BOSS OF BOSSES: A Biography of

Bernardo Provenzano

by

Clare Longrigg

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For over 40 years, Bernardo Provenzano was a myth, all but unknown to the authorities, a

Mafioso who sustained his untouchable status through mysterious contacts. Over the years,

it was rumoured he was dead, or seriously ill. It was said he lacked the brains to be a leader.

A sharper picture emerged from accounts by collaborating Mafiosi in the mid-90s. Far from

lacking intelligence, he had succeeded in restoring the Sicilian mafia to its former powerful

status after the disastrous years of Toto Riina’s leadership. Now the undisputed head of

Cosa Nostra, the man nicknamed ‘the accountant’ had combined old style management

with a new way of doing business, and secured lucrative contracts for organised crime on

an unprecedented scale.  

This book is a portrait of a brilliant criminal mind: although his typewritten notes show him

to be semi-literate, he is a master of manipulation, a brilliant strategist. He has been living

untroubled in western Sicily for most of his 43 years ‘on the run’: this could not have been

achieved without the loyalty of his subordinates, and the co-operation of police contacts. It

is also a portrait of an extraordinary marriage: Saveria Palazzolo ran away with Provenzano

when he was already in hiding, and has stood by him throughout.

To build up this portrait, we have first of all, the ‘pizzini’, hundreds of type-written notes

between Provenzano and his family and followers, revealing his manipulative skills, his

leadership, his passionate relationship, professed piety, and the awe and respect in which he

was held.  

We also have statements from the small number of Provenzano’s inner circle who have

turned state’s evidence. Of those who have given extensive interviews to investigators, the

most important are the hospital chief Gioacchino Pennino, Provenzano’s trusted lieutenant

Angelo Siino, and the man closest to him over the years, Nino Giuffré. Between them, they

give us a picture of how Provenzano did business, how he built his construction empire,

and expanded into public works contracts. They describe meetings with politicians, and the

hierarchy around Provenzano. Giuffré describes the man: what makes him angry, his

manner of dealing with people, his health worries and his approach to power. Evidence

given by Totò Riina’s favourite godson, the mass murderer Giovanni Brusca, includes

chilling details of Provenzano’s methods. There are hundreds of pages of interviews

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magistrates have conducted with these men, but I would apply, through contacts in the

Italian judiciary, for permission to interview Giuffré in person.  Provenzano’s professed

piety may reveal some kind of messianic streak. Sicilian journalist Enzo Mignosi has

written about the mafia’s espousal of religion, and could shed light on this aspect of

Provenzano’s character.

The other side of the tale will come from the investigators who have pursued Provenzano

over the years, from Angiolo Pellegrini, an old-style carabiniere who first spotted

Provenano’s construction interests back in the early 1980s, to the three heroic magistrates

who finally had him arrested: Michele Prestipino, Marzia Sabella (whom I interviewed the

day after the arrest) and the assistant prosecutor, Giuseppe Pignatone. Pietro Grasso, who

has been on Provenzano’s trail for over a decade, would have a great historical perspective,

and a strong personal story.

The police officers who hunted Provenzano down would have great stories to tell,

particularly those who had to put on disguises to linger in the back streets of Corleone.

There are police and carabinieri who were on the boss’s trail, only to be frustrated by

counter-commands at the last minute. One col Riccio has accused his boss of calling off the

arrest; while another carabiniere, maresciallo Riolo, has confessed to his part in leaking

details of police investigations to Provenzano’s men. Both would give revealing interviews.

I first came across Provenzano while writing my book Mafia Women (Chatto & Windus,

1997), and researched the story of his long-time companion, Saveria Palazzolo. I am

familiar with her story, and with the conflicts that she must have endured in bringing up her

sons. I have been writing about the Sicilian (and American) mafia for well over a decade

(Miramax published No Questions Asked: the secret life of women in the mob, in 2004),

and have good contacts in the Sicilian media and judiciary.

