It's pretty rare for these kinds of characters to speak, so I thought translating the interview would be a good idea. Obviously, he presents himself as an honest man (or almost) victim of the bad police officers, he the kind man of honor... That said, the interview is great for its historical side.
Background: Piromalli was accused (wrongly) of instigating the kidnapping of Cristina Mazzotti (more details here https://www.wikimafia.it/wiki/Cristina_Mazzotti)
The article also contains a section on Saverio Mammoliti, well known for his very probable participation in the kidnapping of Paul Getty III with Piromalli. The article also has a section on Antonio Giacobbe who was suspected of being involved in the Mazzotti affair.
Note: the article mentions individuals named Reda & Ventura. These are Franco Freda & Giovanni Ventura, 2 far-right activists involved in the attack in Piazza Fontana in Milan on December 12, 1969 (16 dead, 88 injured)
Investigation in Calabria, the most discussed region in Italy 1) “A 90-year-old mafia member speaks”
We went to Calabria to try to understand how and why this region became the center of organized crime. The first to whom we asked this question was the one considered by all to be the “boss of bosses” of the mafia, Don Mommo Piromalli, whose disconcerting statements we recorded. "Our ancestral poverty has generated a mentality in which every slight is reacted with gunfire. Everyone respects me because I am always ready to do good to those whom it turns to me. In exchange, I do not ask only friendship and loyalty. The cops have always persecuted me and tried to frame me. But I'm a gentleman. In prison I made friends with Freda and Ventura."
From our correspondent
FABRIZIO SCAGLIA
Photo by ALDO GUIDI
Gioia Tauro, September. I would put them all on the wall. Then I would cut their corpses into small pieces and feed them to the pigs. Cristina Mazzotti's barbaric murderers deserve nothing else. Girolamo Piromalli, Don Mommo, 56, considered by all to be the boss of bosses of the'ndrangheta, the infamous Calabrian mafia, confesses. In his way. The capture of the leader of the gang who kidnapped and killed the girl relieves him of the suspicions that had accumulated around him. And this pushes him to come out of the reserve he had imposed on himself in recent weeks. According to Loredana PeTroncini, Cristina's jailer in Castelletto Ticino, he had described the mysterious Calabrian who commanded the anonymous kidnappings as a man not very tall, chubby, always sweating and limping slightly", the name and photos of Don Mommo had made the headlines in the newspapers of half of Italy. The description, in fact, corresponds perfectly. I also complained through my lawyers, Piromalli tells us. But all this was in vain. My name continued, until "in the end, to be involved in this infamous crime. However, I swear on my children that the night I saw this poor girl's funeral on television, I cried. I put myself in the place of this desperate father: I too have a daughter who is more or less Cristina's age.... Mommo Piromalli lives with his wife, Rosina La Ruffa, and their two children (Concetta, 14, and Tonino, 11 years old) in a two-story house on the outskirts of Gioia Tauro. Everyone knows him, everyone knows where he lives. But asking around you hits an impenetrable wall. The silence that surrounds him also protects his privacy. To find his house, we went around and, perhaps, we would have gotten nowhere if we had not met an old man who, while continuing to mutter under his breath, "I don't know if I do well or badly...", he declared. He only accompanied us when we came within sight of the chalet. In the garden, protected by a hedge, there are people sitting. As soon as we approach, a lady stands up. We ask him about the owner. "Who are you ?" she asks us in a hasty tone. “Journalists”. My husband is not here", she replies. And she turns her back to us. Fortunately, coming out of the greenery, Mommo Piromalli himself intervenes. Let them in, he says to his wife. Let them do it their duty. Then, turning to us, he adds: "Okay, let's discuss it. But on one condition: that you report my words exactly. I'm not interested in the conclusions you might draw from this. I just want what I say to be faithfully transcribed."
-Mr. Piromalli, once and for all, what is the mafia?
Nothing: the mafia does not exist. What is happening here in Calabria, the way we behave, is the product of a historical and environmental situation that has generated a certain type of mentality. In simple words, up there in the North, we respond to a slap with a smile, at most with another slap. In Calabria, there is only one answer: “la lupara”.
-You say that the mafia does not exist, but everyone, when they talk about you, refers to you as the absolute leader of the Calabrian mafia...
The Calabrians are incorrigible individualists. They would never accept an absolute leader. After all, it’s an argument that doesn’t hold water. I'm just the boss of my house. For the rest, I am just a persecuted person. The cops are making my life impossible. During years, they tried by all means to trap me, even resorting to legitimate means
-Excuse me, but it is said that you use illicit means. Cigarette smuggling, subcontracting. You're even charged with a felony for the kidnapping of Paul Getty III.
