
Salvatore Cuffaro (born 21 February 1958) was an Italian Christian democratic politician who served in the Senate from 28 April to 24 July 2006 and from 29 April 2008 to 2 February 2011, and as President of Sicily from 17 July 2001 to 26 January 2008 (succeeding Vincenzo Leanza and preceding Raffaele Lombardo).
Biography[]
Salvatore Cuffaro was born in Raffadali, Sicily, Italy in 1958, and he trained as a radiologist before being expelled from the medical order for indignity. He entered Christian Democracy politics as a student and went on to serve as a city councillor in Raffadali and in Palermo before being elected to the regional assembly in 1991. He joined several Christian democratic splinter parties after the DC's downfall in the Tangentopoli scandals of the 1990s, and he went on to serve as President of Sicily from 2001 to 2008 and as a Senator in 2006 and from 2008 to 2011. Cuffaro was known for kissing everyone he met (he claimed to have kissed a quarter of Sicily), as well as for his corruption; in 2007, he was indicted for his ties to the Sicilian Mafia. In 2008, he was sentenced to five years in prison for aiding people convicted of Mafia connections, and Cuffaro celebrated his sentence by handing out cannoli, as he claimed to be glad that he was not convicted of directly working with the Mafia. He went on to serve as a Senator, but, in 2010, the Palermo Appeals Court sentenced him to seven years in prison for the aggravation of favoring the Mafia; he was also perpetually banned from holding public office.