Mafia boss Vincenzo Di Carlo (1911-1979)



Police Commissioner Cataldo Tandoj and his wife, Leila Motta

Born in 1911, Vincenzo Di Carlo had belonged to the Fascist party until 1943, being an active member and leader of the GIL, the Fascist Youth movement. Once again it becomes clear how many criminal Mafiosi had been perfectly amalgamated with the Fascist structure, which was so similar to the Mafia. Under the Allies, DI Carlo was once again at the top: he was made responsible for the requisition of cereals and later became a member of the Raffadali junta. In 1950 he was given an honorary judiciary role, that of “giudice conciliatore”. In 1957 he was made head of the local section of the Christian Democratic Party. But the Carabinieri wrote (1960): “Di Carlo is the head of the local Mafia, which is made up of eight individuals; almost all have been indicted for crimes and have a criminal background. All these, including Di Carlo, operate within the Christian Democratic party and under its political protection move in silence and with total tranquility, as is the custom of the Mafia.”
On 30 March 1960, on one of these evenings when Agrigento begins to feel the heat coming, Police Commissioner Cataldo Tandoj (who had been head of the Squadra Mobile and was on the point of being transferred to Rome) and his wife were taking a stroll. It was late and dark. Suddenly from a side alley a man jumped out and opened fire: Tandoj died like a Mafia boss. A passing student was hit by a bullet and died too. Gossip quickly reached the police. Word spread that the handsome Mrs Tandoj was the mistress of Professor Mario La Loggia, a psychiatrist, brother of the former Christian democrat president of Sicily. Agrigento was described (in Sicilian and national papers) as a city of sin and orgies. La Loggia’s wife, the “insatiable” Danika, was accused of having an illicit relationship with Mrs Tandoj as well.
The Mafia masterminded the rumour campaign, and Mario La Loggia and Mrs Tandoj were arrested and imprisoned for several months. But a diary of Tandoj’s was found, and the truth came out (the diary later disappeared). Many police officers could have guessed it, because all at Agrigento knew that Commissioner Tandoj had close relationship with the cosche, both with Genco Russo’s and especially with Vincenzo Di Carlo’s, at Raffadali.
During the Fifties Tandoj had discovered much evidence against Di Carlo, but instead of publicly incriminating the boss of Raffadali he had blackmailed him. TO the prosecuting magistrates he had only told a small part of Di Carlo’s story. Although there had been strong pressures from some of the police, the Carabinieri and the judiciaries to arrest two suspects, Giuseppe Terrazino and Vincenzo Di Carlo, Tandoj had protected them and refused to arrest them. A policeman (known only to Tandoj) who was making inquiries about Terrazino had been attacked and badly wounded one night. “But in the last months of his life”, wrote Senator Pafundi in a document which until 1970 had been kept secret, “Tandoj had become helpless with the vast cosca of Raffadali and could not put a stop to the many murders when the association broke up, due to the rivalry of private interests”. And with Tandoj about to be transferred to Rome, the Raffadali cosca was no longer sure of his silence.
The La Loggia brothers were the nucleus of the Fanfani faction in the Agrigento region. For some Mafia quarters, it was also useful to discredit the La Loggias and, in so doing, to prevent the former head of the Region from becoming the head of the Bank of Sicily. When the truth came out it was too late: Mrs Tandoj and Mario La Loggia had been drowned in a sea of muddy gossip.
IN 1962 it was the heads of the Agrigento police, Salvatore Guarino, who accused Di Carlo. This was due to the fact that Di Carlo had been formally accused. Guarino reported:

The giudice conciliatore of Raffadali, Vincenzo Di Carlo, is a notorious Mafia figure in Raffadali. He has belonged to that criminal organization for over ten years and I believe that he is implicated in – or at least he is in the know about the authors of – the majority of those terrible crimes which have been committed in that territory. During the investigation for the murder of Police Commissar Tandoj… extremely damaging evidence has emerged against Di Carlo, which proves his affiliation to the Mafia of Raffadali.

Finally a trial took place. In concluded with Di Carlo’s life sentence, and his immediate appeal. The judges had declared that “the mandate of killing Tandoj was decided in even higher quarters’ than Di Carlo’s cosca.

(from the book "Mafioso" by Gaia Servadio)