 The La Barbera's were connected to the leading construction entrepreneur Francesco Vassallo.In five years, 4,000 building licences were signed, more than half of them in the names of three pensioners who acted as front men and had no connection with construction at all.The La Barbera brothers were present at a series of meetings between top American and Sicilian mafiosi that took place in Palermo between October 12–16, 1957, in hotel Delle Palme in Palermo.