to do anything so dangerous without my orders; you are a baby

playing with the affairs of men." A week later, the boy once more tried to pass information to thecaptain. Giuliano dragged the boy against a village wall and shot him.

Such executions of informers and traitors had an established ritual. The condemned was forced

to say his prayers before being shot. After each execution, Giuliano pinned a note to the body of

the traitor: "So Giuliano will deal with all those who spy against him." Sometimes the note would

be in the form of a poem.

From Bandit to Politician

In 1943, all of Europe was suffering. The effects of World War II were poverty, shortages,disorder, and a struggle for existence. The shortages were so severe that thievery and black

marketeering became the general way of life for a significant percentage of European

populations. Nowhere were the deprivations of the war and its aftermath more apparent than in

Sicily. Even with the liberation of the island from the Nazis, conditions were very difficult.


18/35

By early 1946, Sicily was in one of its frequent states of political chaos, and Giuliano w

Salvatore Giuliano

Documents

Transcript of Salvatore Giuliano