Stefano Bontade (April 23, 1939 – April 23, 1981) was a powerful member of the Sicilan Mafia. Some sources spell his surname Bontate. He was the capomafia of the Santa Maria di Gesù Family in Palermo. He was also known as the Prince of Villagrazia - the area of Palermo he controlled - and Il Falco (The Falcon).
He had links with several powerful politicians, including Giulio Andreotti. In 1981 he was killed by the rival faction within Cosa Nostra, the Corleonesi. His death sparked a brutal Mafia War that left several hundred mafiosi dead.
On April 23, 1981, whilst driving home from his 42nd birthday party, Bontade was machine gunned to death in his car, a Giulietta 2000, in Palermo. The slaying was carried out by Riina's favourite hitman Pino Greco also known as the "little old shoe" (scarpuzzedda) – a nephew of Michele Greco.
Bontade’s close ally, Salvatore Inzerillo, was killed three weeks later with the same Kalashnikov.
Oh. The man was in touch with the now italian PM, Silvio Berlusconi: that's not a secret to many though.
Now try this:
Look for Berlusconi in this page (EN)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefano_Bontade
then look for "Berlusconi" in this one (ITA)
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefano_Bontate
The page in italian, supposed to be WAY more detailed, misses the "small" detail regarding Mr. Berlusconi.
Stefano Bontade was also in touch with Silvio Berlusconi in the mid-1970s, when Berlusconi still was just a wealthy real estate developer and started his private television empire (Berlusconi became prime minister in 1994 and again from 2001–2006). Bontade visited Berlusconi's villa in Arcore on the outskirts of Milan, according to Antonino Giuffrè, a mafioso who was a key aide to Mafia kingpin Bernardo Provenzano but turned state witness after his arrest in April 2002. Bontade’s contact at Arcore was the late Vittorio Mangano, a convicted mafioso who used to be a stable manager there. "When Vittorio Mangano got the job in the Arcore villa, Stefano Bontade and some of his close aides used to meet Berlusconi using visits to Mangano as an excuse," Giuffrè said. Berlusconi's lawyer dismissed Giuffrè's testimony as "false" and an attempt to discredit the Prime Minister and his party.
I'll post more on this, following the timeline of the events.
