Mussolini’s drive against the Mafia, the story goes, followed an official visit to Sicily in May 1924 during which he felt insulted by the Mafioso Francesco Cuccia, who publicly proclaimed that Mussolini did not need a police escort because the mere presence of Cuccia would protect him.
Cuccia has also been mentioned as one of the mafiosi behind the Portella della Ginestra massacre during a Labour Day manifestation on May 1, 1947, when 11 people were killed and 33 wounded by the bandit Salvatore Giuliano.
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He was described by the writer Norman Lewis as a Mafia potentate with an inflamed sense of his own importance.
Francesco Rosi | Francesco Clemente | Francesco Bartolozzi | Francesco Guardi | Francesco Guccini | Francesco Marino Mannoia | Francesco Severi | Francesco Cossiga | Francesco Moser | Francesco Mondada | Gian Francesco Malipiero | Giovanni Francesco Fara | Francesco Redi | Francesco Quinn | Francesco Graziani | Francesco De Gregori | Francesco Crispi | Francesco Conconi | Francesco Barberini | Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini | Francesco Sartori | Francesco Ruggieri | Francesco Paolo Bontade | Francesco I da Carrara | Francesco Grimaldi | Francesco Coppola | Francesco Cavalli | Francesco Bonami | Francesco Alberoni | Pier Francesco Sacchi |