Seventy-seven years after Salvatore Giuliano’s striking political act, the masterminds remain shrouded in mystery amid confirmed cover-ups
Abstract: On May 1, 1947, not far from Palermo, in the area of Portella delle Ginestre, a paramilitary group of criminals led by Salvatore Giuliano opened fire on an unarmed crowd celebrating May Day after the fall of Fascism and demanding land reform to finally free the poor from the latifundium system. In the first election of the Sicilian Regional Assembly, the left had won by a wide margin, and after the massacre the bandit Giuliano sent a letter to U.S. President Harry Truman, offering his support in the fight against Bolshevism and requesting the annexation of Sicily to the United States.
Keywords: #PortellaDelleGinestreMassacre #BanditGiuliano #SalvatoreGiuliano #Giuliano #LandReform #Latifundium #Terrorism #BlackTerrorism #NeoFascistTerrorism #CoverUps #Sicily #PortellaDelleGinestre #Criminology #History #Politics #ItalianMysteries #MassimilianoMancini #FrancescoMancini #EthicaSocietas #EthicaSocietasJournal.
The Portella della Ginestre massacre occurred 77 years ago, on May 1, 1947.
Italy was going through a period of profound transformation, marked by the transition toward the new republican democracy. This transition, sanctioned by the referendum of June 2, 1946, brought with it a series of tensions and conflicts. On one side were the fascists, who had just reorganized themselves into the Italian Social Movement (MSI); on the other were Marxist-inspired movements that considered the revolution incomplete and sought to carry their cause forward.
The scenario was further complicated by international interests. Foreign powers played a decisive role in the Italian political landscape. On one side stood the Soviet Union, which, by supporting the Italian Communist Party, sought to influence events to its own advantage; on the other were the United States, intent on preventing the rise of the left, which at that time was gaining significant momentum within the Italian government.
The Historical Context
In 1947, Italians returned to celebrating International Workers’ Day on May 1, which under the Fascist regime had been moved to April 21, the so-called “Birthday of Rome.”
About two thousand workers, many of them agricultural laborers, gathered at Portella della Ginestre, a mountainous area in the municipality of Piana degli Albanesi, a few kilometers from Palermo, to protest against the latifundium system and to celebrate the recent victory of the Blocco del Popolo—the alliance between Nenni’s Socialists and Togliatti’s Communists—in the elections for the Sicilian Regional Assembly held on April 20 of that year. In those elections, the PSI-PCI coalition won 29 seats out of 90 (with about 32% of the vote), compared to the Christian Democrats’ 21 seats (having dropped to about 20%).
The location was chosen because decades earlier Nicola Barbato, one of the symbolic figures of Sicilian socialism, had delivered speeches there. At the time, living conditions for the population were extremely harsh and, as some survivors later recalled, many people joined the demonstration also in the hope of finding something to eat.
The demonstration focused on the long-awaited agrarian reform and had been preceded, in October 1944, by the occupation of uncultivated land, which was legalized by the Minister of Agriculture Fausto Gullo. This measure sought to alleviate widespread poverty by allowing the occupation of unused land with a different distribution of harvests that favored farmers more than landowners. This new distribution, contrary to local customs of the time, was seen as a potential source of social upheaval that could disrupt the region’s political balances, which were also managed by the Mafia.
The Political Significance
The mass demonstration at Portella della Ginestre became an epoch-making event, a true human tide that poured into the valley’s roads. It was a cry for liberation from misery and oppression, a demand for a radical agrarian reform that would lead to a fairer distribution of resources and opportunities against the large landowners, who until then had been protected by Fascism. Indeed, Mussolini, when he was editor of Avanti!, had supported agrarian reform, but once in power he never implemented it, instead protecting the landowners and industrialists who had financed and supported him during the March on Rome.
The Massacre
The perpetrators of the massacre had already organized themselves the day before, as soon as Salvatore Giuliano received a mysterious letter, which he immediately burned.
It was just after 10 a.m. when a shoemaker—standing in for PCI deputy Girolamo Li Causi—began speaking from the rally platform. Suddenly, the first shots rang out, initially mistaken for firecrackers. But when people began to fall bleeding, everyone realized the true nature of the blasts. The elderly threw themselves to the ground, but it was mostly the younger, less experienced participants who fell under the gunfire. The near total absence of shelter exposed workers and their families to devastation. In about fifteen minutes, everything was over.
The criminals’ machine-gun fire immediately caused 11 deaths, including six very young victims, and seriously wounded more than 30 people, six of whom later died. The bandits fled, forcing their escape through further killings.
For about a month afterward, attacks with machine guns and hand grenades targeted PCI headquarters in Monreale, Carini, Cinisi, Terrasini, Borgetto, Partinico, San Giuseppe Jato, and San Cipirello. Each action bore Giuliano’s signature; through leaflets, he incited the population to rebel against the advancing communism.
