July 25, 2025 • 14 mins
In this episode, we delve into the life of Calogero "Don Calò" Vizzini, the powerful Mafia boss who ruled rural Sicily with quiet authority and political cunning. From his humble beginnings in Villalba to his surprising role in World War II and postwar Italian politics, Vizzini blurred the lines between crime and governance. Discover how this old-school don became a key player in shaping Sicily’s future—one handshake, vote, and favor at a time.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Okay, so when most people hear mafia, especially in Sicily,
you probably think shadowy figures, right, secret meetings, maybe lots
of violence.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
That's the usual picture. Yeah, underground, brutal.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
But what if I told you about someone who well
didn't quite sit that mold, A figure who was both
a traditional rural boss and a really sharp political player,
someone who was actually quite public exactly.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
And that's who we're diving into today. Calladro Vinzini, or
as everyone knew him, don Colo, a really fascinating character.
He became arguably one of the most powerful figures in
twentieth century Sicily, a genuine kingmaker, especially in those messy
postwar years.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Yeah, so our mission here is to kind of unpack
how this guy Vizzini went from pretty humble roots to
being this central figure in Italian politics after the war.
His story, it really tells you a lot about how
adaptable the mafia could be, and it gives some incredible
insights into power, how people see it and how control
works behind the scenes. Were drawing heavily from excerpts from
don Colo Sicily's political mafia Powerbroker, great stuff.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
In there really sheds light on him.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
So let's paint the picture don Colo his given name
Collateral Vizzini was born way back on July twenty four,
eighteen seventy seven, place called Villalba. Tiny town, Yeah, small town, hilly, agricultural, Sicily,
pretty remote, not exactly Palermo or Catania.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
And you really have to understand what Sicily was like then,
I mean, deep grinding poverty for most people. The Italian
state it felt very far away, almost non existent in
places like Valalba.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Not much law and order from Rome.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Huh, very little effective law enforcement. Yeah, so society it
ran on different rules, local customs, sure, but also frankly,
force and reputation if you wanted respect, if you wanted
things done. It wasn't usually through official channels.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
So it was kind of the perfect breeding ground for
someone like Vizzini.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Absolutely an environment just waiting for someone to step in.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
The Vizzini's family, they weren't aristocrats or anything, but they
did own a bit land, had a reasonably good name locally.
He grew up working in agriculture to.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
The land, knew the people exactly.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
And he didn't just burst onto the scene. It was
more like a slow burn, wasn't it. Yeah, Strategically building
influence bit by bit, often by just filling those gaps
where the official state wasn't doing.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Its job right.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
He was patient, so by the early nineteen hundreds people
are already calling him a man of honor. Now we
hear that term today and think movies gangsters.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Yeah, it's got this whole mystique now, But back then.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
It meant something a bit different, right, more like someone
who could get things done.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
A fixer precisely, someone who maintained a certain kind of order,
settled disputes between people controlled who got work or opportunities.
He was the go to guy, so.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
He provided order, but it wasn't free. There was a catch.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Oh, absolutely, you've hit it. In places like Villaba, the
government was just absent. Landowners were often far away, maybe exploitative.
So Vizzini steps in. He offers something that looks like justice,
like protection, like stability. That's good the surface, yeah, but
the price was steep, total obedience, loyalty, no questions asked.
He became, in effect an alternative government, but one based
(03:09):
on his rules, enforced his way.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
And his influence really took off, especially around the lat
of Fundia, those huge farming.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Estates the backbone of the rural economy, often owned by
absentee landlords, which created another power vacuum, right, and.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
He slips right in there, mediating between the owners and
the peasants, making sure the harvest happened, keeping labor disputes.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Down, but taking a hefty cut of course, of course.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
And behind it all there was always the threat, the
muscle of his mafia connections to enforce things.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
It was a protection racket essentially, but woven into the
very fabric of the agricultural system.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Okay, so he's got this rural power base. But how
did he become more than just a local boss. How
did he expand?
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Well that's the interesting part. He wasn't just about controlling
the farms. He became what you might call a mafia entrepreneur.
