Biography
Miceli was born in Salemi, Italy, in the province of Trapani. He was the grandson of the notorious heroin trafficker Salvatore Zizzo. Together with Roberto Pannunzi, he is considered to be the intermediary between the Mafia and the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta clans with Colombian cocaine cartels. He was involved in a cocaine trafficking network with Mariano Agate, the Mafia boss of Mazara del Vallo and Calabrian clans of Marando, Trimboli and Barbaro from Platì.
The ring was dismantled in May 2003 – but Miceli remained at large. His wife Veronica Dudzinski and his sons Ivano and Mario Miceli were arrested in May 2003, when the cocaine trafficking network was disrupted.
Some Mafia turncoats (pentiti) referred to Miceli as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, due to his frequent trips abroad. Others called him "the chicken that lays golden eggs", referring to his lucrative drug business.
In the beginning of the 1990s, after a failed cocaine transport, Mafia boss Giovanni Brusca condemned Miceli to death. However, he was saved thanks to the intervention of Vincenzo Sinacori and Matteo Messina Denaro – the boss of Castelvetrano – who made clear that Miceli belonged to the Mafia in the province of Trapani, and that the "palermitani" could not act against him without the permission of the Mafia bosses of Trapani.
Read more about this topic: Salvatore Miceli
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