At the same time, Salvatore Giuliano appealed to U.S. President Truman, assuring him of his actions against Bolshevism and aspiring to the annexation of Sicily to the United States.
The Investigations
Following the investigations, 175 people were initially rounded up, then released. Four Mafia members from San Giuseppe Jato—Giuseppe Troia, Salvatore Romano, Elia Marino, and Pietro Grigoli—were reported as the material perpetrators because they had been identified by witnesses, but they were later acquitted during the preliminary investigation.
At the end of June 1947, there appeared to be a turning point: hunters who had been kidnapped by the bandits before the attack recognized Salvatore Giuliano, Salvatore Ferreri (known as “Fra’ Diavolo”), and the brothers Salvatore and Fedele Pianelli, who were later killed in a shootout in Alcamo. From them came the confession of another participant in the raid, Francesco Gaglio, known as “Reversino,” who was arrested after confessing. Other alleged accomplices were also arrested, but ultimately all were cleared.
At first, Giuliano denied any involvement in the massacre, only to later admit it during an interview with journalist Jacopo Rizza and in two memorials allegedly written in his own hand and sent to the judiciary in 1950, shortly before his death.
The Trial
Judicial proceedings began in Palermo in 1950 and were marked by cover-ups and pressure. They were later moved to Viterbo for legittima suspicione (legitimate suspicion). The case became one of the first media trials, drawing the attention of the national press and public opinion.
Giuliano sent the judges two memorials: in the first, he took full responsibility for the massacre, claiming that the victims and wounded were merely the result of his men’s mistake in aiming; in the second, he exonerated Minister Mario Scelba from the accusation of being the instigator. Several letters from a correspondence between the bandit and Communist deputy Girolamo Li Causi were made public, in which veiled accusations against Scelba instead emerged.
The verdict was delivered in 1955, five years after Giuliano’s killing in prison at the hands of Gaspare Pisciotta, another detainee who was also accused and later convicted for the massacre. The ruling declared the responsibility of a far-right paramilitary group led by Salvatore Giuliano. However, to this day it remains unclear who the true masterminds were, amid countless cover-ups and the interests of foreign powers that—from the Allied landing in Sicily to the Sigonella crisis—have continued to influence Italian politics.
Some bandits went unpunished, while others served prison sentences, but even today the identity of the masterminds has not been definitively established, obscured by persistent cover-ups and the interests of foreign powers that have shaped Italy’s political history from the Allied landing in Sicily to the present day.
NOTES
[1] Sandro Provvisionato, Mysteries of Italy, Bari, Laterza, 1994.
[2] Carlo Ruta, The Giuliano–Scelba Pair, Soveria Mannelli, Rubbettino, 1995.
[3] Giuseppe Casarrubea, Secret History of Sicily. From the Allied Landing to Portella della Ginestra, Milan, Bompiani, 2005.
[4] Ennio Di Nolfo, The Fears and Hopes of Italians, 1943–1953, Milan, Mondadori, 1986.
[5] Francesco Petrotta, Salvatore Giuliano, Man of Honor. New Hypotheses on the Portella della Ginestra Massacre, presentation by Pino Arlacchi, foreword by Enzo Campo, Palermo, La Zisa, 2018.
[6] Carlo Ruta, Giuliano and the State. Documents on the First Intrigue of the Republic, Edi.bi.si., Messina, 2004.
[7] Francesco Petrotta, The Massacre and the Cover-Ups. The Castle of Shadows over Portella della Ginestra, Rome, Ediesse, 2007.
[8] Giuseppe Casarrubea, Secret History of Sicily. From the Allied Landing to Portella della Ginestra, introduction by Nicola Tranfaglia, Milan, Bompiani, 2005.
RELIGIOUS TERRORISM
22 LUGLIO 2011, UN TERRORISTA CRISTIANO COMMETTE DUE STRAGI IN NORVEGIA
MAFIA TERRORISM
27 LUGLIO 1993: TERRORISMO MAFIOSO A VIA PALESTRO
19 LUGLIO 1992, L’URGENZA DI AMMAZZARE ANCHE PAOLO BORSELLINO
23 MAGGIO 1992, UNA STRAGE PER AMMAZZARE GIOVANNI FALCONE
UNSOLVED MYSTERIES
12 MAGGIO 1977, OMICIDIO DI GIORGIANA MASI
NEO-FASCIST TERRORISM
2 AGOSTO 1980: LA STRAGE DELLA STAZIONE DI BOLOGNA
4 AGOSTO 1974: LA STRAGE DEL TRENO ITALICUS
28 MAGGIO 1974, LA STRAGE DI PIAZZA DELLA LOGGIA
31 MAGGIO 1972, LA STRAGE DI PETEANO
FAR LEFT TERRORISM
17 MAGGIO 1972, OMICIDIO DEL COMMISSARIO LUIGI CALABRESI
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