Nicola Scafidi

1925 — 2004

Nicola Scafidi was an Italian photojournalist, born in Sicily, who became famous for his depictions of both violent mafia killings and devastated loved ones grieving at funerals, taken in the 1960s. Scafidi was based in Palermo and intimately familiar with the dangers presented by the mob in everyday Sicilian life. Almost half of the negatives that now make up Scafidi's archive are pictures related to the mob. Many giants of twentieth century Italian film, including Roberto Rossellini and Franco Zeffirelli, invited Scafidi to take pictures documenting production on their movie sets, and his work was published in Paris Match, Der Spiegel and The New York Times. He died in 2004.