Gerlando Alberti

Gerlando Alberti (Italian pronunciation: [dʒerˈlando alˈbɛrti]; 18 September 1927 – 1 February 2012), nicknamed 'u Paccarè ("the imperturbable one"),[1] was a member of the Sicilian Mafia.

He was born at home; the midwife begged to be allowed to bring his mother to the front door because of the lack of daylight in the house.

[1][3][5] In the 1950s and 1960s, Alberti was considered to be an upstart Mafia boss in the shadow of men like Pietro Torretta, Tommaso Buscetta and the La Barbera brothers.

Those starting their careers in their shadow were forming into new generation of mafiosi; they had initiative, and the road to leadership of a cosca had suddenly become quicker and more readily available to those who were fast with their tommy-guns.

[6] Alberti's official business was selling textiles, employing a squad of travelling salesmen, a wonderful cover for both his trafficking operations and smuggling jewels and works of art (he allegedly possessed a Caravaggio Nativity[7][8]).

At the time, the Carabinieri began to consider Alberti as the boss of a kind of Murder Incorporated for the Sicilian Cosa Nostra.

He had a luxurious lifestyle with apartments in Milan and Naples, he owned a green Maserati and he and his men spent their evenings at nightclubs with expensive women.

In the car were Alberti, Tommaso Buscetta, Salvatore "Ciaschiteddu" Greco, Gaetano Badalamenti and Giuseppe Calderone.

They decided to set up a new Sicilian Mafia Commission (the first one was dissolved after the Ciaculli massacre) – initially headed by a triumvirate consisting of Gaetano Badalamenti, Stefano Bontade and the Corleonesi boss Luciano Leggio.

[4] Alberti was considered to be part of a moderate wing at the start of the 1981-83 Second Mafia War, allied with Gaetano Badalamenti and Stefano Bontade, against the Corleonesi led by Totò Riina.

[1][15] Due to his conviction and his links with the men on the losing side of the Second Mafia War, Alberti’s role in Cosa Nostra shrank.

On January 21, 2008, the Palermo Court absolved Alberti in relation the Gotha investigation,[17] but he received an 8 years and 5 months sentence in appeal.