Cosimo Cordì
Italian criminal
About Cosimo Cordì
Lived 1951 – 1997 (aged 45–46). Cosimo Cordì was an Italian.
Cosimo Cordì (; Locri, 1951 – Locri, October 13, 1997) was a member of the 'Ndrangheta, a criminal and mafia-type organisation in Calabria, Italy. He was the head of the Cordì 'ndrina based in Locri, a hotbed of 'Ndrangheta activity. The Cordì 'ndrina is involved in a long blood feud with the Cataldo 'ndrina, from the same town, since the end of the 1960s.
His brother Domenico Cordì, was killed in Locri on June 23, 1967, in the so-called Piazza Mercato massacre, which signed the beginning of a long blood feud with the Cataldo 'ndrina. The motive for the elimination of Domenico Cordì was the alleged fleecing of some 1,700 cases of cigarettes that were smuggled into Catanzaro by Sicilian mafiosi of the Tagliavia and Spadaro families in Palermo to Antonio Macrì, the undisputed head of the 'Ndrangheta in Siderno allied with the Cataldos.
Cosimo Cordì took over as the head (capobastone) of the clan with his other brother, Antonio Cordì – known as ‘U Ragiuneri. Antonio Cordí was also a municipal councilor for the Italian Socialist Party (Partito Socialista Italiano – PSI) and a powerful vote broker in national elections.
Cordì was arrested in March 1991, suspected of killing the brain surgeon Domenico Pandolfo who unsuccessfully operated Cordìs’s nine-year-old daughter Paola suffering from a complicated brain tumor. The girl died after three days and Pandolfo was killed in retaliation.
In the ongoing feud with the Cataldo 'ndrina, Cordì was killed on October 13, 1997, in Locri, while on a bicycle in the company of his nephew Salvatore Cordì. The Locri football club mourned the death of the boss with one minute of silence at the start of a game. His brother Antonio Cordì, ‘U Ragiuneri, took over the leadership of the clan.
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Important facts
People in Cosimo Cordì's life
Named in this biography and alive at the same time
Contemporaries
People whose lives overlapped Cosimo Cordì's
Frequently asked questions
Who was Cosimo Cordì?
Italian criminal
When was Cosimo Cordì born?
Cosimo Cordì was born in 1951 in Locri.
When did Cosimo Cordì die?
Cosimo Cordì died on 13 October 1997 in Locri.
What nationality was Cosimo Cordì?
Cosimo Cordì was Italian.
Sources & further reading
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Cosimo Cordì. https://biography.guide/cosimo-cordi/
MLA: "Cosimo Cordì." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/cosimo-cordi/.
Chicago: "Cosimo Cordì." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/cosimo-cordi/.
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