He got involved in other ventures, like what sulfur mining
for one, that was huge in Sicily back then, absolutely critical,
getting control over minds, contracts, transport that brought in serious
money and gave him enormous leverage.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
So not just strong arming people, but actual business deals,
semi legitimate ones.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Yeah, blending the lines. He was also into transportation, generally
agricultural sales beyond just the estates, even smuggling, according to
the sources, So it.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Wasn't just about force. It was using his network, building
loyalty or fear, and using that intimidation to actually influence
markets exactly.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
And what's fascinating is how visible he became. He started
dressing the part, wearing suits, receiving visitors, almost like a
well a country.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Squire, cultivating an image.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Absolutely this sort of benevolent father figure, the wise man
of Villeba, even while behind the scenes the extortion and
the violence were still very much part of the operation.
It was a masterclass in public relations, really managing perception.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
That seems key to his power.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Definitely, in that environment, how people saw you was almost
as important as what you could actually do by force.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Things got tricky, firm though wh Mussolini came along right
the Fascist.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Era, oh, very tricky. Mussolini saw the mafia as well,
a rival power structure, a state within a state. He
couldn't tolerate.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
That, so he sends in Tissar Moury, the Iron Prefect.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Yeah, Morty's job was basically to crush the mafia in Sicily,
and he went at it hard. Lots of arrests, mafiosi, exiled,
some killed. It was a serious crackdown.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
And Vizzini got caught up in it. He did.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
He was jailed first in nineteen twenty two, then again
later in nineteen forty three. He definitely had to lay
low for a lot of the fascist period. But here's
the thing.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
He survived it when others didn't.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
How that's the million dollar question. It seems like he
managed it through well, a combination of things, maybe some
shrewd alliances he'd built over the years, keeping his influence quieter,
and possibly just possibly some kind of tacit understanding or
deals with elements within the regime itself, deals.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
With the fascists who are trying to crush.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Him, it suggested. We don't know for sure, but somehow,
unlike many others, he was eventually released. He remained a
power in his area, even under fascism. It shows incredible adaptability.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
That adaptability really comes through again during World War II,
doesn't it. The Allied invasion of Sicily in forty three.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Total chaos. Mussolini's government is collapsing, the Germans are pulling back.
There's no real civil authority left. The Americans land and
they need local help, local intelligence. They don't know the
terrain or the people, and who knows.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
The terrain and the people better than the local mafia
bosses exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
So the story goes the US Office of Strategic Services
that OSS basically the forerunner to the CIA. They actually
reached out. They used mafia contacts, including Vizzini. Apparently, why
would they do that? Well, the mafia hated the fascists
who'd persecuted them, and they had eyes and ears everywhere.
It was, shall we say, a pragmatic alliance born of
(06:58):
desperation on the allied side and upper tunism on the
mafia side.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
And then comes maybe the most jaw dropping part. The
Allies actually appoint Vizzini is the mayor of Villadba for
a while.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Yeah, it's pretty stunning when you think about it. Here's
this guy known for decades as a mafia figure suddenly
wearing the official hat of mayor, installed by the American
military government.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
What does that even mean? How's that happen?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
I think it just perfectly illustrates the mafia's uncanny ability
to not just survive massive upheavals, but to actually profit
from them. They knew how to navigate chaos, switch allegiances,
fill power, vacuums, instantly aligning with the winning side, even
if it was a foreign army served their interests.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
So the war ends, Italy's trying to rebuild. It's a mess,
politically cold war starting up. Where does Fazzini fit into
all this?
Speaker 2 (07:45):
He pivots again. He moves from just being a local
power broker to a political kingmaker on a much larger scale. Also,
he throws his weight and the influenced network he controls
behind the Christian Democrats, the Democraciastiana. They were the big
centrist anti communist party that would dominate Italian politics for decades.
(08:06):
Why them, because the Communists were getting strong, especially in
poor areas like Sicily. All that poverty, the landless peasants.
It was fertile ground for leftist ideas, land reform, workers' rights.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Which was a direct threat to Vizini set.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Up, absolutely a threat to the landowners he worked with,
a threat to his control. So he uses his influence
to fight the left. What did that look like on
the ground, Suppressing labor strikes, intimidating communist organizers and activists,
making sure conservative candidates the ones who would protect mafia interests. Yeah,
naturally got the votes. In his areas.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
It's kind of chilling how smoothly that transition seems to
happen from local boss to political operator.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
It really is. And there's this incredible detail, almost iconic.
