First Mafia War
Torretta was one of the protagonist of the First Mafia War. He sided with the La Barbera brothers against a rival group headed by Salvatore Greco "Ciaschiteddu". When Angelo La Barbera was shot and arrested in Milan in May 1963, both Torretta and Buscetta considered themselves to be the successors of Angelo La Barbera. Torretta proposed himself as the capo of Palermo Centro and Buscetta as his deputy. However, the Greco’s thought Buscetta in particular a dangerous man to promote. The dispute gradually re-ignited hostilities between Torretta, Buscetta and the Grecos. Torretta and Buscetta acted first by ambushing two of their enemies in Torretta’s house.
On June 30, 1963, a car bomb in Ciaculli killed seven police and military officers sent to defuse it after an anonymous phone call. The outrage over the Ciaculli massacre changed the Mafia war into a war against the Mafia. It prompted the first concerted anti-Mafia efforts by the state in post-war Italy. The Sicilian Mafia Commission was dissolved and of those Mafiosi who had escaped arrest many went abroad. Torretta was suspected of being the man behind the bomb attack, but it was eventually found to be Michele Cavataio.
Read more about this topic: Pietro Torretta
Famous quotes containing the word war:
“This is not only a war of soldiers in uniform. It is a war of the people, of all the people, and it must be fought not only on the battlefield but in the cities and the villages, in the factories and on the farms, in the home and in the heart of every man, woman and child who loves freedom.”
—Arthur Wimperis (1874–1953)