Gianni Nicchi

Giovanni "Gianni" Nicchi (Turin, February 16, 1981) is a member of the Sicilian Mafia. Despite his young age – his nickname is "U picciutteddu" (the little soldier) – he is considered to be one of the leading mafiosi of Cosa Nostra in Palermo. He is on the "Most wanted list" of the Italian ministry of the Interior since 2006.

Biography

Mafia heritage

Gianni Nicchi is the son of a mafioso who is jailed for life.it icon [http://www.corriere.it/Primo_Piano/Cronache/2006/06_Giugno/25/bianconi.shtml Mafia, killer a 25 anni: ecco come uccido] , Corriere della Sera, June 25, 2006] He is considered to be the current "reggente" (regent) of the Pagliarelli mandamento,it icon [http://www.radicali.it/view.php?id=108609 Cosa Nostra senza un capo] , La Repubblica, November 6, 2007] it icon [http://it.notizie.yahoo.com/rtrs/20071106/tts-mafia-giorno-dopo-ca02f96_1.html Mafia, Grasso: "Azzerata cupola". Ma c'è giovane aspirante boss] , Reuters, November 6, 2007] after the arrest of his godfather Antonio Rotolo on June 20, 2006, two months after the arrest of Mafia boss Bernardo Provenzano. Authorities issued 52 arrest warrants against the top echelon of Cosa Nostra in the city of Palermo (Operation Gotha).it icon [http://www.addiopizzo.org/public/partecivile.doc Indictment Operation Gotha] ] Nicchi escaped arrest and is a fugitive.

"Gianni is my godson (Italian: figlioccio), but I tell you, for me it is as if he was my son," Rotolo was overheard saying to another mafioso. "From this day on, you have to know that when you talk to him it is as if you talk to me. It is the same."it icon [http://sicania.spazioblog.it/81373/Grasso+lancia+un+appello+ai+latitanti.html Grasso lancia un appello ai latitanti] , Agrigentoweb News, June 25, 2007] In other bugged conversations, police listened in how Rotolo instructed Nicchi how to kill a person. They also discussed how to extort Chinese shopkeepers in Palermo.

Despite his age, other mafiosi treated Nicchi with respect. The pentito Francesco Campanella recalled when he was introduced to Nicchi by Nicola Mandalà, Mafia boss of Villabate, in 2004. "He treated him with high esteem," Campanella noticed, and Mandalà told him: "you don’t realise who that is, even though they call him "u picciutteddu"." Campanella understood that the young man was already regarded as an important figure in Cosa Nostra.it icon [http://www.lasicilia.it/articoli.nsf/(LaSiciliait)/43286E1D9C60B37BC1257316004F3FA9 "Il boss riceveva nell'ufficio del sindaco"] , La Sicilia, July 12, 2007]

Mission to the US

Rotolo was worried about the return of members of the Inzerillo family to Palermo and fell out with rival boss Salvatore Lo Piccolo over a request from the Inzerillo’s to be allowed to return to Palermo. The Inzerillo family had been one of the clans that was decimated by the Corleonesi during the Second Mafia War in the 1980s and had been forced into exile in the United States with their relatives in the New York City-based Gambino crime family. Rotolo had been part of the Mafia clans that had attacked the Inzerillo clan and had personally killed one of them. He was opposed to Lo Piccolo’s permission for the return of the Inzerillo’s, fearing revenge. [http://www.corriere.it/english/articoli/2006/06_Giugno/21/pizzini.shtml "Pizzini" Notes Reveal New Mafia Bosses] , by Felice Cavallaro, Corriere delle Sera, June 21, 2006] it icon [http://www.archivio900.it/it/articoli/art.aspx?id=8194 Lo Piccolo, l'erede di Provenzano. Così sta conquistando Palermo] , Corriere della Sera, June 30, 2007]

Several Sicilian Mafia clans established new ties with the Gambino family to profit from increased international drug trafficking and provide Palermo's Mafia factions an opportunity to launder their earnings in real estate in the United States. [http://www.fas.org/irp/news/2007/11/osc111907.html Changes in Mafia Leadership Reveal New Links to US-Based La Cosa Nostra] , DNI Open Source Center, November 19, 2007] Rotolo sent Nicchi to the United States to check the links of Frank Cali of the Gambino family, who is often seen with old heroin traffickers of the Pizza Connection such as Pietro Inzerillo.it icon [http://www.repubblica.it/2007/07/sezioni/cronaca/america-cosa-nostra/america-cosa-nostra/america-cosa-nostra.html La riscoperta dell'America nuovo fronte di Cosa Nostra] , La Repubblica, July 12, 2007]

