Ferro may have died of dehydration in the summer of 1943. According to Petacco, Cascio Ferro was left behind in his cell by prison guards while other inmates were evacuated in advance of the Allied invasion of Sicily. However, according to historian Giuseppe Carlo Marino, Cascio Ferro was transferred to another prison in Pozzuoli in 1940, and the octogenarian was left to die during an Allied bombardment of that prison in 1943 (other sources mention 1942). According to La Stampa, Cascio Ferro died on 20 September 1943, in the prison on the island of Procida. For years, a sentence believed to be carved by Cascio Ferro was legible on the wall of his Ucciardone cell: "Prison, sickness, and necessity, reveal the real heart of a man." Inmates considered occupying Don Vito's former cell a great honour. Historians consider this account a legend rather than fact. Notes References Arlacchi, Pino (1988). Mafia Business. The Mafia ethic and the spirit of capitalism, Oxford: Oxford University Press Barzini, Luigi (1964/1968). The Italians, London: Penguin Books (originally published in 1964) Critchley, David (2009). The Origin of Organized Crime in America: The New York City Mafia, 1891-1931, New York: Routledge, Dash, Mike (2009). The First Family: Terror, Extortion, Revenge, Murder, and the Birth of the American Mafia, New York: Random House, Dickie, John (2004). Cosa Nostra. A history of the Sicilian Mafia, London: Coronet, Hess, Henner (1998). Mafia & Mafiosi: Origin, Power, and Myth, London: Hurst & Co Publishers, Lupo, Salvatore (2009). The History of the Mafia, New York: Columbia University Press, Marino, Giuseppe Carlo (2006). I Padrini. Rome: Newton Compton editore, Petacco, Arrigo (1972/2001). Joe Petrosino: l'uomo che sfidò per primo la mafia italoamericana, Milan: Mondadori, (originally published in 1972) Reppetto, Thomas A. (2004). American Mafia: A History of Its Rise to Power. New York: Henry Holt & Co., Servadio, Gaia (1976). Mafioso. A history of the Mafia from its origins to the present day, London: Secker & Warburg Michele Vaccaro, "Don Vito, l'<<l'anarco-mafioso>> dei Due Mondi", in Storia in Rete, luglio-agosto 2012, n. 81-82. External links Joe Petrosino, a 20th Century Hero. A documented account of his assassination in Palermo, on view at the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, Queens College/CUNY (16 October - 2 December 2009) Biography of Vito Cascio Ferro on Gangrule Biography of Vito Cascio Ferro on The American Mafia 1862 births 1943 deaths Year of death uncertain Gangsters