Mobsters call him "The Doctor" — but in his case it's not a nickname built from a sick joke
He really is a doctor. He was head surgeon, in fact, at a large hospital in Palermo
the capital of Sicily, until he was unmasked as a Mafia boss. And now he faces new allegations in
the international dope trade. His surprising past makes a great headline, but the story
here is more than just how bonkers it is that a hospital surgeon was moonlighting as a Mafia boss
Or was it he was a Mafia boss moonlighting as a doctor — I'm not sure which — and that's the point
The Mob Reporter here with the story of Giuseppe Guttadauro, a man who represents the most awkward and
worrying aspects of the Mafia in Italy. He's where politicians, police, high society, and mobsters meet
He's the poster child for the complexity of fighting the Mafia in the birthplace of the
Mafia, a land where it's hard to know whose side anyone is really on. Let me tell you about it
Now 73 years old, Guttadauro was arrested along with the youngest of his sons, Mario Carlo, on February,
13, 2022. Along with his arrest comes news that once again the doctor was caught on police wiretaps
having indiscreet conversations. Previously it was bugs in his house when meeting with
mobsters and Palermo's elite. This time it was a breach of his iPhone that allegedly caught him
giving Mafia lessons to his sons and viciously gossiping about his Mafia friends and rivals
He was heard saying today's mobsters need to "evolve in the head" while remaining "anchored"
in the old values of Cosa Nostra, which is the proper name for the Mafia of Sicily
He complained mobsters around him have "no personality they can only do chores"
He derided another mob boss who became a government informant soon after his arrest
"Not even a day in prison has been done and he has already repented," he complained. And he
called mob bosses in his hometown the Italian equivalent of two-bit bandits
Prosecutors say while the doctor divided his time between Rome,
Italy's picturesque capital, and Morocco in North Africa, where he had a fish processing company
his son acted as his eyes and ears in Palermo, and also as his mouth. Guttadauro's name stands out
like ubiquitous actor Kevin Bacons — in almost any direction or sphere of Sicilian life
start with anyone and you can quickly find a connection to the doctor. Well, surely not everyone
but there are plenty of doozies. Including Italy's most-wanted man, Matteo Messina Denaro, considered
the top-ranked Mafia boss, the boss of bosses, as they say, who has been a fugitive since 1993.
Guttadauro's brother, Felippo, is Denaro's brother-in-law. That's like living in England
when you're a close relative of the Queen — the connection brings tremendous influence. But the
downside of his link to one of the world's most wanted men has the doctor appearing back in court
The unending police search for Denaro meant investigators regularly checked on Guttadauro
to see if he was in touch with the boss. If that search bore fruit, we don't yet know
but police did find enough to proceed with Mafia association charges against Guttadauro
and his son. They are accused of being members of the Palermo-Roccella Mafia family with influence
in Brancaccio-Ciaculli, and neighboring Bagheria, where he was born. He is also alleged to have
been plotting large-scale drug deals — and not the usual kind of drugs from a doctor. Investigators
are probing cocaine from South America to the Netherlands, in cahoots with the Calabrian Mafia,
and hashish through an Albanian gangster. Corrupt customs agents apparently were taking 25 percent
as a payoff, and a flight attendant was ready to take 300,000 euros to Brazil as payment after
loads started arriving at the port of Rotterdam. He also, by the way, allegedly wanted the Albanian
gangster to get him a fake degree in dentistry for his son — medicine runs in the family, after all
Back in the 1990s, Guttadauro was part of an important demographic shift in Cosa Nosta —
a generation of members and bosses with formal education degrees and urban manners. It was a push
away from peasant bosses with little schooling. Bernardo Provenzano, a former boss of bosses who
was arrested in 2006, by contrast, apparently dropped out of school in the second grade
Education and status for mobsters like Guttadauro changed the complexion of Italy's fight against
the Mafia. Mobsters like him are where the upper world and the underworld met. Being a respected
doctor and Mafia boss plugged him directly into political and high society life. Away from the
Mafia strategy of war against the state, he worked to rebuild the Mafia's silent power. Much of that
reconstruction took place in Guttadauro's grand home. Businessmen, lawyers, politicians, city officials
and other doctors all could arrive at his home with their heads held high, regardless of who
they were secretly meeting or what instructions they received once inside. However, the doctor's
biggest secret had not gone entirely unnoticed and secret police wiretaps and room bugs were
placed in his home in 2001. The cops weren't the only ones with well-placed informants, though, and
the doctor was tipped off about the probes by mob moles in the government's anti-Mafia directorate
The recording devices in his house picked up members of his family searching for bugs. When
one was found, others recorded its discovery — "Thank goodness they told us," his wife is heard saying
according to old court records. But by the time the wires were detected it was too late for some
Including Guttadauro's political patron: Salvatore Cuffaro. Cuffaro was a former doctor who became
president of Sicily. Guttadauro had recounted how the Mafia had bankrolled Cuffaro's election
campaign that year, court heard. In 2003, when it was revealed that Cuffaro was under investigation
for working with the Mafia, he remained defiant. Even after being charged he ran for re-election
His challenger then could not have presented voters with a more dramatic contrast:
Rita Borsellino, sister of Paolo Rita Borsellino, the crusading anti-Mafia judge who was killed by
the Mafia in 1992. Cuffaro won. After Cuffaro's conviction for aiding and abetting the Mafia
he served time in prison and was banned for life from holding public office
While Cuffaro's downfall stemmed from the wiretaps in The Doctor's house, ironically, it was revealed
the reason The Doctor knew his house was under surveillance was because of a tip from Cuffaro
Such was life in Sicily
While his 34-year-old son remained in prison, he was released under house arrest
while the process continues. I suspect he'll be particularly careful about what he says there
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