Michele Pantaleone

Michele Pantaleone (30 November 1911 – 12 February 2002) was a respected journalist and expert on the Sicilian Mafia and one of the first to shed light on the links between organized crime and political power.

Pantaleone was born in Villalba, a village in a poor region of Sicily, where most people lived of subsistence agriculture, which was also the home town of the prominent Mafia boss Calogero Vizzini. Pantaleone came from a relatively well off family and was trained as a land surveyor. Initially a leading member of the Italian Socialist Party (Partito Socialista Italiano, PSI) in Villalba he later switched to the Italian Communist Party (Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI). Grasso, Mario 1994. "Michele Pantaleone personaggio scomodo. Una vita contro la mafia e la malagiustizia", Prova d'Autore: ISBN 88-86140-06-1