Bernardo Provenzano has been found guilty many times in absentia, but there are several

trials still in progress, in which he is a key defendant. One of the most important, known as

Trash, centres on Provenzano’s major money making plank, the activity which has arguably

caused most misery to the Sicilian people, and involves political corruption at every level:

the mafia’s control of public works contracts. This trial will continue into next year, and its

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conclusion would provide an optimum platform for publication of this book.  

Provenzano: boss of bosses

Clare Longrigg

Introduction

On 11 April 2006, police raided a farm building in the countryside outside Corleone, and

arrested the boss of Cosa Nostra, Salvatore Provenzano. Agents had followed packages of

clean laundry from his wife along country lanes, passed from hand to hand, via his trusted

‘postmen’, along with little type-written notes, or pizzini, containing his orders, advice, and

love letters to his wife (including instructions on what food he wanted).

It had been 43 years since Provenzano dropped out of sight, and all police had to go on was

a photo from 1959. When Provenzano’s brother in arms Totò Riina was caught after 32

years in hiding, his expression was fierce and brutish. It wasn’t hard to connect this face

with Riina’s crimes. Provenzano was different - older, and suffering from health problems.

Identikit images of the ageing Provenzano came nowhere near this respectable looking,

bespectacled 73-year-old.

So who is Bernardo Provenzano?

The best description we have of the man comes from his former close ally (now a

collaborator) Nino Giuffré, who describes his lust for power, his political links, his ailments

and his affections. Giuffré portrays Provenzano like a mafia statesman, a man of prestige

and influence, a great mediator. His notes to friends and subordinates show him to be

earnestly preoccupied with how his men behave and how things run, his orders and

enquiries overlaid with sentiment of piety and devoted friendship. He is dressy: one witness

was fascinated by his fancy hand painted shoes. He is very attentive to personal hygiene,

and dresses neatly, insisting on supplies of clean clothes. It seems Provenzano is a bit of a

hypochondriac: when he was arrested, police found a large number of different prescription

medicines.

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Known as ‘the accountant,’ and ‘the professor’, he is a political leader of great cunning,

who had patiently restored Cosa Nostra’s power after the disastrous legacy of Riina’s war

on the state. His former lieutenants have described him as calculating and authoritative,

with government contacts at the highest level. From their accounts, and the numerous

letters confiscated by investigators, we now have a complete picture of one of the most

extraordinary criminal minds of our time. And through the story of his long-term protection

from investigators, we can build an idea of how Italian politics was served by organised

crime for over four decades.

Early career: Luciano Leggio and the first mafia war

The third of seven brothers, born to peasants in Corleone, Provenzano left school without

finishing primary, and worked in the fields. In the post-war reconstruction of the mafia,

Corleone’s mafia boss, doctor Michele Navarra, recruited the young Luciano Leggio to his

ranks. By the end of the 50s, Leggio’s hard-bitten band of young mobsters made a

challenge on Navarra’s leadership, and the doctor’s bullet riddled car was found just

outside Corleone. Intense fighting followed, sometimes in the open streets, between the two

camps, with over 50 dead. In May 1963, Provenzano went on the run after a failed hit on

one of Navarra’s men – at this point he was not running from the police, but from mafia

vendetta.

Around this time, Leggio made his famous remark about Provenzano: ‘He shoots like a

god, shame he has the brains of a chicken...’ Provenzano earned the nickname ‘the Tractor’

based on his unstoppable intent, and his capacity to leave terrain turned over in his wake,

with nothing growing.

The mafia war was ended by a car bomb at Ciaculli in June 1963, which killed seven

policemen and led to mass arrests. In 1969 a number of charges against Leggio’s men,

including Provenzano, were dropped. After the acquittal, there was renewed violence

between factions: in December 1969 men in stolen police uniforms broke into an office in

Viale Lazio and machine-gunned the occupants. One of those uniformed killers was

Provenzano.

