The Life and Times of the Sicilian Robin Hood
Betrayal
By late 1949, Giuliano was on the defensive.� A few important members of his band had been killed or captured.� A special task force had been established by the central Italian government to capture or kill him.� This was a much more sophisticated group than the often hapless cariabineri, and it employed Giuliano's own tactics to overcome him.� Rather than large, immobile police forces, or small armies, the special task force broke into small bands of soldiers, imitating Giuliano's methods.�
As in all shrewd tactical maneuvers, informants became crucial to the enterprise.� No one individual was closer to Giuliano, or more trusted, than Gaspare Pissicota.� If the colonel leading the task force could convince Pisciotta to betray Giuliano, than their mission would be accomplished.
For a number of months, Giuliano had been urged to leave the country.� Even a captain of the carbineri had urged him to flee to Tunis, from whence he could settle in the United States.� By late 1949 and early 1950, Giuliano had decided that it was time to leave Sicily.� He made plans.� Some sixty miles south of his base in the mountains surrounding Montelepre was the town of Castelvetrano, almost on the south coast.� There, from a small and insignificant air strip, Giuliano could be flown to safety.
Arrangements had to be made.� Giuliano made several trips to Castelvetrano to prepare for his escape.� He used as a base of planning and operations the house of a young lawyer.
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