Angelo La Barbera

Angelo La Barbera (Italian: [ˈandʒelo la barˈbɛːra]; 3 July 1924 – 28 October 1975) was a powerful member of the Sicilian Mafia. Together with his brother Salvatore La Barbera he ruled the Mafia family of Palermo Centro. Salvatore La Barbera sat on the first Sicilian Mafia Commission that was set up in 1958 as the capo mandamento, or district head, for Mafia families of Borgo Vecchio, Porta Nuova and Palermo Centro. Gaia Servadio, an English/Italian journalist who wrote a biography on Angelo La Barbera, described him as the symbol of the quick, clever gangster – the new post-war mafioso who in the end became the victim of the many politicians he himself had built. He represented the proletariat who tried to become mafioso, middle class, and ultimately did not succeed.