As we were putting together the videos on the Sicilian Mafia, Matteo Messina Denaro, and history of ’Ndrangheta, we noticed that there a lot of interesting nicknames that come up, and we thought we would create a video. Let’s start with somebody that many of you know already since it is one of our most successful videos.
Matteo Messina Denaro aka U’ Siccu – U’ Siccu in Sicilian dialect means the skinny one. The nickname was given to Matteo Messina Denaro when he started his criminal career since he was incredibly thin. Nowadays, we are not in a position to confirm whether this nickname can still be correct since, given that there are no photos or evidence of the current boss of bosses of the Sicilian Mafia, it would be hard to know whether he put some weight or not. And this ability of being extremely elusive explains another of his nicknames.
Matteo Messina Denaro aka Diabolik – Yes, this time the boss has been named after the famous thief from a comic book series who is notorious for being impossible to catch just like Matteo Messina Denaro.
The expression U’ that will precede many of these nicknames, means “the” in the Sicilian dialect, and will often be used in front of the nickname itself. The reasons for nicknames in the mafia are multiple. Some say, it is part of the Sicilian culture to give nicknames to people. We would argue that is part of the cultures in many rural places across the globe, like Sicily. For that reason, many people from the south of Italy, will have a nickname that gets created at some point in time and then sticks for life. Some names are more accurate in describing an aesthetic feature or behavioral trait of the person who receives the name; others are not that accurate or a bluntly offensive and used by opponents in a disrespectful way.
But let’s move on with another nickname.
Salvatore Riina aka U’ Curtu– This is the most famous nickname of Toto’ Riina, arguably the greatest and most ferocious boss of the entire Sicilian Mafia, as many of you had the chance to see in our previous videos. U’ Curtu in Sicilian dialect means the shorty. It is curious to note that also Joaquín Guzmán, the boss of the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico, was nicknamed similarly, El Chapo, which means the short man. I am not sure how many people had the courage to address such two ruthless bosses with their nicknames. There is a significant chance that they would not live to tell this story…
However, when you are one of the most ferocious and brutal bosses in the history of the worldwide organized crimes you do not have only one nickname. And here we go. Salvatore Riina aka La Belva. The second nickname, la Belva, means the fierce beast and was earned by Toto’ Riina as a result of his ferocity and his propensity to solve problems with guns and bombs. By the way, we did not forget about our video on Salvatore Riina. We are currently preparing it and it will be uploaded very soon. So stay tuned!
Another reason for nicknames, which may be more let’s say “business related”, is that a nickname allows you to avoid using the real name of a person, which is a good thing if you are a criminal and are all about hiding your identity. As you will see, some nicknames are more flattering than others, but in any case, whether you like them or not, they end up being used a lot.
And, of course, after Matteo Messina Denaro and Salvatore Riina, we feel obliged to pay the necessary respect to
Bernardo Provenzano aka Binnu U’ Tratturi. The nickname Binnu U’ Tratturi means literally Bernardo the Tractor. As you can imagine, U’ Tratturi was given to the former Corleonesi boss for his stance of never falling-back or retreating during a firefight. Apparently, this nickname was given during the Viale Lazio Massacre when Bernardo Provenzano did not hesitate to enter into a building shooting at everybody without even waiting for his teammates. 5 people were murdered in that occasion and his bravado cost the life of the best friend of Toto Riina. Let’s halt there for now, but we will discuss more on this in the videos dedicated to Salvatore Riina. In addition to the episode I just mentioned, a number of turncoats reported that there were other cases in which Bernardo Provenzano has proven he really deserved this title. In fact, there are a number of reports that Toto’ Riina himself name Bernando Provenzano U’ Tratturi since Riina was particularly impressed by the determination of his friend.


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