Matranga was a wealthy landowner who became enriched through proceeds derived from real estate speculation and initially belonged to the San Lorenzo Mafia family.[1]
He served as the capo of the Resuttana Mafia family until 1963. A few years earlier, together with other mafiosi, he helped trigger the First Mafia War in Sicily. Alongside Vincenzo Nicoletti, capo of the Pallavicino Mafia family, and Mariano Troia, capo of the San Lorenzo Mafia family, he was one of the leading figures of the "Torretta group". His connections with Michele Cavataio are also significant, but especially those with Francesco Tumminello, who rose to become the capo of the Mafia family in the Giardino Inglese district of Palermo thanks to Matranga’s support.[1]
During the ‘54 Trial’ in Catanzaro, he was acquitted due to lack of evidence; around 1962–1963, he and Mariano Troia left Palermo and relocated to Milan, where they became untraceable, after entrusting the management of his assets to his nephew, Agostino Matranga, who later took part in the Viale Lazio massacre in December 1969.[2][3]
Antonino Matranga was assassinated in Milan on 30 April 1971, in Via Boncompagni, by hitmen of the Mafia, on the orders of Salvatore Riina. Following his death, he was succeeded by Francesco Madonia, as the capo of the Resuttana Mafia family.[4]