It's said, it's said. But without proof. The truth is that I am an ordinary man trying, in vain, to mind his own business. They told me that I was interested in subcontracting the steel center that will be built in Gioia Tauro. It's wrong. Of course, I don't even know where they are going to build this center. They said I would have made this house with the profits from smuggling. And instead, and I can prove it, my wife built this house, with the money her father sent her from America. It was also said that I live like a mogul. You judge. My income is the rent from three apartments that I own in the village and the fruits of a small farm a few kilometers from here. Nothing else.
-What is your job, officially?
A few months ago, I was working in the vegetables field. But then life was ruined precisely because of the persecution of the cops, I gave up. I am withdrawn at home, I hardly go out anymore.
-Mr. Piromalli, you served eight months in prison because you were accused of masterminding the kidnapping of Paul Getty. He is now on provisional release. Does the evidence gathered against you for this kidnapping also constitute persecution?
Okay: then I will tell you in detail how things happened. They kidnap Paul Getty, they release him after I don't know how many days, we're talking about a ransom of one billion eight hundred million. I read all these strange things in the newspapers. A week later, everything is fine. At my house the police search everywhere. They find about ten million, most of my money in checks, but also some bank notes – they have ten thousand three hundred thousand. They take over everything. I asked in vain the head of the Criminalpol in Rome who is ordering the research so that I could note the serial numbers of the tickets before to take them away. I hear myself answer, poorly, with a categorical “no”. My rights as a citizen have not been violated, but too bad I have a clear conscience. Instead, a few days later, they come here and arrest me. Why? One of the three $100,000 bills was from the Getty ransom. So what do I have to do with this? I call as a witness the bank accountant who, on the very day of the search, gave me these three notes. This is of no use to you. I protested to the judge because I was not allowed to transcribe the serial numbers of the seized tickets, and I gave the names, with me as witnesses, of a brigadier and a police officer from the Gioia Tauro company that know who is there. Do you know how it ended? In prison and the two carabinieri were transferred as punishment.
And that's not all. In prison, I lost the sight in my right eye because the glaucoma I suffered from was not treated and the phlebitis in my left leg worsened. I got a provisional release precisely for this stage. A continuous and excruciating pain that made the eight months spent in Bari prison seem like an eternity. Eight months in the infirmary. I shared the room with Freda and Ventura. We became friends. In fact, the other day I received a letter of solidarity from Ventura for the lynching I continue to be subjected to by the cops and the newspapers
-Friend of Freda and Ventura also on the political level?
Simply put, you're asking me if I'm a fascist me Too? I'll tell you: the case of Cristina Mazzotti makes me regret fascism. A few months ago, his murderers would certainly have paid with their lives for their crime. I have a just punishment for men who are not worthy of the name. As for Freda and Ventura, I must say yes, I found these two serious, cultured and friendly people. We became friends right away. I remember once Freda himself told me that he had heard a lot of bad things about me. But after meeting me, he no longer believed it.
-Mr. Piromalli, in Gioia Tauro you are considered a man of honor, or rather, according to the exact mafia term, a man of respect. What does it mean?
It has no particular meaning other than the fact that everyone esteems me, loves me. When I go around the country everyone greets me, my passage. The newspapers almost bow to the fact that they always wrote that they were afraid of me. But it's wrong. I am a man, I fought in the war in Russia, in Montenegro I was in the X Mas of Borghese and therefore I know well what fear is. This is why I do not accept and will never be guilty of instilling fear in people. I don't want to, I don't have to, and I can't scare anyone.
You know, why do they love me? Because I am always ready to help everyone. Here are some examples. A few days ago, a woman, mother of eight children, came to see me. She said to me: "Don Mommo, see if you can find us a decent house. I have been asking for it for three years, but until now there is nothing to be done. We have always lived in the same room. My husband and I are obliged to behave towards the judge like a brother who leaves me like a sister...". I did what I could. I called a friend who works in the HLM department and in three days, this good woman obtained justice with an apartment adapted to her very big family.
The other day I was coming back from the hair salon when some poor guy stopped me. An invoice was to pay and he didn't have the money to pay. I called the bank and the bill was renewed for two more months.
The last episode. This morning an old acquaintance came to visit me. He's going through bad financial times and his wife needs emergency surgery. I spoke to a friend, director of a hospital, and his wife's operation won't cost the poor man a penny. I could tell you hundreds of episodes like this. Because Mommo Piromalli is always available for those who need him and turn to him.
