Emigration
In the 1920s the village of Siculiana counted 8,000 inhabitants, now less than 5,000. In the 1950s many inhabitants emigrated for work and opportunities. Many moved to Germany and Belgium or crossed the ocean to go to the United States, Canada, Venezuela or Brazil. Among them was Alfonso Gagliano, who in Canada became a cabinet minister in the government of Jean Chrétien.
Among the migrants were mafiosi as well. Montreal is the first base outside Sicily for the Cuntrera-Caruana clan. Canadian immigration-records show Pasquale and Liborio Cuntrera arrived in 1951 and acquired Canadian nationality in 1957. They moved up and down between Sicily and Montreal setting up base at both sides of the Atlantic. According to the Cuntrera-Caruana's own story they worked hard in Canada, starting ploughing snow and as barbers, saving enough money to start their first shop and pizzeria. More likely is that some of them left Sicily to escape prosecution.
In 1966, most of the clan left the village, when they were banished by court order, as a result of a crackdown by Italian police after the Ciaculli massacre. The Agrigento Court banned several members of the clan to locations elsewhere in Italy, mostly in the North, but they chose to leave the country instead. Pasquale Cuntrera and Leonardo Caruana moved to Montreal in Canada, while Giuseppe Caruana preferred Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. The Cuntrera brothers moved on to Caracas in Venezuela.
In the beginning of the 1970s the Cuntrera-Caruana clan redeployed, after Mafia persecution in Italy had slowed down. In Italy major Mafia trials ended in non-convictions for most of the Mafia bosses. Some of the clan went to the Italian mainland (Ostia Lido, a seaside resort near Rome); some went to the United Kingdom, to Woking, the stockbrokers-belt near London; some remained in Caracas in Venezuela; while others remained in Montreal. They travelled up and down using their residences around the world for drug trafficking.
Venezuela became an important hideout. "Venezuela has its own Cosa Nostra family as if it is Sicilian territory," according to the Italian police. "The structure and hierarchy of the Mafia has been entirely reproduced in Venezuela." The Cuntrera-Caruana clan had direct links with the ruling Commission of the Sicilian Mafia, and are acknowledged by the American Cosa Nostra.
In the Second Mafia War the Cuntrera-Caruana clan initially sided with the established Mafia-families of Palermo who were massacred by the Corleonesi headed by Salvatore Riina. However, they apparently were able to find some kind of agreement with Riina. The Cunteras and Caruanas were necessary and irreplaceable for every other Mafia family, according to police investigators: "the others are allied with them."
Read more about this topic: Cuntrera-Caruana Mafia Clan