Gaetano Badalamenti, 80; Onetime Head of Sicilian Mafia

Gaetano Badalamenti, 80, once described by federal authorities as the “boss of all bosses” of the Sicilian Mafia, has died, a Justice Department spokesman said Friday. No date, place or cause of death was given, but Badalamenti had been housed at the Federal Medical Center in Ayer, Mass., which treats inmates with serious illnesses.

Badalamenti was a ringleader in a $1.65-billion heroin and cocaine smuggling operation that used pizzerias as fronts to distribute the drugs from 1975 to 1984. The ring was charged with importing heroin from the Middle East and cocaine from South America and then laundering profits through Swiss bank accounts.

Prosecutors, including Louis Freeh who later became FBI director, also alleged that the group was behind scores of murders in Sicily and the U.S.

After a 17-month trial of nearly two dozen co-conspirators, Badalamenti was sentenced in 1987 to 45 years in federal prison.

In 2002, the former resident of Cinisi, Italy, also was sentenced in absentia in Italy to life in prison for the 1978 murder of a disc jockey who had frequently criticized him.