-All right. But what does Mommo Piromalli ask for in exchange for the pleasures he offers?
Nothing but friendship. Because friendship, in a man's life, is everything."
-Mr. Piromalli, you present yourself as the first of gentlemen. However, your “curriculum” speaks of thirteen years in prison, five years of forced residence and a murder. Don't you think it's too much to pose as a victim of society and the police?
This may sound strange but that's exactly how it is. Apart from a theft I committed immediately after the war to feed my family, I have nothing else to be ashamed of. They always blamed me without proof, they always attacked me as if I was the most convenient scapegoat. As for the murder, I would like to point out that I was acquitted. They ambushed me. I fought back and killed a man. Self-defense.
-Mr Piromalli, one last question: what do you think of this whole impressive series of crimes which have made Calabria infamous?
It's all poverty's fault. In these regions, there are still people dying of hunger or almost. And poverty is exasperating. A war breaks out for nothing. The economic miracle stopped at Eboli, as Carlo Levi wrote. It seemed that tourism could bring some well-being, but this was not the case. Our tourism is for the rich, which only makes money those who already own entire mountains of them. Normal people have nothing in their pockets. And most continue to eat, as always, bread and onions. This is why there is so much crime...
Mammoliti
From Gioia Tauro to Castellace di Oppido Mamertina, on the route of another ninety mile stretch, 50 kilometers of road that goes up to Aspromonte, the kingdom of the fugitives (it is said that there is nearly two thousand wanted men who found refuge among these woods). Castella is the stronghold of the Mammoliti family. He became one at the end of a quarrel, subjected to stabbings and gunshots which literally decimated the Mammoliti family, the Barbaro family. Dozens of people murdered whose murderers have never been found (or rather identified). Saverio (33 years old) has head pain. He is a tired and sick man. Not a criminal. he is the youngest of three brothers. He is a fugitive. He is wanted for escape (he escaped from Nicotera prison where he was serving a four-month sentence for attacking a police officer), for drug trafficking and because he is suspected of being the organizer of the kidnapping of Paul Getty Junior.
Two weeks ago, covered by the silence of his fellow citizens, he returned to the village to marry the girl he was in love with, Maria Catarina Nava, aged 16. A full-fledged ceremony with church decorations and dozens of guests. The carabinieri (there are only three in Castellace, still locked in the barracks) discovered it afterwards, when Saverio and the bride had already returned to the refuge in the mountains where they were spending their honeymoon. A genuine joke that earned Saverio new popularity among the inhabitants of these mountains. Meeting him is impossible. But it is also a challenge to try to reconstruct the character through direct testimonies. Even the neighbor swears on her children that she didn't
never seen him, never heard of him. The priest of Castellace, Don Serafino Violi, the priest who married him, is available for any conversation, any discussion, provided you leave aside the theme of the mafia and the Mammoliti in particular. “The last time I saw him,” one of the guests told us, was five years ago. Then he gave me the impression of a serious boy, certainly the most calm and cultured of the three brothers."The typical exponent of the new Calabrian mafia", adds Luigi Malafarina, writer and journalist, very expert in the secret affairs of the 'ndrangheta. "He wants power: everything and fast. He likes money, fast cars (lately he drove around in a Jaguar) and beautiful women. I don't know if he was really involved in the kidnapping of Getty, but I'm sure that even without the billion in this ransom, he would have could live like a mogul.
A playboy with a little personal drama: his hair. In recent years, he has lost almost all of them. He solved the problem by adopting the toupee. His wife's family, the Navas, are farmers. They have never been in trouble with the law. Why did they allow one of them to marry a fugitive? “Getting married to a Mammoliti, in these regions, is always an honor,” tells us a primary school teacher from Palmi who worked for years in primary school
Oppido Mamertina. The Mammolitis live in two new and pretentious villas. Vincenzo, the older brother, is absent: he is at the seaside with his family. Nino is there... but we can't see him.
We are going to his villa. His wife appears, a young and pretty blonde lady. Also with her is the eldest of Nino Mammoliti's three children. “My husband is not here, I don’t know where he is, I don’t know when he will come back,” she hastens to tell us before we open the door.
mouth. We try to make him understand that we only want to talk about Saverio with someone from his family. Worse than before: the young woman tenses up, repeats the nursery rhyme on her husband who is not there and withdraws.
