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{{Short description|Italian political activist}}
[[Immage:Peppino Impastato 1977.jpg|Peppino Impastato in 1977]]▼
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2022}}
'''Giuseppe''' "'''Peppino'''" '''Impastato''' (
==Childhood==
▲'''Giuseppe Impastato''' ([[Cinisi]], [[January 5]], [[1948]] – Cinisi, [[May 9]], 1978]]) was a political activist who opposed the [[Mafia]] that ordered his murder in 1978.
[[File:Peppino Impastato - child.jpg|thumb|left|Giuseppe Impastato as a child, with his father {{Interlanguage link multi|Luigi Impastato|it}} and his mother Felicia Bartolotta]]
Giuseppe
According to his younger brother Giovanni Impastato, Peppino's antimafia activity might have been triggered by the brutal murder of his uncle by marriage, [[Cesare Manzella]], who was blown to pieces by a car bomb in April 1963 when Peppino was fifteen years old. Pieces of his uncle – who was the Mafia boss of [[Cinisi]] at the time – were found stuck to lemon trees hundreds of meters from the crater where the car had been.<ref name=Dickie>Dickie, ''Cosa Nostra'', p. 347-55</ref> Peppino was traumatized: "Is this really Mafia? If this is Mafia I will fight it for the rest of my life."<ref name="manzella">{{in lang|it}} [http://www.girodivite.it/Condividevo-ma-non-ho-avuto-lo.html Condividevo ma non ho avuto lo stesso coraggio...] Interview with Giovanni Impastato, Girodivite, March 2004.</ref>
==Political Activist==▼
In 1965 Peppino Impastato founded the newsletter ''L'idea socialista'' and joined the left-wing PSIUP party. He takes a leading role in the activities of the new revolutionary movements that sprung up in 1968. He leads struggles by Cinisi peasants whose land had been expropriated to build the third runway at Palermo's Punta Raisi Airport, as well as disputes involving building workers and the unemployed. In 1975 he sets up ''Music and Culture'' with other young people in Cinisi. The group organised debates, film, theatre and music shows and started a self-financed radio station named ''Radio Aut'' in 1976. ▼
Peppino Impastato used humor and satire as his weapon against the Mafia. In his popular daily radio programme ''Onda pazza'' (Crazy Waves) he mocked politicians and mafiosi alike. On a daily basis he exposed the crimes and dealings of mafiosi in ''Mafiopoli'' (Cinisi) and the activities of ''Tano Seduto'', a thinly disguised pseudonym of Don Tano Badalamenti, the capomafia of Cinisi. Nevertheles, it was Peppino Impastato and his friends that were considered to be the real nuisance and 'undesirable elements' by the authorities in town, not the respected man such as Don Tano Badalamenti. ▼
▲In 1965, Peppino Impastato founded the newsletter ''L'idea socialista'' and joined the left-wing [[Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity|PSIUP]] party (Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity). He
▲Peppino Impastato used humor and satire as his weapon against the Mafia. In his popular daily radio programme ''Onda pazza'' (Crazy
Peppino's younger brother Giovanni declared before the Italian Antimafia Commission: "It seemed that Badalamenti was well-liked by the carabinieri as he was calm, reliable, and always liked a chat. It almost felt like he was doing them a favour in that nothing ever happened in Cinisi, it was a quiet little town. If anything, we were subversives who made nuisances of ourselves. This was what the carabinieri thought. When I had a chance to speak to one of them - something which didn't happen often because I didn't really trust them - I realised that it was a widely held belief that Tano Badalamenti was a gentleman and it was us who were the trouble-makers." [...] "I often used to see them walking arm in arm with Tano Badalamenti and his henchmen. You can't have faith in the institutions when you see the police arm in arm with mafiosi."▼
▲Peppino's
Impastato clearly understood the danger represented by Badalamenti, and Badalamenti clearly understood the danger of Peppino Impastato.<ref name="extracts"/> Impastato's struggles were too public and determined for the Mafia to allow his tireless activities to continue. Apparently, his father tried to protect him but unfortunately he was killed in a car accident in 1977, which might have been a premeditated murder. Apparently, Badalamenti waited until after Impastato's father had died to give the order to kill Impastato.<ref name=rep090511>{{in lang|it}} [http://palermo.repubblica.it/commenti/2011/05/09/news/storia_di_peppino_il_ribelle_vittima_di_mafia_dopo_23_anni-15998260 Storia di Peppino il ribelle], La Repubblica, May 9, 2011</ref>
==Death==
