 Di Pisa was a contrabandist in cigarettes and was actively involved in the flourishing real-estate racket, known as the Sack of Palermo, during the reign of Salvo Lima as mayor of Palermo.He was known as one of the ablest emissaries of the Mafia in Palermo in the field of tobacco smuggling and drug trafficking.Di Pisa was present at a series of meetings in the hotel Delle Palme and the Spanò seafood restaurant between top Italian-American and Sicilian mafiosi in Palermo on October 12–16, 1957.