Nino Mammoliti comes out of the shadows. He carries the youngest of his children in his arms. “I have nothing to say, I don’t want to talk to anyone. Go away" he orders us. It's an order. From those who don't allow answers. And he slams the door in our faces.
FAKE POOR OF CRIME (Antonio Giacobbe)
Antonio Giacobbe's wife paints an idyllic portrait of her husband accused of being the instigator of the kidnapping of Cristina Mazzotti. Although he was very rich, lived as a homeless person in a dilapidated house. Theft, extortion, illegal possession of weapons in his past as a “good and honest man”
Catanzaro, September 1
The instigator of the kidnapping of Cristina Mazzotti would be Antonio Giacobbe. He was arrested on Tuesday 9 September after Giuliano Angelini, in an American-style confrontation, recognized him as the judge of the trial that the rest of the gang had brought against him in an olive grove for the death of the Milanese woman. Fifty-five years old, a broken nose, almost bald, a mouth missing several teeth and the others are encased in gold, a protruding belly, a slight defect in one leg which makes him limp slightly, Antonio Giacobbe, known as "Scanciapicciuli" (exchanger money), works as a horse broker in Poggio Radioso, a small village near Catanzaro. Despite the aura of "a man of respect" that he has always tried to give himself, he does not seem belong to the mafia [actually yes, he was]. He's just a criminal with a long and unremarkable criminal record.
Originally from Reggio Calabria, immediately after the war he settled in Sambiase, a small town in the province of Catanzaro, on the Tyrrhenian coast, where he opened a butcher's shop and began to take his first steps in the criminal world. But he doesn't have much luck, neither as a trader, nor as a criminal. On June 13, 1948, a certain Rocco Pilotti, currently detained in a criminal asylum for the murder of a relative, ambushed him. As Giacobbe returned home, he fired several shots at him, but failed to kill him. This event, however, suggests that “Scanciapicciuli” needs a change of scenery. He settled in Borgia, a town agricultural on the Ionian side of the province of Catanzaro. And here he meets Teresa Scarfone, a few years younger than him, and marries her. During the same period, he began his activity as a mediator, without ever neglecting the most lucrative criminal activities. Since then, he has collected many of complaints: from theft to extortion, from embezzlement to detention illegal weapons.
The life of the godfather of the olive grove in January 1972 was shaken by a tragedy: Umberto, one of his three children, the eldest of the boys, committed suicide at the age of 21 with a bullet to the head. Theater of tragedy: one of the father's stables. The sign of this blow and many other blows received during a life spent alongside a man like Antonio Giacobbe is printed on the face of his wife Teresa, who looks much older than her 48 years. Always dressed in black (she cries again the death of her son), when she speaks she keeps one hand compressed on her liver which causes him constant problems.
“My husband,” she said in a resigned tone, “is in trouble because of a world of gossip that wants him to be “the boss” at all costs. And yet, he is a good, honest and generous man. Consider that after work he almost never left the house. He spent his evenings with me, in front of the television, in this room and glances around the room, a sort of living room, in which the plaster is crumbling and the table is askew.
He doesn't want to talk about his children. He only tells us that all his daughters are married thanks to God, as if to emphasize that the Giacobbe family has everything in order. Instead, she continues to talk about her husband. “He always talked to us about his work,” she says. One day, a horse bit him badly on the face. Last year, a colt almost broke his back with a kick. He worked like a mule without ever resting. Other than “boss”…”.
Teresa Giacobbe is a dignified woman, she is not discouraged, she defends her man, she believes in his innocence. Why on earth would she and her children lead a miserable life in an old and poorly furnished house, if in fact her Antonio had been a 90-year-old mafioso and had pocketed all those millions (we're talking 500) from Cristina's ransom? A lack of “coverage” believes the police. And in fact Antonio Giacobbe owns several houses in
different Calabrian towns in addition to this dilapidated house which overlooks a path
of land on the outskirts of Borgia.
“These are only slanders,” the woman replies. We are really poor, even if we keep our dignity. After all, how could my husband he could have done everything they accuse him of what if just recently when this poor girl was kidnapped and killed he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital? Since the day our poor Umberto died, Antonio has not been well. Her head rotates constantly. Often he is even unable to get out of bed due to head pain. He is a tired and sick man. Not a criminal.”
But the police and the carabinieri do not agree. Giuliano Angelini's accusations are as relentless as they are precise. So much so that Antonio Giacobbe risks ending his criminal escalation in a penitentiary. To life in prison.
Daniel Romiti
For those who may be interested, here are the original pages. Oggi number 39 September 22, 1975
If something is wrong with the translation, please let me know.
