Gaetano Badalamenti
Defendant in the Pizza Connection case, arrested in Madrid on April 8, 1984 according to the FBI, convicted of a narcotics conspiracy and of engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, and sentenced to forty-five years with release ordered after thirty.
- Role
- "allegedly the deposed head of the Sicilian Mafia," as the Second Circuit states the government's contention (1989)
- Rights
- Biography on this page is limited to what the cited federal records state.
On the record
- 1984-04-08 — The FBI's history page says Spanish authorities, acting on FBI information, took him into custody in Madrid on April 8, 1984. The FBI's own words for him, "the former top boss of the Sicilian Mafia," are an agency's description, not a court finding.
- 1984 — A U.S. Marshals Service arrest photograph of him from 1984 is published by the FBI.
- 1987-03-02 — Casamento records the jury's verdicts of March 2, 1987 on Indictment SS 84 Cr. 236. In its account of the government's case it states that "the source of narcotics from South America was appellant Gaetano Badalamenti, a fugitive living in Brazil who was allegedly the deposed head of the Sicilian Mafia and who, in connection with this prosecution, later was extradited from Spain."
- 1988-01-29 — Deciding the validity of a wiretap warrant issued on 3 February 1984, the Sixth Circuit (United States v. Alfano) describes him as the man "whom evidence shows to be the leader of an international drug smuggling conspiracy," and says "Badalamenti resides in Sicily." The opinion decides the warrant's validity, not anyone's guilt.
- 1989-10-11 — Casamento affirmed his convictions for narcotics conspiracy and continuing criminal enterprise, and held that his sentence, forty-five years with release ordered after thirty, did not breach the Spanish extradition order's thirty-year maximum. He also appealed a conviction on Indictment 86 Cr. 1128 for criminal contempt, to which he had conditionally pleaded guilty.
The role field quotes the government’s allegation as the court reports it, and the family field is left empty. No record filed here gives his dates of birth or death or his life after the appeal.
Records
itemUnited States v. Casamento, 887 F.2d 1141 (2d Cir. 1989)Second Circuit opinion of October 11, 1989 on the appeals of fifteen defendants convicted in what the court calls "The Pizza Connection Case": Indictment SS 84 Cr. 236, thirty-five defendants, tried from September 30, 1985 to March 2, 1987.itemUnited States v. Alfano, 838 F.2d 158 (6th Cir. 1988)Sixth Circuit opinion of January 29, 1988 reversing an order that suppressed wiretap evidence in a Detroit-area prosecution, part of an investigation of alleged heroin and cocaine importation from Italy. It describes Gaetano Badalamenti as a man "whom evidence shows to be the leader of an international drug smuggling conspiracy."itemFBI history: "Pizza Connection"The FBI's history page on the Pizza Connection case: the April 8, 1984 arrests in Madrid, the next day's arrests by six FBI offices, and a trial that ended in a verdict on March 2, 1987. An agency essay, not a court record.
itemGaetano Badalamenti arrest photograph, 1984 (U.S. Marshals, via FBI)1984 U.S. Marshals Service arrest photograph of Gaetano Badalamenti, a defendant in the Pizza Connection case, as published by the FBI. A copy is stored here.
itemGaetano Badalamenti arrest photograph, 1984 (U.S. Marshals, via FBI)1984 U.S. Marshals Service arrest photograph of Gaetano Badalamenti, a defendant in the Pizza Connection case, as published by the FBI. A copy is stored here.