According to Pippo’s brother Antonino Calderone (who became a pentito in 1987) the first Mafia family in Catania was started by Antonio Saitta.

[1] Another uncle had helped the Mafia get back on its feet after World War II, organizing the black market in contraband cigarettes.

In the early 1960s, Calderone was already a man of honour and had the role of consigliere within the Catania mafia, which at the time was headed by Orazio Nicotra.

They earned some money with cigarette smuggling and ran an Agip petrol station, thanks to a franchise they acquired through Christian Democrat politician Graziano Verzotto.

At the beginning of the 1970s, the Calderone clan developed a relationship with the construction entrepreneur Carmelo Costanzo – one of the four Cavalieri del Lavoro (Knights of Labour), together with Francesco Finocchiaro, Mario Rendo and Gaetano Graci – who needed the mafiosi for protection.

In the car were Tommaso Buscetta, Salvatore "Ciaschiteddu" Greco, Gerlando Alberti, 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.

At the time, Calderone was also involved in the negotiations between Cosa Nostra and prince Junio Valerio Borghese who asked for support for his plans for a neo-fascist coup in return for a pardon of convicted mafiosi like Vincenzo Rimi and Luciano Leggio.

Calderone and Di Cristina became early targets of Totò Riina and Bernardo Provenzano and their Corleonesi in their attempt to dominate the Sicilian Mafia.

The Corleonesi were attacking the allies of the Palermo families in the other provinces to isolate men like Stefano Bontade, Salvatore Inzerillo and Gaetano Badalamenti.

Di Cristina and Badalamenti wanted to kill Francesco Madonia, the boss of Vallelunga Mafia family and an ally of the Corleonesi in the province of Caltanissetta.