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Leggio’s leadership changed Cosa Nostra: he reformed the Commission, and was

determined to become all powerful within Cosa Nostra, by whatever means necessary. His

methods and ideas were followed by his lieutenants Totò Riina and Bernardo Provenzano

after him.

In 1978 Provenzano killed his first ‘excellent cadaver’, the incorruptible local government

officer Ugo Triolo, from Corleone. He was killed in the centre of town, in broad daylight:

clearly, the young hit man understood how to send a message to others. At that time, a

collaborator told investigating magistrates Falcone and Borsellino that Provenzano and

Riina, jointly nicknamed ‘the wild beasts’, were Leggio’s most dangerous weapons,

responsible for about 40 murders each. In 1979 they killed the journalist Mario Francese,

who had reported that the mafia was controlling public contracts through politicians and

businessmen. It was another clear warning.

Marriage: a love affair and a business partnership

When Saveria Palazzolo, a shirtmaker and embroiderer, started dating her young outlaw in

1970, it caused a scandal in her home town of Cinisi, a mafia stronghold west of Palermo.

She ran away with him (a common practise amongst young couples, who are then

considered as good as married). They had their first baby, Angelo, in 1976, and the second,

Francesco Paolo, in 1983.

Police noted in the 1970s that Palazzolo, a spinster without any known assets, suddenly

acquired property worth over £10,000. It was the first indication that Provenzano was

making serious profits from his illegal activity, and using his wife’s name to register

businesses, shares and properties, to put them beyond investigators’ grasp. By 1983 she

owned a substantial portfolio of property and shares, and investigators finally acted. She

was charged with investing her partner’s illegal profits, and answered the charges by letter,

claiming that the money came from her embroidery business, and a legacy from an elderly

aunt. She was convicted (in her absence) and sentenced to 3 years 2 months. Nine years

later, the warrant for her arrest was revoked. She had not served one day.

On 5 April 1992, Palazzolo reappeared in Corleone, her arrival communicated to police via

lawyer, with her two sons, now aged, 16, and 9. No one believed she could have abandoned

her husband in all this time, but, aside from the fact that both boys spoke fluent German,

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police couldn’t find out anything about where she had been. Provenzano’s wife’s public

return to Corleone was interpreted by some to mean that he must be very ill - or even dead.

She was not saying anything; she sent the boys to school, opened a laundry, and left the

house only to talk to her lawyers. The boys appear to have been raised as legitimate

citizens, not to follow their father into organised crime. This would have been their

mother’s decision.

When police followed the ‘postmen’ trotting up and down country lanes outside Corleone,

they found love letters between the mafia boss and his companion of over 35 years. Now in

their 70s, they enquire tenderly about each others’ ailments, and exchange domestic notes

about his requirement (‘no more pasta al forno, but as much of that cheese as you like’).

Many of Saveria’s letters to her husband begin “Carissimo amore mio” (my dearest love)

and end with “ I love you always.”

It’s an extraordinary relationship, sustained in difficult circumstances over so many years,

but clearly, she is up to the challenge. Formidable and self-contained, Saveria Palazzolo

dresses modestly, behaves with dignity, and steadfastly refuses to be intimidated or

flattered by police or journalists. (She has given only one interview, to Italian veteran

journalist Attilio Bolzoni.)

Since her husband’s arrest, Palazzolo has resisted the temptation to make a passionate

declaration of her man’s innocence.

Life on the run: never far from home

Unlike Riina, who was discovered living in a luxurious villa in Palermo, Provenzano has no

great taste for extravagance. And yet, it was shocking that a man so powerful and wealthy

should be discovered living in a hovel. It seems the power he wielded was more important

than anything money could buy.

The boss almost certainly spent most of his 43 years no further afield than western Sicily,

protected by a network of followers, police spies and political contacts. In the early days, he

moved around a lot: Giovanni Brusca describes him hiding in San Giuseppe Jato, a mafia

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stronghold ruled by the Brusca family (‘my father used to make up a bag of fruit... and

other food, which I’d take to him’).