When national politicians were campaigning in Sicily, if they went
near Velba, their first stop had to be Vizzini's house. Seriously,
they had to go and literally kiss his hand, asked
for his blessing, his support. In return, he'd delivered the
votes from his territory, plus money, plus ensuring silence about
(09:07):
certain things. He became indispensable to Sicilian politics.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Wow, kiss his hand. That says it all, doesn't it.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
He wasn't elected to anything anymore, but he held immense power.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
But sometimes that quiet influenced the handshake maybe wasn't enough.
There was this incident in Villba in nineteen forty four.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Ah, yes, the Villaba incident. It got a lot of attention.
What happened was some communist leaders, Jacoma Licata and Jacomo Patrone,
decided to hold a rally right there in Vilaba, in
Zini's backyard.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Basically exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
They were pushing for land reform, workers rights, everything. Vizini
and the landowners a post. It was a direct.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Challenge, sofa Zini confronted them.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
He did, showed up in person, basically told them to
get out, that their ideas weren't welcome there, and they refused.
They stood their ground, and then well, gunmen opened fire
on the rally. Several people were wounded.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Jesus so violence was still the bottom line.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
It blew up made headlines all over Italy. It was
this stark public demonstration of the violent clash between the
mafia's established order and the post fascist movements pushing for change.
It showed everyone that when push came to shove, mafia
power rested on force, not persuasion. The masks slipped.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
So despite incidents like that, by the nineteen fifties, Don
Callo is practically a living legend. He really was.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
It's quite something. International journalists were actually making pilgrimages to Vilalba.
Reporters from the New York Times others. They wanted to
meet this famous, almost mythical mafia.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Boss and he met with them.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Oh yeah, he gave interviews, post for photos. He played
the part perfectly, the wise old patriarch, the man who
kept the peace in his little corner of Sicily. He
carefully managed that image, but we know from.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
The source material and the Vilalba incident that there was
a much harder edge behind that. Folks see image. Was
that common, that kind of public face for a mafia leader, then.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
That's a good point. Many operated much more secretly. Vizzini
seems almost unique in how skillfully he blended that traditional
rural man of honor persona with this very public, almost
statesmanlike rule.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Like a mafia ambassador.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Sort of. Yeah, he was getting old, but his network
was still vast, reaching across the Silely, even connections on
the mainland. Some journalists definitely bought into the romantic image,
this charming old dawn. Others saw through it, recognize the
ruthless operator beneath the surface.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
That duality is fascinating, the charm and the threat.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
It's key to understanding his long reign. I think how
power it can work through both attraction and fear.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
But his reign did eventually end. Caligjiro Vizzini died on
July tenth, nineteen fifty four. He was seventy six.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
And his funeral apparently was enormous. Thousands of people turned out.
You had the local villagers, of course, but also politicians,
other mafiosi. It was this massive public acknowledgment of the
power he'd wielded for decades.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
A real recognition of his status.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Absolutely, he wasn't just a criminal. He had become a
kind of social institute in that part of Sicily, his death.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Really feels like the end of an era, doesn't it
The end of that particular style of mafia leadership, I.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Think, so deeply rooted in the countryside, builds on local patronage,
but also willing to engage directly, even publicly, with the
state when it suited him.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
So what's his legacy? Then? It seems incredibly complicated.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Oh hugely. Was he a stabilizing force in a chaotic world,
someone who provided order where the state failed? Some people
might argue that. Or was he just a cynical manipulator
who exploited everyone, the state, the peasants, the landowners, for
his own power and wealth.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Probably elements of both.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Most likely. What's really significant, though, is how he acts
as this bridge. He connects the older traditional rural mafia
with the more modern, urban and eventually global criminal organizations
that came later Owso his style, that public facing, political
patriarchal approach. It really faded after him. What followed guys
(12:56):
like Totorina, Bernardo Provenzano. They represented a different kind of
much more secretive, far more reliant on extreme violence and terror.
Operating internationally. They ruled by fear, not by Vizzini's blend
of influence and charm. That shift is a huge part
of his legacy.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
So wrapping this up, what should you listening to this
take away from don Callo's story. I mean, he was
clearly more than just a gangster stereotype.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Much more, he was like a social institution stepping into
the void left by a weak state. He wore so
many hats businessman, political broker, mediator, criminal, boss.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
And by doing that, he showed that the mafia wasn't
just about violence. It was deeply woven into the fabric
of society, about controlling information, perception, access power.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Yeah, think about it. Through fascism, World War, the crazy
post war period, the birth of the Italian Republic. Through
all that chaos, Don Callo didn't just survive, He adapted,
He thrived, He shaped events.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
It really makes you think, doesn't it, about how power
actually works, especially when times are tough or things are unstable,
When the official rules break down, What fills the gap
and how do these alternative power structures get so entrenched
they almost seem normal.
