Sicilian mafioso Tommaso Buscetta broke the sacred oath of omertà 40 years ago

In April 1988, mafioso-turned-informant Tommaso Buscetta testified before the U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which was investigating the state of organized crime in America, 25 years after Joe Valachi gave the first public testimony against the Mafia. Buscetta offered testimony about cooperation between the American Mob and the Sicilian Mafia:

“My name is Tommaso Buscetta. I am a member of the Mafia, or Cosa Nostra, in Sicily, known within the Cosa Nostra as a man of honor. Since 1948, I have been part of this organization both in Sicily and later as a favored and protected guest in the United States. I have known, among others, Salvatore, or ‘Lucky’ Luciano, Carlo and Paolo Gambino, Paul Castellano and Joe Bonanno. I have spent many years in prison for my activities as a mafioso.”

Also known as Don Masino, Buscetta rose to international infamy in the mid-1980s as the first prominent Italian Mafia leader to shatter the sacred code of omertà and reveal the hidden workings of Sicily’s clandestine society. His pivotal choice began a decade-long disclosure of the Mafia’s secrets, starting in 1984. His information was instrumental in dismantling some of the most formidable crime organizations in Italy and across the globe.

The early years

Born on April 13, 1928, in Palermo, Sicily, Buscetta’s early life was steeped in the shadows of a burgeoning Mafia influence. As he matured amid the tumult of postwar Europe, he formally aligned himself with Cosa Nostra, joining the Porta Nuova clan. His criminal endeavors began with minor offenses such as cigarette smuggling and extortion, but as the years progressed, his activities escalated into more serious and dangerous crimes.

The 1960s ushered in the infamous “First Mafia War” in Sicily, ignited by a “lost” shipment of drugs that sparked a violent rift. The conflict divided Palermo’s Mafia into two factions: East and West. Buscetta found himself aligned with the western side, yet he would later disclose that the drug incident was merely a distraction. The real motivations behind the conflict were power struggles and the treachery of clans feeling overshadowed by more dominant and affluent groups.

Repentance, sort of

As tensions brewed and arrest became imminent in Sicily, Buscetta embarked on journeys to the Americas throughout the 1970s. He forged alliances in Venezuela, Mexico, Brazil, Canada and the United States, earning him the title “The Boss of Two Worlds.” Meanwhile, Sicily was bracing for another wave of violence. The so-called “Second Mafia War” concerned control of the heroin trade, led by the ruthless Corleonesi faction and Salvatore “Toto” Riina. The rivalry between Riina and Buscetta would become legendary, with Buscetta enduring devastating personal losses along the way.

Buscetta’s jet-setting came to an end in 1983 when Brazilian authorities arrested and jailed him. He was also wanted in Italy and the United States, but the former was granted extradition first. Buscetta attempted, and failed, to commit suicide by strychnine in July 1984.

Once in Italy, he was met by anti-Mafia magistrate Giovanni Falcone. Though reticent at first, Buscetta had plenty of reasons to consider turning “pentito,” an Italian word meaning “repentant” that became synonymous with informant when he flipped. Many of his family members had been murdered in the Mafia wars, including two of his sons. He steadfastly believed in the version of Cosa Nostra he grew up in but despised what the organization had become. For this reason, he would say, the decision to talk became justified. Soon, he and Falcone became close allies. Thereafter, the United States took Buscetta into the Witness Protection Program. Over the next 10 years, Buscetta testified in trials and before government committees in both nations.

Pizza Connection and the Maxi Trials

The 1980s and early 1990s saw Buscetta give damning testimony during the Maxi Trials in Palermo. Of the 475 indicted mafiosi, 338 were convicted thanks to his and other pentito witnesses’ testimonies. The Mafia’s civil war over heroin dominance was responsible for much of the violence plaguing Sicily and prompted the massive crackdown.

Riina’s allies sought control over the incredibly lucrative drug supplies, which were largely smuggled into North America, leading to the Pizza Connection. This landmark event not only unveiled the pervasive influence of the Sicilian Mafia in America but exposed the intricate web of drug trafficking linking Italy to the United States.

