Girolamo Piromalli

Girolamo Piromalli (Gioia Tauro, October 7, 1918 – February 11, 1979), also known as "Mommo", was a historical and charismatic 'Ndrangheta boss from Gioia Tauro on the Tyrrhenian coast of Calabria. He was the capobastone (head of command) of the 'Ndrine in his hometown.

Biography

'Ndrangheta boss

Mommo Piromalli ruled the most powerful mafia group in the Gioia Tauro plain with his younger brother Giuseppe “Peppe” Piromalli. The Piromalli 'Ndrina contained more than 200 members.Paoli, "Mafia Brotherhoods", p. 31]

Before becoming one of the most feared power brokers in the Gioia Tauro plain, Mommo Piromalli was a cowherd.Arlacchi, "Mafia Business", p. 51] In 1939 he was charged with illegal carriage of firearms, in 1940 for grievous bodily harm, in 1944 for robbery with violence and in 1950 for murder.Arlacchi, "Mafia Business", p. 20] In 1967, the court imposed a five-year mandatory internal banishment ("soggiorno obbligato") to remove Piromalli from his home town and criminal associates.it icon [http://www.luogocomune.net/site/modules/mydownloads/library/acrobat/ImputazAndreotti.pdf Esposizione introduttiva del Pubblico ministero nel processo nei confronti di Giulio Andreotti] , Direzione Distrettuale Antimafia Palermo, 1994, pp. 102-3]

Together with Antonio Macrì from Siderno on the Ionic coast and Domenico "Mico" Tripodo, the boss of the city of Reggio Calabria and the surrounding areas, the Piromalli brothers formed a sort of triumvirate since the beginning of the 1960s until the outbreak of the first 'Ndrangheta war in the mid 1970s. Their senior position was recognized by all other family chiefs and their advice was in most cases followed without protest.Paoli, "Mafia Brotherhoods", p. 60]

Establishing the Santa

Mommo Piromalli and the chiefs of several other families established La Santa at the end of the 1960s. They were eager to modify the traditional rules of the 'Ndrangheta in order to enter the public work market and start illegal activities such as drug trafficking, which were prohibited by the traditional code but promised to be very profitable. Through the membership of covert Masonic lodge the Ndrangheta bosses were able to contact law enforcement authorities, judges and politicians that were necessary to access to public work contracts.Paoli, "Mafia Brotherhoods", p. 115] it icon Guarino, "Poteri segreti e criminalità", pp. 14-15] it icon [http://www.fondazionecesar.it/uploads/tx_useregidoc/Ndrangheta.pdf 'Ndrangheta 2005] , Nisio Palmieri, Dossier della Fondazione Cesar e dell’Associazione Sicurstrada per conto della Consulta Nazionale dei Consigli Regionali Unipol Assicurazioni]

According to Gaetano Costa (the former chief of the Messina cosca turned state witness), “it was Mommo Piromalli who – given the enormous interests which the existed in the Reggio Calabria area (the railroad stump, the steelwork center, and the port in Gioia Tauro, etc.) – entrusted himself with the rank of "santista", in order to assert his higher authority and hence directly control the public works. He said that this rank had been given him directly in Toronto, where there was a very important 'Ndrina.”

These innovations and the new institution of La Santa were opposed by the more traditionalist chiefs Antonio Macrì and Domenico Tripodo. Only at the end of the so-called first 'Ndrangheta war, which took place in 1974-76 and led to the deaths of Macrì and Tripodo as well as the rise of Piromalli and the De Stefano brothers as the new leaders of the Reggio Calabria 'Ndrine, was the new institution fully recognized.Paoli, "Mafia Brotherhoods", p. 115]

Drug trafficking and Getty kidnap

In 1973 he was charged of heroin trafficking when an undercover operation by the US Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) targeting Saverio Mammoliti revealed that Mammoliti needed permission of Macrì and "don Mommo" Piromalli.

On March 23, 1974, police arrested Piromalli and charged him helping to mastermind the kidnapping of John Paul Getty III. He was picked up without resistance in Gioia Tauro during a series of early morning raids on more than a dozen homes in Calabria. In July 1975, Piromalli was acquitted in the trial against the kidnappers. Getty’s kidnappers were never caught.

The ransom was used to buy the trucks needed to establish a transport monopoly in the construction of the Gioia Tauro port.Arlacchi, "Mafia Business", p. 87] Piromalli also had contacts with Sicilian Mafiosi such as Angelo La Barbera and Stefano Bontate.

Business

Together with his brother Peppe Piromalli, Mommo redirected the 'Ndrangheta clan from its rural base to an entrepreneurial criminal organisation assuming dominance over several public works in the Gioia Tauro area, particularly in the construction and operation of the new container seaport.it icon [http://www.ristretti.it/commenti/2005/febbraio/21febbraio.htm Gioia Tauro: boss Giuseppe Piromalli, 84 anni, muore agli arresti] , Giornale di Calabria, February 21, 2005]

When in 1974 businesses involved in the expansion of the port and steelworks in Gioia Tauro offered a three per cent kickback to be left in peace the three leading 'Ndrangheta families at the time, Antonio Macrì, the Piromalli brothers and the De Stefano brothers rejected the offer and wanted to be sub-contracted on work carried in order to control the project.Arlacchi, "Mafia Business", p. 106] Paoli, "Mafia Brotherhoods", p. 168]

The 'Ndrangheta exploited the construction of the steelworks until the project was abandoned when the government decided there was no economic base for it. In 1977 disagreements about business interests emerged between Piromalli and the De Stefano clan. A hit squad headed by Peppe Piromalli killed Giorgio De Stefano. Some 1,000 people were killed in clan wars over the construction contracts.Spotts & Wieser, "Italy, a Difficult Democracy", p. 188]

Mommo Piromalli died of natural causes in 1979 and was succeeded by his younger brother Giuseppe “Peppe” Piromalli.Paoli, "Mafia Brotherhoods", p. 49]

References

*Arlacchi, Pino (1988). "Mafia Business. The Mafia Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism", Oxford: Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-285197-7
*Guarino, Mario (2004). " [http://books.google.nl/books?id=Rao8tpAx_ycC Poteri segreti e criminalità. L'intreccio inconfessabile tra 'ndrangheta, massoneri a apparati dello stato] ] ", Bari: Edizioni Dedalo ISBN 8822053400
*Paoli, Letizia (2003). "Mafia Brotherhoods: Organized Crime, Italian Style", Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-515724-9
*it icon Sciarrone, Rocco (1998). " [http://books.google.nl/books?id=qbGfO4benWoC&dq Mafie vecchie, mafie nuove: Radicamento ed espansione] ", Rome: Donzelli Editore ISBN 88-7989-435-8
*Spotts, Frederic & Theodor Wieser (1986), [http://books.google.nl/books?id=Jqo4bK5JLFgC&pg Italy, a Difficult Democracy: A Survey of Italian Politics] , Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521315115