Salvatore Giuliano

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Salvatore Giuliano bigraphy, stories - Criminals

Salvatore Giuliano : biography

November 16, 1922 – July 5, 1950

Salvatore Giuliano (November 16, 1922 – July 5, 1950) was a Sicilian bandit who rose to prominence in the disorder which followed the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943. In September of that year, Giuliano became an outlaw after shooting and killing a police officer who tried to arrest him for black-market food smuggling when 70% of Sicily’s food supply was provided by the black market. He maintained a band of subordinates for most of his career. He was a flamboyant, high-profile criminal, attacking the police at least as often as they sought him. In addition, he was local power-broker in Sicilan politics between 1945 and 1948, including his role as a nominal colonel for the Movement for the Independence of Sicily. He and his band were held legally responsible for the Portella della Ginestra massacre, though there is some doubt about their role in the numerous deaths which occurred.

The widespread international press coverage he attracted made him an embarrassment to the Italian government, and throughout his banditry up to 2000 police and soldiers were deployed against him. He was killed in 1950 amid convoluted circumstances. The historian Eric Hobsbawm described him as the last of the "people’s bandits" (a la Robin Hood) and the first to be covered in real time by modern mass media.Hobsbawm, Robin Hoodo, p. 12

Historical Context and Interpretation

Non-academic authors vary widely (and colorfully) in their assessment of Giuliano. Michael Stern’s first impression of the bandit was ‘Errol Flynn portraying Pancho Villa.’Chandler, p 88 Gavin McLeod pointed out that Giuliano was a romantic, hankering after justice from an early ageMcLeod, pp 44-5—the bandit’s favorite author, Emilio Salgari, made a career from idealistic, romantic novels. Giuliano was still reading them in his twenties living rough in the mountains.Chandler, p. 179 Gaia Servadio sees the bandit as a tool of the Mafia, whose notoriety and success were not the a product of his personal qualities, but entirely a function of his mafioso protectors. She judges that he was easily eliminated once the protectors withdrew their support.Servadio, pp 122-30 For John Dickie, the “truth” of Giuliano resides not in his character, but in the tangle of power and politics that enmeshed his life—centered on the Mafia.Dickie, pp 209-10 Natalia Danesi Murray described Giuliano as a “theatrical megalomaniac.”Murray, p.23

The academics Monte Finkelstein and Eric Hobsbawm both see Giuliano’s historical role as being an instrument of the existing power elite of Sicily. Finkelstein characterizes him as, "a tool of the landowners and conservatives…manipulated to slaughter innocent peasants in the name of halting Communism." Hobsbawm notes ambiguity and naivete’ in Giuliano’s political role:

"Giuliano became the plaything of political forces he did not understand, when he allowed himself to become the military leader of the (Mafia-dominated) Sicilian Separatists. The one obvious fact about the men who used him and threw him away is that their conception of an independent Sicily was very different from his, which was certainly closer to that of the organized peasants whose May Day meeting he massacred at the Portella della Ginestra in 1947."Hobsbawm, Primitive Rebels, p 27

Hobsbawm classifies Giuliano as a “social bandit,”Hobsbawm, Bandits which he defines as “peasant outlaws whom the lord and state define as criminals, but who remain within peasant society, and are considered by their people as heroes, as champions, avengers, fighters for justice, perhaps even leaders of liberation, and in any case men to be admired, helped and supported.”Hobsbawm, Bandits, p. 20 He further defines Giuliano as a member of the “noble robbers” subset of social bandits—Robin Hood being the prototype.Hobsbawm, Bandits, p. 43

Central to Billy Jaynes Chandler’s analysis is Giuliano—his personality and psychology.Chandler, pp x-xi The bandit definitely saw himself as a Romantic, heroic figure. He mused about his epitaph: “Here lies Giuliano, hero of Sicily.” He made photos of himself heroically astride a horse, labeled, “Robin Hood.”Chandler, p. 98 He cultivated his image carefully, with an eye on history.,Chandler, p. 219Stern, (uncredited), p. 63 He was, according to Chandler, audacious (turning the tables on the Carabinieri Christmas Eve, 1943),Chandler, p 18 intelligentChandler, pp 178-79 and astute (when negotiating with EVIS and, later, with Sicily’s power brokers). At the same time, he was unsophisticated and naive—an inexperienced village boy negotiating with far more worldly men when he played politics. Compounding his naivete’ was his monumental ego and overly-grand self-conception.Chandler, p 139 (Maria Lombardo shared his conception—she told Joseph Stern that the three outstanding personages of history were Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and her son, Turi.)Chandler, p 87 Eric Hobsbawm agrees with Chandler’s assessment of the bandit, emphasizing the role of the MIS leaders in persuading Giuliano see himself as a major political player.Hobsbawm, Robin Hoodo, pp. 15-6