King of the Mountains

"The King of the Mountains is locked in jail, and he too dreams of the beloved land," sang Calabrian emigrants in America at the turn of the century when young, handsome, black-mustachioed Giuseppe Mustlino was first imprisoned. Few soldiers of fortune before or since have become so legendary in so short a time. Producing romantic bandit heroes sometimes seems to be a major industry in Sicily, Sardinia and southern Italy. But bandits, though they make news nearly every week, aren't what they used to be-and Musolino's reputation survives in ballads still sung. A young woodcutter of Aspromonte, a craggy region near the toe of the Italian boot, Musolino, like Robin Hood, turned outlaw first (so it was said) when he was falsely accused of attempted murder. Two years later, he escaped from jail, and for the next three years conducted his own roughhewn version of justice.

One by one (on instructions, he said, from Saint Anthony) Musolino killed off the traitors who had borne witness against him, but in expiation of their sins and his own, he kept busy as well at a multitude of good works. He found mules for overworked peasants and dowries for their daughters. He gave large chunks of money stolen from the rich to monasteries and churches. He even kept King Victor Emmanuel posted by letter on the need for local reforms.

Musolino's last act as a free man was the posting of a letter to his brother enclosing some money to buy candles for a church altar. Headed for Urbino with an umbrella in one hand and a knapsack on his back, he was spotted by two carabinieri and captured when his foot caught in a tangle of barbed wire. Sent to prison for life, he was declared insane twelve years later. Last week, he died in Reggio Calabria's mental hospital at 82.

As the entire town of Santo Stefano filed silently to the cemetery, black-rimmed posters appeared on village walls all over Calabria saying, "Musolino is dead. He held liberty high."

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