Throughout much of the 80s and 90s, Provenzano created a private fiefdom in Bagheria, a

once-glorious suburb of Palermo. In his stronghold, mafiosi met and handed out

construction contracts, buying silence and loyalty. One long-time loyal collaborator of

Provenzano’s, described the boss’s residence in the 18th century villa Valguarnera: ‘a

beautiful place, classical style, where Provenzano lived in hiding, peacefully with his

family... He used to get taken to meetings in an ambulance.’

In the periods when Provenzano and his companion were not living together, conjugal visits

were arranged by the usual elaborate system of ‘postmen’; latterly, the couple saw each

other very seldom, but remained in constant contact by note (never by telephone, let alone

email).

Provenzano enjoyed a level of protection that allowed him to move around, walk through

the centre of Palermo, visit his powerful friends at their villas in Mondello and even go to

the cinema (he went to see The Godfather 3 in a Palermo cinema). The various bosses in

hiding held lavish banquets (mafiosi famously love a good banquet, when they’re plotting

bloodshed, or celebrating). On Saturday afternoons, Provenzano would have a meeting with

Riina, just the two of them, to discuss business and divide up the profits. When this was

impossible, they would send typewritten notes, or verbal messages, through an intricate

chain of command.

Provenzano’s favourite nephew, Carmelo Gariffo, was responsible for getting his

typewritten pizzini to the 163 addressees assigned by their code numbers. Gariffo is fond of

his uncle, and made elaborate arrangements for his health care. He used to write to his

uncle (in poor handwriting, of which Provenzano often complains) in the most solicitous

terms: "You must be sure to give yourself the injection, I know it’s disagreeable, but it must

be done".

His sons also wrote to him, discussing domestic detail, including the arrangements for

Angelo’s wedding (which was due to take place in May - until his father’s arrest). Hours of

phone taps revealed that the boss had family troubles like anyone else: there had been rows

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between three of the brothers over the inheritance of a house. There were mutterings about

an old loan which had never been repaid. It was their nephew Carmelo Gariffo who tried to

resolve the dispute.

The mafia’s accountant: a new line of business

When the pentito Gioacchino Pennino revealed that Provenzano was known as ‘the

accountant’, and the political mind of the western Sicilian mafia, it came as some surprise:

the semi-literate killer had shown a level of sophistication no one had suspected.

While Gaetano Badalamenti was trafficking heroin to the US, and Totò Riina was waging a

war on the Corleonesi’s rival families, Provenzano was instructing his men how to make

useful links within the institutions of state. In a new departure for the mafia, he specialised

in health (medical supplies to hospitals), construction and waste management, creaming off

central funding intended for public projects. In 1983 Angiolo Pellegrini, chief of the

carabinieri in Palermo, reported that there was a monopoly of companies who were taking

larger and larger slices of the pie of public health provision. But when Pellegrini’s men

turned up in Cinisi to arrest Provenzano, he was long gone.

It was Provenzano’s political contacts that made his control of public works possible, and

his protection of these contacts frequently frustrated his Cosa Nostra colleagues. One of

Provenzano’s most significant business partnerships was with Vito Ciancimino, mayor of

Palermo, who was later convicted of embezzlement and mafia association (and whose son

was recently arrested for money laundering). Ciancimino was Provenzano’s creature, he

protected and promoted him to protect his own interests. In the late 50s the two men were

jointly instigators of what became known as the sack of Palermo: by the end of the 1960s

building boom the city had extended its suburbs in a concrete sprawl, WW2 bomb damage

in the centre had not been repaired, beautiful villas had been demolished, and dreadful new

unfinished developments stood where lemon groves had been. Development contracts had

been handed out as bribes and rewards, and Provenzano took a 20 per cent kickback.

