Background
Foreign a while he was considered the heir of Totò Riina and was closely connected to Leoluca Bagarella. Vitale was born in Partinico (Palermo Province).
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Vito Vitale
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Career
He was the youngest of three brothers. His first arrest was for stealing vegetables, a rather trivial crime for a future mafia boss. On May 18, 1985 an arrest warrant was issued for arms trafficking.
He allied himself to the Corleonesi clan, headed by Totò Riina.
His rise in the ranks of Cosa Nostra was due to his proven abilities as a killer and his close connection to Leoluca Bagarella, Riina’s brother in law. "He shoots like a god, and is not afraid of anything," according to a pentito – a mafioso turned state witness.
Vitale cooperated in the kidnap and killing of Giuseppe Di Matteo, the son of fellow mafioso Santo Di Matteo, who had become a pentito in 1993. The boy was held for 26 months to force his father to retract his testimony.
The boy was finally strangled on the orders of Giovanni Brusca.
Subsequently the body was dissolved in a barrel of acid to destroy the evidence. Vitale, who allegedly supplied the acid, was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison. In the 1990s a war of power in Partinico set the Geraci family, headed by Nenè Geraci, against the Vitale family.
Next to Vitale they were Giovanni Brusca, Domenico Raccuglia and Matteo Messina Denaro.
The younger bosses wanted to take strategical decisions without prior consent of Provenzano. They told him to "go home and take care of your family."
On September 28, 1997, he was stopped and held under observation, but managed to escape before he was arrested.
He was finally arrested on April 14, 1998. Giusy as she is called, was arrested in June 1998 and became a state witness (pentita) in 2005.
She gave testimony about her role as family boss, including how she helped Leonardo to organise "a number of murders" from behind bars.
Lo Iacono died in an ambulance on the way to hospital. Lo Iacono, released from jail only a couple of months ago, was probably killed because he was attempting to take over the affairs of Vito Vitale. Police speculate that the murder had been ordered by Domenico Raccuglia, who sided with the Vitale clan.
In May 2010, magistrates ruled that Vitale should be released from prison on compassionate grounds.
The court accepted his lawyers" arguments that Vitale is suffering from diabetes, depression, and a heart condition and should no longer be kept behind bars. An association of victims of the Mafia condemned the court"s decision as disgraceful.
