Giuseppe Di Cristina - Confronting The Corleonesi

Confronting The Corleonesi

Di Cristina was one of the first who saw the danger of the strategy of the Corleonesi of "Totò" Riina to dominate Cosa Nostra. Di Cristina clashed with the Corleonesi over the killing of Lieutenant-Colonel Giuseppe Russo of the Carabinieri on August 20, 1977. Russo, who according to the Corleonesi was a confident of Di Cristina, was killed without the consent of the Commission, which had opposed a prior request by Totò Riina and Bernardo Provenzano.

Di Cristina understood the strategy of the Corleonesi. While the more established Mafia families in Palermo refrained from openly killing authorities because that would attract to much police attention, the Corleonesi deliberately killed to intimidated the authorities in such a way that the suspicion would fell on their rivals in the Commission.

Di Cristina became one of the main targets of the Corleonesi, just as Giuseppe Calderone. The Corleonesi were attacking the allies of the Palermo families in the other provinces to isolate men like Stefano Bontade, Salvatore Inzerillo and Gaetano Badalamenti. On November 21, 1977, Di Cristina survived a shooting, but his most loyal men Giuseppe Di Fede and Carlo Napolitano were murdered by the Corleonesi.

In January 1978, the old and ailing former head of the Sicilian Mafia Commission Salvatore "Ciaschiteddu" Greco came all the way from Venezuela to try to refrain Di Cristina, Gaetano Badalamenti and Salvatore Inzerillo from retaliating against the growing power of the Corleonesi. Di Cristina and Badalamenti wanted to kill Francesco Madonia, the boss of Vallelunga Mafia family and an ally of the Corleonesi in the province of Caltanissetta. Greco tried to convince them not to go ahead and offered Di Cristina to emigrate to Venezuela. Nevertheless, Badalamenti and Di Cristina decided to go on and on April 8, 1978 Francesco Madonia was murdered.