In the early 80s, the mafia’s links with the Communist party allowed them access to every

public contract on the island. General Carlo Dalla Chiesa figured out that the mafia

controlled not just every building development on the island, but also the channels to secure

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those contracts. He was assassinated in 1981. Later, when Provenzano set about restoring

the old values of Cosa Nostra, he returned to its core activity: protection rackets, which

provided a convenient way to get in on works contracts. By 2002, investigators estimated

that 96 per cent of awards for government contracts were rigged in advance.

By the time he was arrested, Provenzano was estimated to be worth many millions. But

careful management of his assets, which are registered through numerous ‘clean’

companies and individuals, has so far ensured that very little has been found.

Politics: a secure ticket

Provenzano has never been bothered which colour of political party he dealt with so long as

it brought him influence. He was more interested in buying the silence of the opposition,

than in fighting them. His political patronage worked by a system of total immersion. His

people occupied every level of Bagheria local council: building works, agribusiness grants,

workers were operating as freelancers, representing their own clients. ‘The nerve centres of

Bagheria were in the mafia’s control,’ reported the pentito Angelo Siino, ‘the secretary of

the DC, the head of the council, the mayor, they were always close to the mafia, a mafioso

was head of the technical office... everything was decided by them.’

In 1994, the politician, doctor and now pentito Gioacchino Pennino revealed the special

relationship between Provenzano and the ruling Christian Democrat party. He revealed that

Provenzano had guided and advised Ciancimino, launched and directed his political career,

and personally confronted anyone who was disloyal. Another key alliance was forged

between Salvo Lima, the Christian Democrat politician and later MEP, and Ciancimino.

Lima already had close links with the mafia via the Di Salvo cousins, wealthy businessmen

and mafia members. According to Pennino, Lima and Ciancimino were a pair of prima

donnas – Provenzano was constantly having to keep the peace between them.

After his arrest in 1996, Riina’s executioner Giovanni Brusca revealed that the chain of

communication ran from the long-running Christian Democrat prime minister Giulio

Andreotti to Lima to the Salvo brothers, to Brusca, who relayed the message to Riina. On

one occasion, the message was ‘you need to calm down your operations, or we’ll have to

take preventive action’. Riina sent back the reply: ‘After everything we’ve done for you,

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we’re not taking orders.’ (We don’t yet know what that ‘everything’ was, but after the latest

round of arrests, it may yet come out.) Andreotti was convicted of conspiracy, confirmed

on appeal two years ago.

The decline of the Christian Democrats’ usefulness to Cosa Nostra was marked by a series

of political assassinations, starting with Lima. After the judiciary struck at the mafia in the

90s, by introducing stringent measures to confiscate suspected mafiosi’s assets, Riina and

Provenzano, at the head of the Corleone clan, declared war on the state.

A new political alliance: Forza Italia

After the decline of the Christian Democrats, Cosa Nostra wasted no time in forging a new

political alliance. The pentito Nino Giuffré has claimed that Berlusconi’s people held a

meeting with representatives of Cosa Nostra in 1993, at which it was agreed to set up a new

political party, Forza Italia. Dell’Utri was supposedly the link between Berlusconi and the

Sicilian mafia, ensuring Berlusconi’s companies in Sicily paid kickbacks, and taking care

of mafia investment in Berlusconi-owned companies in Milan. In December 2004, dell’Utri

was convicted of mafia association. Judges concluded he was the go-between for

Berlusconi and Cosa Nostra, and gave substantial support to organised crime, by giving

them contact with economic and financial circles.

Giovanni Mercadante, Sicilian regional deputy for Forza Italia, was arrested in July,

accused of managing Provenzano’s economic interests, and even assisting with his health

care, in exchange for votes.

Riina’s dictatorship: war on the state

In February 1992, Provenzano went to the meeting where Falcone’s death was decided. It

was a rule that Riina and Provenzano should never be at the same meeting, but Provenzano,

according to one pentito, wanted to witness this last act of Riina’s rule. He had already

taken the position that mediation is always better than violence, and by this stage, the two

brothers in arms, who had killed shoulder to shoulder back in the old days of ‘Tombstone’

as Corleone was known in the 50s, had terminally fallen out.