Okay, so when most people hear mafia, especially in Sicily,
you probably think shadowy figures, right, secret meetings, maybe lots
of violence.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
That's the usual picture. Yeah, underground, brutal.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
But what if I told you about someone who well
didn't quite sit that mold, A figure who was both
a traditional rural boss and a really sharp political player,
someone who was actually quite public exactly.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
And that's who we're diving into today. Calladro Vinzini, or
as everyone knew him, don Colo, a really fascinating character.
He became arguably one of the most powerful figures in
twentieth century Sicily, a genuine kingmaker, especially in those messy
postwar years.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Yeah, so our mission here is to kind of unpack
how this guy Vizzini went from pretty humble roots to
being this central figure in Italian politics after the war.
His story, it really tells you a lot about how
adaptable the mafia could be, and it gives some incredible
insights into power, how people see it and how control
works behind the scenes. Were drawing heavily from excerpts from
don Colo Sicily's political mafia Powerbroker, great stuff.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
In there really sheds light on him.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
So let's paint the picture don Colo his given name
Collateral Vizzini was born way back on July twenty four,
eighteen seventy seven, place called Villalba. Tiny town, Yeah, small town, hilly, agricultural, Sicily,
pretty remote, not exactly Palermo or Catania.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
And you really have to understand what Sicily was like then,
I mean, deep grinding poverty for most people. The Italian
state it felt very far away, almost non existent in
places like Valalba.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Not much law and order from Rome.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Huh, very little effective law enforcement. Yeah, so society it
ran on different rules, local customs, sure, but also frankly,
force and reputation if you wanted respect, if you wanted
things done. It wasn't usually through official channels.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
So it was kind of the perfect breeding ground for
someone like Vizzini.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Absolutely an environment just waiting for someone to step in.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
The Vizzini's family, they weren't aristocrats or anything, but they
did own a bit land, had a reasonably good name locally.
He grew up working in agriculture to.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
The land, knew the people exactly.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
And he didn't just burst onto the scene. It was
more like a slow burn, wasn't it. Yeah, Strategically building
influence bit by bit, often by just filling those gaps
where the official state wasn't doing.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Its job right.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
He was patient, so by the early nineteen hundreds people
are already calling him a man of honor. Now we
hear that term today and think movies gangsters.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Yeah, it's got this whole mystique now, But back then.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
It meant something a bit different, right, more like someone
who could get things done.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
A fixer precisely, someone who maintained a certain kind of order,
settled disputes between people controlled who got work or opportunities.
He was the go to guy, so.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
He provided order, but it wasn't free. There was a catch.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Oh, absolutely, you've hit it. In places like Villaba, the
government was just absent. Landowners were often far away, maybe exploitative.
So Vizzini steps in. He offers something that looks like justice,
like protection, like stability. That's good the surface, yeah, but
the price was steep, total obedience, loyalty, no questions asked.
He became, in effect an alternative government, but one based
(03:09):
on his rules, enforced his way.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
And his influence really took off, especially around the lat
of Fundia, those huge farming.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Estates the backbone of the rural economy, often owned by
absentee landlords, which created another power vacuum, right, and.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
He slips right in there, mediating between the owners and
the peasants, making sure the harvest happened, keeping labor disputes.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Down, but taking a hefty cut of course, of course.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
And behind it all there was always the threat, the
muscle of his mafia connections to enforce things.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
It was a protection racket essentially, but woven into the
very fabric of the agricultural system.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Okay, so he's got this rural power base. But how
did he become more than just a local boss. How
did he expand?
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Well that's the interesting part. He wasn't just about controlling
the farms. He became what you might call a mafia entrepreneur.
He got involved in other ventures, like what sulfur mining
for one, that was huge in Sicily back then, absolutely critical,
getting control over minds, contracts, transport that brought in serious
money and gave him enormous leverage.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
So not just strong arming people, but actual business deals,
semi legitimate ones.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Yeah, blending the lines. He was also into transportation, generally
agricultural sales beyond just the estates, even smuggling, according to
the sources, So it.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Wasn't just about force. It was using his network, building
loyalty or fear, and using that intimidation to actually influence
markets exactly.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
And what's fascinating is how visible he became. He started
dressing the part, wearing suits, receiving visitors, almost like a
well a country.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Squire, cultivating an image.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Absolutely this sort of benevolent father figure, the wise man
of Villeba, even while behind the scenes the extortion and
the violence were still very much part of the operation.
