Salvatore Giuliano aka Robin Hood of a Sicily
Salvatore Giuliano (1922-1950) a prominent Sicilian bandit active in the 1940s. He was sometimes referred to as the "King of Montelepre" or the "Robin Hood of Sicily".Giuliano became an outlaw in 1943 after killing a police officer while smuggling black-market food. He was killed in 1950.
For the rest of 1946 and until his death, Giuliano's main activity and source of revenue was kidnapping, often carried out by the squad of Antonio Terranova, the bandit's most formidable and resourceful operative. Giuliano and his men treated their captives well—almost chivalrously—often giving them favourite foods, reading to them to alleviate boredom, and providing necessary medicines. Negotiations were usually conducted through various mafiosi. More than one kidnap victim remembered time with Giuliano in a positive light, despite its hardships. Giuliano also used the threat of kidnapping to extort money from wealthy Sicilians—some preferred kidnapping because the bandit stuck to his own rule that no one would be kidnapped twice, while the number of extortions had no limit.