Initially press, police and investigative magistrates considered that ''Peppino'' Impastato had been a left-wing terrorist that had tried to bomb a railway line, but caused his own death. After the discovery of a letter written by Impastato several months before his death, they started talking about suicide. Thanks to the efforts of his brother Giovanni Impastato, his mother Felicia Bartolotta Impastato (who publicly break off relations with their mafia relatives), his fellow activists, and the ''Centro siciliano di documentazione'' (founded in Palermo in 1977; Giuseppe Impastato's name was added to its masthead in 1980), the Mafia's responsibility for the crime would be identified after a struggle of many years.▼
<!-- removed deleted file, appears to be violation of copyright [[File:Funeral Impastato.jpg|right|frame|Demonstration at the funeral of Peppino Impastato on May 10, 1978. The banner reads: "With the ideas and courage of Peppino we will continue".]]-->
In 1978 Peppino Impastato stood as a candidate in the Cinisi council elections for [[Proletarian Democracy]] (''Democrazia proletaria''). He was killed during the election campaign on the night of 8–9 May, by a charge of TNT placed under his body, which had been stretched over the local railway line<ref name=behan/> – a sinister twist of fate to the car-bomb that had killed his uncle and initiated Peppino's revolt against the Mafia. The same day [[Christian Democracy (Italy)|Christian-Democrat]] former Prime Minister [[Aldo Moro]]'s corpse was discovered on ''Via Caetani'' in [[Rome]]. Two days later voters in Cinisi elected him as a councillor.<ref>[[Greg Burke (journalist)|Burke, Greg]] (August 6, 2001). [http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2047829,00.html "Rebel with a Cause The real-life story of an anti-Mafia activist in Sicily makes for a handsome film with a political message"]. ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''.</ref>
▲Initially press, police and investigative magistrates considered that
Following a statement made by a former member of the Cinisi Mafia, Salvatore Palazzolo who had turned state witness, who named Badalamenti as the instigator of the murder, the investigation was formally reopened in June 1996, and in November the following year an arrest warrant was issued for Badalamenti. In 1998 a committee was formed by the Italian Parliament's permanent Anti-mafia commission to investigate the 'Impastato case'. On December 6, 2000 it issued a report which outlined the responsibilities of State officials in leading the investigations astray. On March 5, 2001 the Court of Assises declared [[Vito Palazzolo]] to be guilty of murder, handing down a thirty year sentence. Gaetano Badalamenti was given a life sentence on April 11, 2002. ▼
▲Following a statement made by a former member of the Cinisi Mafia, the [[pentito]] Salvatore Palazzolo who had turned state witness,
In 2000 the movie "I cento passi" was released about the life and death of Giuseppe Impastato. "I cento passi" (one hundred steps) was the distance between the Impastato's house and the house of Tano Badalamenti.▼
Peppino's mother, Felicia Bartolotta Impastato, reacted to the conviction in a very dignified manner: "I never have had any feelings of revenge. All I have done is call for justice for my son's death. I have to confess that, after so many years of waiting, I had lost faith; I never thought we would reach this point. Now I feel a great deal of contentment and of satisfaction. I always knew what had happened. Badalamenti used to call my husband Luigi to complain about Peppino, and my husband begged him not to kill the boy."<ref name="Dickie"/>
==External Links==▼
*[http://www.centroimpastato.it/otherlang/inglese.php3 Giuseppe Impastato Sicilian Centre of Documentation] ▼
*[http://www.centroimpastato.it/otherlang/peppino.php3 Giuseppe Impastato: his actions, his murder, the investigation and the cover up] by Tom Behan, Centro Siciliano di Documentazione "Giuseppe Impastato".▼
*[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0238891/ I cento passi (The Hundred Steps)]] movie about the life and death of Giuseppe Impastato.▼
*[http://www.camera.it/_dati/leg13/lavori/doc/xxiii/050/d030.htm Caso Impastato] final report of the Italian parliamentary Antimafia Commission, December 6, 2000 (in Italian)▼
The epitaph engraved on Peppino's grave in Cinisi reads as follows: "Revolutionary and [[Communism|Communist]] militant - Murdered by the Christian-Democratic mafia".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.palermotoday.it/foto/cronaca/tomba-peppino-impastato-cinisi/|title=La tomba di Peppino Impastato a Cinisi|access-date=December 14, 2020|date=November 1, 2012|website=palermotoday.it}}</ref>
[[it:Peppino Impastato]]▼
==In popular culture==
*In the 1994 Italian TV series ''[[La piovra]]'', {{Interlanguage link multi|La piovra (season 7)|it|3=La piovra 7 - Indagine sulla morte del commissario Cattani|lt=season 7}}, the character of Daniele Rannisi, a young man who disavows his family connection to the Mafia and starts a satirical pirate radio show denouncing their activities, was based on Impastato.