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It was clear to Provenzano that the strategy of open war would rebound very badly on Cosa

Nostra, and he maintained that they lost more than they gained through the judges’ murder.

He was privately critical of Riina for not making good links with the judiciary. Provenzano

had also disapproved of Riina’s sons’ behaviour: he had written to Riina’s godson Giovanni

Brusca to complain: ‘could they please avoid this undesirable conduct. Salvage whatever

you can from this situation. ’

Provenzano was indubitably involved in the major assaults on the state including the

assassinations of Falcone and Borsellino, and the bombings on the mainland in 1993 (he

has been tried and convicted on all counts). But the state’s response to the attacks exceeded

the mafia’s expectations, and Provenzano understood that changes must be made, and

quickly. According to one pentito, Provenzano would not allow errors, and, when

necessary, someone could be killed on the most flimsy pretext. But his targets were much

more calculated than Riina’s, whose scorched earth policy was to wipe out his enemies, and

their families, until all opposition was swept away.

When Riina was arrested in January 1993, he suspected Provenzano had helped set up his

arrest. It wouldn’t be altogether surprising if he had: Riina’s war on the state had made

things extremely difficult for Cosa Nostra, turning public and political opinion against

them. When Provenzano was brought to Terni prison straight after his arrest, one of Riina’s

sons (serving life sentence for three murders) shouted out "He’s no boss, he’s a cop".

Towards a new Cosa Nostra: ‘the accountant’ takes charge

Immediately after Riina’s 1995 arrest, Provenzano reorganised the structure of Cosa

Nostra. He held a summit, in a sheep shed in the countryside, where he gave the heads of

the families a stiff talking to, and told them it was not in their interests to continue the war

with the opposition family, Riina’s allies, now led by Giovanni Brusca. He told them the

political climate wasn’t right just now, but that in five or six years, when things had been

quiet for a while, there would be a settling of scores. (As in fact turned out: 2000 saw a

series of murders, not a massacre, but a careful, targeted elimination.)

There was a good reason behind this approach: Provenzano didn’t have an army of hit men

at his disposal: he relied on manipulating people. He didn’t try to take out the pentiti or

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their families, he waited until they returned to the fold, hoping to pick up their business

interests, then had them arrested. The structure of the commission was reorganised: it

would be more like a senate. Another old rule was reintroduce: Provenzano insisted no one

was to be killed unless approved by the commission, in particular, himself.

The modern mafioso’s leadership handbook

Provenzano has been described by his men as an arbitrator and peacemaker. His

watchwords after the assassinations of Falcone and Borsellino, were ‘silence, and patience’.

He understood the importance of building bridges, if Cosa Nostra was going to survive the

period after the bombs. He was known to favour the idea of live and let live. We can see the

result of his management style: since the bombings of 92, throughout the whole pentito

phenomenon, he was hardly mentioned at all.

Riino’s style was to murder the families of pentiti, Provenzano returned to the old style of

looking after prisoners, paying them a wage, showing respect for imprisoned men of

honour. The scandal of the Riina years was that no mafiosi got paid a salary in jail, and

Provenzano made sure they were looked after so they would stay loyal. He reopened the

books, making men of honour from older, traditional mafia families to avoid chancers and

potential turncoats.

Provenzano did not manage to stay in hiding so long just because he was better at hiding

than Riina. He, in the end, was the one people protected, because they respected his way of

doing things. The messages sent to Provenzano by other powerful mafiosi living

underground reveal the reverence in which he was held: they call him ‘number one’, sir, or

your lordship... (‘vossia’). His tone in the pizzini is grandiose, in spite of his poor grammar,

he makes pronouncements and always invokes God’s personal interest in his projects. It

shows an absolute faith in his own rightness, and it’s a tone his colleagues and subordinates

pick up. One of his notes to Giuffré concludes: Don’t give me thanks, thank only our Lord,

Jesus Christ.” The pastoral pose certainly seems to work. One loyal follower writes to him:

‘You are altruistic, wise, you take life as it comes, like a gift from God. Your faith is strong

and sustains you. God has enlightened you...’

