Origins
The Cuntrera and Caruana families originated from Siculiana, a small village on the south coast of Sicily in the province of Agrigento. They are relatives; they inter-married to strengthen their criminal alliance. Mafia tradition is old in Siculiana. On a map, made in 1900 by one of the first Mafia researchers Antonio Cutrera, a former officer of public security, Siculiana is mentioned as ‘high density’ Mafia territory. The province of Agrigento is, and has been so for the last century, the poorest and most backward region of Italy.
The Cuntrera-Caruana clan used to be armed guards for the local baron Agnello, who owned most of the village and the surrounding land. Everybody in the village depended on the baron for work and income. When land reform started in the 1950s the baron had to give up most of his holdings. The Mafia brokered the sale of the holdings. The power of the Mafia in those years was unchallenged, they entered the town council, and at one time the mayor was a noted mafioso.
In the 1950s the Mafia was not the multi-million dollar business it is now. In 1952 Pasquale Cuntrera and his brother-in-law Leonardo Caruana were indicted for a double murder, the theft of four cows and arson. Both were acquitted in 1953 per non aver commesso il fatto - not having committed the act - an almost ritual verdict where Mafia crimes were concerned in the 1950s and 60s.
A 1966 police report concluded Siculiana had been ruled by mafiosi for years. Giuseppe Caruana, his brother Leonardo Caruana and Pasquale Cuntrera exploited every economic activity in the village and its surrounding communities. They had created an atmosphere of omertà: through violence and intimidation they made sure that nobody dared to denounce them. The Agrigento Court decided to ban them from the village.
Some returned, however. In the 1970s Leonardo Caruana became capo mandamento - after he was expelled from Canada - of the area under the leadership of the Mafia boss of the province Agrigento, Giuseppe Settecasi. The power base of the clan reached into politics. The influential politician Calogero Mannino of the Christian Democrat party (DC - Democrazia Cristiana) was a witness at the marriage of Leonardo Caruana's son Gerlando in 1977 in Siculiana.
Leonardo Caruana was murdered in 1981 in front of his house in Palermo on the day his other son Gaspare Caruana married. The killing occurred at the height of a second Mafia war, and stayed unavenged. Few members of the Cuntrera-Caruana family have remained in Siculiana. Leonardo Caruana’s son, Gerlando Caruana, is considered to be the head of the family in Siculiana according to the Italian DIA (Direzione Investigativa Antimafia).
Read more about this topic: Cuntrera-Caruana Mafia Clan
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