Salvo Lima
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The Honourable Salvatore Lima |
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| Member of the European Parliament for Italian Islands |
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In office 17 July 1979 – 12 March 1992 |
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| Member of the Chamber of Deputies | |
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In office 5 June 1968 – 17 July 1979 |
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| Constituency | Palermo |
| Mayor of Palermo | |
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In office January 1965 – July 1968 |
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| Preceded by | Paolo Bevilacqua |
| Succeeded by | Paolo Bevilacqua |
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In office May 1958 – January 1963 |
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| Preceded by | Luciano Maugeri |
| Succeeded by | Francesco Diliberto |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
23 January 1928 Palermo, Italy |
| Died | 12 March 1992 (aged 64) Palermo, Italy |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Political party | Christian Democracy |
| Alma mater | University of Palermo |
| Profession | Lawyer |
| Nickname(s) | Salvo |
Salvatore Achille Ettore Lima (January 23, 1928 – March 12, 1992) was an Italian politician from Sicily who was associated with, and murdered by, the Mafia. He is often just referred to as Salvo Lima.
According to the "pentito" (Mafia defector) Tommaso Buscetta, Lima’s father, Vincenzo Lima, was a member of the Mafia, but it is not known whether Lima himself was a "made member" of Cosa Nostra. In the final report of the first Italian Antimafia Commission (1963–1976) Lima was described as one of the pillars of Mafia power in Palermo.
During his long career with the Christian Democrat party (DC - Democrazia Cristiana) that began in the 1950s, Lima was first allied with the faction of Amintore Fanfani and after 1964 with the one of Giulio Andreotti, seven times prime minister and a member of almost every post-war Italian government. That shift earned him a seat in the national parliament in 1968.
Lima was often referred to as Andreotti's "proconsul" on Sicily. Under Andreotti Lima once held a cabinet post. At the time of his death he was a member of the European Parliament. Lima rarely spoke in public or campaigned during elections, but usually he would manage to gain large support from seemingly nowhere when it came to voting day.
From 1958 to 1963 Salvo Lima was mayor of Palermo, his birthplace, while his fellow Christian Democrat Vito Ciancimino was assessor for public works. Between 1951 and 1961 the population of Palermo had risen by 100,000. Under Lima and Ciancimino an unprecedented construction boom hit the city. They supported Mafia-allied building contractors such as Palermo’s leading construction entrepreneur Francesco Vassallo – a former cart driver hauling sand and stone in a poor district of Palermo. Vassallo was connected to mafiosi like Angelo La Barbera and Tommaso Buscetta. In five years, over 4,000 building licences were signed, more than half of them in the names of three pensioners who had no connection with construction at all.
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Wikipedia