Baldassare Di Maggio

Baldassare Di Maggio (San Giuseppe Jato, November 19, 1954), also known as Balduccio, is a member of the Mafia, who became a government witness (pentito). He helped the police to capture the head of Cosa Nostra, Totò Riina, and claimed that Riina respectfully kissed seven-time Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti when they met in 1987.

Mafioso

Di Maggio was born in San Giuseppe Jato, a town in the province of Palermo and was initiated in 1981 in the local Mafia family, headed by Bernardo Brusca. He was involved in the elimination of Rosario Riccobono and 14 other men of Riccobono’s Mafia clan in November 1982 during the Second Mafia War (In 2001, he received an 11 year prison sentence, which took into account his testimonies as government witness).

When the capo-famiglia of San Giuseppe Jato, Bernardo Brusca, a member of the Sicilian Mafia Commission went to prison and his son Giovanni Brusca was banished to Linosa, Di Maggio became acting head of the family. However, when Giovanni Brusca returned in 1990, Di Maggio became an uncomfortable presence that needed to be eliminated. A peace meeting was convened by Riina, but Di Maggio did not trust the set-up, and fled Sicily for his life.Stille, Excellent Cadavers, p. 388-89

Capture of Riina

Di Maggio was arrested on January 8, 1993, in the northern city Novara. He immediately admitted that he was a man of honour and told the police that he could help them find Totò Riina. Di Maggio was...
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