It was a masterclass in public relations, really managing perception.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
That seems key to his power.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Definitely, in that environment, how people saw you was almost
as important as what you could actually do by force.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Things got tricky, firm though wh Mussolini came along right
the Fascist.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Era, oh, very tricky. Mussolini saw the mafia as well,
a rival power structure, a state within a state. He
couldn't tolerate.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
That, so he sends in Tissar Moury, the Iron Prefect.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Yeah, Morty's job was basically to crush the mafia in Sicily,
and he went at it hard. Lots of arrests, mafiosi, exiled,
some killed. It was a serious crackdown.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
And Vizzini got caught up in it. He did.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
He was jailed first in nineteen twenty two, then again
later in nineteen forty three. He definitely had to lay
low for a lot of the fascist period. But here's
the thing.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
He survived it when others didn't.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
How that's the million dollar question. It seems like he
managed it through well, a combination of things, maybe some
shrewd alliances he'd built over the years, keeping his influence quieter,
and possibly just possibly some kind of tacit understanding or
deals with elements within the regime itself, deals.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
With the fascists who are trying to crush.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Him, it suggested. We don't know for sure, but somehow,
unlike many others, he was eventually released. He remained a
power in his area, even under fascism. It shows incredible adaptability.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
That adaptability really comes through again during World War II,
doesn't it. The Allied invasion of Sicily in forty three.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Total chaos. Mussolini's government is collapsing, the Germans are pulling back.
There's no real civil authority left. The Americans land and
they need local help, local intelligence. They don't know the
terrain or the people, and who knows.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
The terrain and the people better than the local mafia
bosses exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
So the story goes the US Office of Strategic Services
that OSS basically the forerunner to the CIA. They actually
reached out. They used mafia contacts, including Vizzini. Apparently, why
would they do that? Well, the mafia hated the fascists
who'd persecuted them, and they had eyes and ears everywhere.
It was, shall we say, a pragmatic alliance born of
(06:58):
desperation on the allied side and upper tunism on the
mafia side.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
And then comes maybe the most jaw dropping part. The
Allies actually appoint Vizzini is the mayor of Villadba for
a while.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Yeah, it's pretty stunning when you think about it. Here's
this guy known for decades as a mafia figure suddenly
wearing the official hat of mayor, installed by the American
military government.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
What does that even mean? How's that happen?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
I think it just perfectly illustrates the mafia's uncanny ability
to not just survive massive upheavals, but to actually profit
from them. They knew how to navigate chaos, switch allegiances,
fill power, vacuums, instantly aligning with the winning side, even
if it was a foreign army served their interests.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
So the war ends, Italy's trying to rebuild. It's a mess,
politically cold war starting up. Where does Fazzini fit into
all this?
Speaker 2 (07:45):
He pivots again. He moves from just being a local
power broker to a political kingmaker on a much larger scale. Also,
he throws his weight and the influenced network he controls
behind the Christian Democrats, the Democraciastiana. They were the big
centrist anti communist party that would dominate Italian politics for decades.
(08:06):
Why them, because the Communists were getting strong, especially in
poor areas like Sicily. All that poverty, the landless peasants.
It was fertile ground for leftist ideas, land reform, workers' rights.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Which was a direct threat to Vizini set.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Up, absolutely a threat to the landowners he worked with,
a threat to his control. So he uses his influence
to fight the left. What did that look like on
the ground, Suppressing labor strikes, intimidating communist organizers and activists,
making sure conservative candidates the ones who would protect mafia interests. Yeah,
naturally got the votes. In his areas.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
It's kind of chilling how smoothly that transition seems to
happen from local boss to political operator.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
It really is. And there's this incredible detail, almost iconic.
When national politicians were campaigning in Sicily, if they went
near Velba, their first stop had to be Vizzini's house. Seriously,
they had to go and literally kiss his hand, asked
for his blessing, his support. In return, he'd delivered the
votes from his territory, plus money, plus ensuring silence about
(09:07):
certain things. He became indispensable to Sicilian politics.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Wow, kiss his hand. That says it all, doesn't it.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
He wasn't elected to anything anymore, but he held immense power.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
But sometimes that quiet influenced the handshake maybe wasn't enough.