Clash with Lo Piccolo

Rotolo did not like what Nicchi reported back and did not believe the assurances of Calì, which he considered excuses to reinstate the Inzerillo's in Palermo. Rotolo passed a death sentence on Salvatore Lo Piccolo and his son, Sandro – and procured the barrels of acid that are used to dissolve the bodies of slain rivals. Nicchi was ordered to search and kill the fugitive father and son Lo Piccolo.it icon [http://www.lasicilia.it/articoli.nsf/(LaSiciliait)/7304786229177758C125738A00621B8C Adesso è caccia a Matteo Messina Denaro] , La Sicilia, November 5, 2007] it icon [http://www.repubblica.it/2007/11/sezioni/cronaca/arrestati-lo-piccolo/carte-identita/carte-identita.html Lo Piccolo, il giallo dei documenti] , La Repubblica, November 18, 2007]

When Rotolo was arrested on June 20, 2006, the Lo Piccolo's went after Nicchi. They ordered Francesco Franzese, boss of the Partanna Mondello Mafia family, to find and kill him. However, Franzese was arrested on August 2, 2007.it icon [http://www.repubblica.it/2007/08/sezioni/cronaca/mafia-arresto-franzese/mafia-arresto-franzese/mafia-arresto-franzese.html Arrestato Franzese, boss "sindacalista"] , La Repubblica, August 2, 2007] In a pizzino found at Franzese's house, Sandro Lo Piccolo, ordered the killing of 'Tiramisù', the name that was given to indicate Nicchi. Apparently, Nicchi had fled to Milan and escaped a hit team organized by Franzese.

New power in Cosa Nostra?

Nicchi fortunes changed after the arrest of Salvatore Lo Piccolo and his son Sandro on November 5, 2007. Nicchi is considered as one of the new powers in Cosa Nostra in Palermo. [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/italy/story/0,,2205820,00.html 'Boss of bosses' successor arrested at mafia summit] , The Guardian, November 6, 2007] Other youngsters on their way up are Pietro Tagliavia, born in 1978, a scion from the Corso dei Mille Mafia family, and Salvo Riina, born in 1977 – the second-born son of boss of bosses Totò Riina – who was arrested in 2001 but released in 2007 when the Supreme Court annulled his sentence.it icon [http://www.articolo21.info/rassegne/generale06112007/Art00136.htm Cosa Nostra, tanti boss ma nessun capo] , La Repubblica, November 6, 2007]

Palermo police chief Giuseppe Caruso described Nicchi as "a young man with grey matter and energy ... and ready to rise to the leadership of Cosa Nostra, at least in Palermo." [http://news.ph.msn.com/topstories/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1068330 Supremo's arrest 'decapitates' Sicilian Mafia] , AFP, November 6, 2007] His name is now among the candidate leaders of Cosa Nostra, along with Matteo Messina Denaro and Domenico Raccuglia.fr icon [http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3214,36-982985@51-974592,0.html Mafia sicilienne : le retour des "Américains"] , Le Monde, November 27, 2007] According to prosecutor Francesco Del Bene, who coordinated the arrest of Lo Piccolo: "Gianni Nicchi is a killer, now he should be emerging, but he is the only one left from the Corleonesi faction."it icon [http://www.ateneonline-aol.it/071123anco.php "Carisma, militari e piccioli": ecco l'identikit del capo di Cosa nostra] , Ateneonline, November 23, 2007]

According to Antonio Ingroia, one of the prosecutors of the Direzione Distrittuale Antimafia (DDA) of Palermo, the main leading figures in Cosa Nostra at the moment, Matteo Messina Denaro, Giovanni Riina, Domenico Raccuglia, Pietro Tagliavia and Nicchi, are still to young to be recognized as leading bosses of the organisation.it icon [http://www.antimafiaduemila.com/content/view/2240/ Lo Piccolo, il fautore della strategia della “rimmersione”] , Intervista ad Antonio Ingroia, Antimafia Duemila n. 56, Anno VII° Numero 5 – 2007]

On January 21, 2008, the Palermo Court sentenced the fugitive Nicchi to 15 year in prison. Because he was tried under a special short procedure, he gets a 1/3 reduction on his sentence.it icon [http://www.repubblica.it/2008/01/sezioni/cronaca/mafia-gotha/mafia-gotha/mafia-gotha.html Cosa nostra, 400 anni alla cupola] , La Repubblica, January 21, 2008] He was indicted on February 7, 2008, in operation Old Bridge against the Gambinos in New York and their connections in Palermo, involved in drug trafficking. [http://www.repubblica.it/2008/01/sezioni/cronaca/operazione-palermo-ny/palermo-ny-english/palermo-ny-english.html Dozens Arrested in Italy and US in Major Mafia-busting Operation] , La Repubblica, February 7, 2008] [http://www.repubblica.it/2008/01/sezioni/cronaca/operazione-palermo-ny/carte-english-version/carte-english-version.html Cosa Nostra-Lcn Connections: The Documents from Palermo Antimafia] ,La Repubblica, February 7, 2008]

References

External links

*it icon [http://www1.interno.it/mininterno/export/sites/default/it/sezioni/sala_stampa/notizie/polizia/2007_07_25_latitante_nicchi_giovanni.html Most wanted list of the Italian ministry of the Interior]