▲*In 2000, the
*In 2004 the song "I cento passi" was released by Italian band [[Modena City Ramblers]] in the memory of Peppino Impastato.
*The 2011 album ''La cretina commedia'' by Italian "[[ska]]" band [[Talco (band)|Talco]] is a concept album about the life and work of Peppino Impastato.
*In 2016 the movie ''Felicia Impastato'' in the memory of Peppino Impastato's mother for justice struggle in IMDB.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5455934/|title=Felicia Impastato (2016)|website=imdb.com}}</ref>
*In 2018, the indie game ''1977: Radio Aut'' was released, which is an interactive story chronicling Peppino Impastato's early life and his efforts to bring to light the harm caused by the Mafia and local corruption.<ref>{{Cite web |title=1977: Radio Aut by Alex Camilleri |url=https://alexkalopsia.itch.io/1977-radio-aut |access-date=2022-12-10 |website=itch.io |language=en}}</ref>
==See also==
* [[List of victims of the Sicilian Mafia]]
*[[List of journalists killed in Europe]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
▲* Behan, Tom. ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20060509220442/http://www.centroimpastato.it/otherlang/peppino.php3 Giuseppe Impastato: his actions, his murder, the investigation and the cover up]'',
▲* {{in lang|it}} [http://www.camera.it/_dati/leg13/lavori/doc/xxiii/050/d030.htm Caso Impastato] final report of the Italian parliamentary Antimafia Commission, December 6, 2000
* Dickie, John (2004). ''Cosa Nostra. A history of the Sicilian Mafia'', London: Coronet, {{ISBN|0-340-82435-2}}
* {{in lang|it}} Orioles, Riccardo, [https://archive.today/20030503201209/http://www.claudiofava.it/siciliani/memoria/delitti/del03.htm Morte di un siciliano], I Siciliani, maggio 1983
* {{in lang|it}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20070824190324/http://www.centroimpastato.it/conoscere/peppino.php3 Giuseppe Impastato: l'attività, il delitto, l'inchiesta e il depistaggio] Centro Siciliano di Documentazione "Giuseppe Impastato"
▲* [http://www.centroimpastato.it/otherlang/inglese.php3
▲* [
* {{in lang|it}} [http://www.peppinoimpastato.com/ Peppino Impastato]
* {{in lang|it}} [http://www.archivio900.it/it/articoli/art.aspx?id=8129 Giovanni Impastato: «Antenne, cavi, spinotti: così mio fratello Peppino sfidò don Tano Seduto»], Corriere della Sera, March 8, 2007
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Impastato, Giuseppe}}
[[Category:1948 births]]
[[Category:1978 deaths]]
[[Category:Antimafia]]
[[Category:Assassinated Italian journalists]]
[[Category:Assassinated activists]]
[[Category:Assassinated radio people]]
[[Category:Italian communists]]
[[Category:People murdered by the Sicilian Mafia]]
[[Category:Politicians from the Metropolitan City of Palermo]]
[[Category:People murdered in Italy]]
[[Category:20th-century Italian journalists]]
[[Category:Italian male journalists]]
{{Mafia}}
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