Between 1979 and 1984, Sicilian and American mafiosi smuggled at least $1 billion worth of heroin and cocaine (about $4 billion today) into the United States. The Pizza Connection trial, which took place from 1985 to 1987, focused on the use of pizzerias as fronts for drug distribution, heroin in particular. The case began when undercover DEA agents infiltrated the Sicilian faction operating in Philadelphia. During the extensive investigations leading to the trial, law enforcement officials uncovered a shocking level of coordination and collaboration between various Mafia crime families from the Northeast and Midwest. Gaetano Badalamenti, the former head of Sicily’s Mafia Commission, was charged with overseeing this operation, but the case revealed far more than just one man’s misdeeds. The investigation unveiled an entire ecosystem of crime supported by corruption and fear.

In November 1985, Buscetta made his debut in the Pizza Connection trial in New York City with testimony that reinforced the prosecution’s case. Contrary to popular belief, Buscetta was not the key figure or the key witness in Palermo’s Maxi Trial. The Pizza Connection case had already been solid, and its primary defendant, Gaetano Badalamenti, was a close friend of Buscetta’s. Then-State’s Attorney Rudy Giuliani made clear in a press conference that Buscetta only had a “supporting” role in the trial.

Former DEA agent Frank Panessa not only infiltrated the Mob and broke the Pizza Connection case but got to know Buscetta quite well. In a conversation with Panessa, he said Buscetta was a likable guy, albeit a cold-blooded killer. He was an incredibly important figure in taking down organized crime both in the U.S. and abroad but served a different role in the Pizza Connection case. “Buscetta was not part of the Pizza Connection case, but Badalamenti was,” Panessa explained. “See, Badalamenti was the mastermind behind it, and Buscetta worked for him.”

It’s worth noting that Buscetta often tried to minimize his own direct involvement in the heroin trade, but his own words betrayed him at times. He also had a verifiable list of close friends and business associates immersed in the drug game.

Panessa commented on Buscetta’s dismissiveness about drugs. “We had many conversations, and he was proud of what he was able to do,” he recalled. “To me, he admitted to distribution. He and Badalamenti.”

Besides a long friendship with Badalamenti, Buscetta carried on a tight friendship with another Sicilian transplant, whom he met in 1963. Giuseppe Catania Ponsiglione, a self-described haberdasher based in Mexico City, was the premier Mafia broker in Latin American drug trafficking during the French Connection and through the Medellín Cartel’s heyday. Catania often traveled with Buscetta, introduced him to connections, and even helped facilitate Buscetta’s first plastic surgery procedure.

The ultimate revelation

Panessa recalled Buscetta offering a vague yet foreboding statement: “Be careful.”

“Well, why? Do you have word that the Sicilians are going to do me?” Panessa replied.

“No, no, no. Just be careful.”

Later, Panessa figured out why the warning was so cryptic. “He didn’t want to tell me that the people that I’m dealing with are bought. They’re owned by the Sicilian Mafia.”

The Washington Post summed it up in a 1993 article: “Whenever Italian investigators moved to the subject of Italian politics — to the crucial question of whether the Sicilian Mafia survived and flourished because of high-level protection in Rome — Buscetta clammed up. Politics was just too dangerous to discuss, he insisted again and again.”

What changed? The final straw was the murders of two anti-Mafia crusaders in 1992. Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino were killed in car bombings in May 1992 and July 1992, respectively. Buscetta, under the protection of the United States, received visiting Italian investigators and offered them a crucial missing piece of the broader puzzle: the political ties.

“The tragic murders of Falcone and Borsellino have deeply struck me,” Buscetta said. “After painful reflection, this has made me review my previous attitude.”

At the tail end of Italy’s Maxi Trials and the subsequent trials of former Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, Buscetta’s entrance shed additional light on how the Mafia used corruption to manipulate Italian political processes. He illustrated a systemic issue that compromised law enforcement and governance in Italy. His testimony also helped shift public perception regarding the Mafia’s influence on Italy’s sociopolitical fabric. Or so it seemed.

Andreotti managed to get two acquittals in his 1990s trials. Buscetta was quite outspoken in his discontent with what he viewed as an overall failure on the government’s part. “I do not see any interest by the state. There is no final aim anymore.” He then returned to living in Florida with his third wife and children in the Witness Protection Program.

Riina, Buscetta’s archenemy, had been a fugitive since 1969 and was captured in January 1993. He received 26 life sentences in total and died in prison in 2017.

Tomasso Buscetta succumbed to cancer in 2000. He is buried under an assumed name.

Christian Cipollini is an organized crime historian and the award-winning author and creator of the comic book series LUCKY, based on the true story of Charles “Lucky” Luciano.