Calogero Vizzini - Death

Death

Don Calò Vizzini died on July 10, 1954. Thousands of peasants dressed in black and politicians and priests took part in his funeral, including Mussomeli boss Giuseppe Genco Russo and the powerful boss Don Francesco Paolo Bontade from Palermo (the father of future Mafia boss Stefano Bontade) – who was one of the pallbearers. Even the New York Times reported the news of the death of this local Mafia chief.

Villalba's public offices and the Christian Democratic headquarters closed for a week in mourning. An elegy for Vizzini was pinned to the church door. It read: "Humble with the humble. Great with the great. He showed with words and deeds that his Mafia was not criminal. It stood for respect for the law, defence of all rights, greatness of character: it was love." He left approximately two billion lire (one million euro) worth of sulphur, land, houses and varied investments.

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