For seven years Italian and American police have been trying
to extradite Vito Palazzolo and now they may be too late
The net is finally closing around convicted money launderer and Cape Town bon viveur, Vito Roberto Palazzolo. He is wanted by the Italian police on charges (which he emphatically denies) of membership of the Sicilian mafia, drug trafficking and money laundering. Indeed an investigating judge in Sicily alleges that Palazzolo manages the investment portfolio of Salvatore 'Toto' Riina, the gaoled head of the notorious Corleone clan and still the 'boss of bosses'. Over the past seven years Italian attempts to extradite him from South Africa, backed by the United States, have failed, although new South African legislation makes membership of criminal gangs, including the mafia, an extraditable offence. The Palazzolo affair is now opening up mysterious facets of South Africa's police and security services, with implications for some political figures too.
Talks between Abuja and the IMF reveal an even grimmer
economic picture this year
Nigeria's politicians, soldiers, bankers, farmers, taxi drivers and creditors all know that the economy is weaker than at any time since Independence in 1960. Indeed, the figures a...
Jonas Savimbi's aims are clear but they are unlikely to prevail
What does Jonas Savimbi's União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola hope to gain from the return to all-out war? Power, of course. Savimbi's specific aim is ...