There was this incident in Villba in nineteen forty four.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Ah, yes, the Villaba incident. It got a lot of attention.
What happened was some communist leaders, Jacoma Licata and Jacomo Patrone,
decided to hold a rally right there in Vilaba, in
Zini's backyard.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Basically exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
They were pushing for land reform, workers rights, everything. Vizini
and the landowners a post. It was a direct.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Challenge, sofa Zini confronted them.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
He did, showed up in person, basically told them to
get out, that their ideas weren't welcome there, and they refused.
They stood their ground, and then well, gunmen opened fire
on the rally. Several people were wounded.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Jesus so violence was still the bottom line.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
It blew up made headlines all over Italy. It was
this stark public demonstration of the violent clash between the
mafia's established order and the post fascist movements pushing for change.
It showed everyone that when push came to shove, mafia
power rested on force, not persuasion. The masks slipped.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
So despite incidents like that, by the nineteen fifties, Don
Callo is practically a living legend. He really was.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
It's quite something. International journalists were actually making pilgrimages to Vilalba.
Reporters from the New York Times others. They wanted to
meet this famous, almost mythical mafia.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Boss and he met with them.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Oh yeah, he gave interviews, post for photos. He played
the part perfectly, the wise old patriarch, the man who
kept the peace in his little corner of Sicily. He
carefully managed that image, but we know from.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
The source material and the Vilalba incident that there was
a much harder edge behind that. Folks see image. Was
that common, that kind of public face for a mafia leader, then.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
That's a good point. Many operated much more secretly. Vizzini
seems almost unique in how skillfully he blended that traditional
rural man of honor persona with this very public, almost
statesmanlike rule.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Like a mafia ambassador.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Sort of. Yeah, he was getting old, but his network
was still vast, reaching across the Silely, even connections on
the mainland. Some journalists definitely bought into the romantic image,
this charming old dawn. Others saw through it, recognize the
ruthless operator beneath the surface.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
That duality is fascinating, the charm and the threat.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
It's key to understanding his long reign. I think how
power it can work through both attraction and fear.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
But his reign did eventually end. Caligjiro Vizzini died on
July tenth, nineteen fifty four. He was seventy six.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
And his funeral apparently was enormous. Thousands of people turned out.
You had the local villagers, of course, but also politicians,
other mafiosi. It was this massive public acknowledgment of the
power he'd wielded for decades.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
A real recognition of his status.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Absolutely, he wasn't just a criminal. He had become a
kind of social institute in that part of Sicily, his death.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Really feels like the end of an era, doesn't it
The end of that particular style of mafia leadership, I.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Think, so deeply rooted in the countryside, builds on local patronage,
but also willing to engage directly, even publicly, with the
state when it suited him.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
So what's his legacy? Then? It seems incredibly complicated.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Oh hugely. Was he a stabilizing force in a chaotic world,
someone who provided order where the state failed? Some people
might argue that. Or was he just a cynical manipulator
who exploited everyone, the state, the peasants, the landowners, for
his own power and wealth.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Probably elements of both.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Most likely. What's really significant, though, is how he acts
as this bridge. He connects the older traditional rural mafia
with the more modern, urban and eventually global criminal organizations
that came later Owso his style, that public facing, political
patriarchal approach. It really faded after him. What followed guys
(12:56):
like Totorina, Bernardo Provenzano. They represented a different kind of
much more secretive, far more reliant on extreme violence and terror.
Operating internationally. They ruled by fear, not by Vizzini's blend
of influence and charm. That shift is a huge part
of his legacy.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
So wrapping this up, what should you listening to this
take away from don Callo's story. I mean, he was
clearly more than just a gangster stereotype.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Much more, he was like a social institution stepping into
the void left by a weak state. He wore so
many hats businessman, political broker, mediator, criminal, boss.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
And by doing that, he showed that the mafia wasn't
just about violence. It was deeply woven into the fabric
of society, about controlling information, perception, access power.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Yeah, think about it. Through fascism, World War, the crazy
post war period, the birth of the Italian Republic. Through
all that chaos, Don Callo didn't just survive, He adapted,
He thrived, He shaped events.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
It really makes you think, doesn't it, about how power
actually works, especially when times are tough or things are unstable,
When the official rules break down, What fills the gap
and how do these alternative power structures get so entrenched
they almost seem normal.
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