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The pizzini show him trying to instruct his men to be more judicious in their choice of

contacts and introductions. "My dearest friend,’ he wrote to the mystery number "5" - ‘I am

overjoyed to learn you are all in excellent health...’ His spelling and grammar were

dreadful, but the intent is always clear. Though he begins with professions of friendship, he

ends with a severe reprimand. ‘You tell me you’ve got a high level political contact, who

would help you launch a major project. But who is this person, what do I know of them?

You can’t trust anyone these days. They could be spies, infiltrators, anything. What can I

tell you?’

Spies in the system: how Provenzano evaded arrest

It still seems amazing that Provenzano could stay out of sight for so many years, most of

which, it is now clear, were spent in western Sicily. The stories of how close police came

on several occasions are tantalising. Carabinieri tracked his men on many occasions, trying

to intercept their meetings with the boss, but were frustrated by counter espionage. After

the murders of Falcone and Borsellino, public outrage and political will was such that a

major round-up of mafiosi resulted in arrests of Riina, Bagarella, Nitto Santapaola and

Giovanni Brusca. Not Bernardo Provenzano.

Not only corruption but also a lack of political will, and therefore funding, hampered the

investigation. Police had thousands of hours of taped telephone conversations, including a

call from a contractor close to Provenzano, to the interior ministry. But there were not

enough police to listen to them.

In the last year, seven ‘moles’ have been discovered within the judicial system, and at least

five occasions in the last ten years, on which information which would have led to his

capture was leaked at the last minute. Totò Cuffaro, president of the region, now under

investigation for mafia association, allegedly let Mafiosi know they were being

investigated.

Police on their way to intercept Provenzano at a meeting in Mezzojuso in 1995, were

stopped on orders ‘from Rome’. Colonel Michele Riccio was on the team that knew they

had good information about the meeting; he made a complaint against his boss, general

Mario Mori, accusing him of letting Provenzano go. Mori is currently under investigation.

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Provenzano was holding meetings in a driving school, which had been bugged by police.

Overnight, mafiosi removed the bugs and word went out not to use the place for meetings

again. In 2003, a trail of information was discovered that ran from maresciallo Giorgio

Riolo, the police bugging expert, via a marshal working for the mafia investigation dept, to

the health magnate Michele Aiello, and from Aiello to Provenzano. Riolo has since

confessed his role. There are, according to police sources, more moles in the justice system

yet to be exposed.

Investigators close in

On one occasion, in 1996, police in Traversa di Casteldaccia stopped two old fellows in a

battered Fiat 850, with a bale of straw in the boot. They asked for their documents, and

waved the old men on. One of them was Provenzano. This incident shows the level of

police commitment to catching the boss of bosses.

By 1999 a number of Provenzano’s men had been caught, and police knew the identities of

his closest allies. In a final push to capture the boss, special ops police contingent named

Duomo was formed, consisting of police from the Palermo squadra mobile, and servizio

centrale operativo (sco). There was now political capital to be gained from catching the

mafia boss, and the budget was massively increased.

Provenzano’s health wasn’t good. He developed prostate problems, and his men had to

arrange for him to be operated on. Police, intercepting conversations between two of

Provenzano’s men, dashed to Verona, believing he was due to have prostate treatment

there, but they found nothing. Instead, he was whisked out of the country, on false

documents, to Marseilles, where he was treated under an assumed name. In 2005, one

pentito told police about the Marseilles trip, and they raided the hospital, confiscating his

medical records. They learned that besides trouble with his prostate, the mafia boss had

Hepatitis B and C, and rheumatic pains. The forms said: Doesn’t smoke, doesn’t drink,

doesn’t use sleeping pills. Has a dental plate. Police took DNA from a slice of his prostate

and compared it with his brother’s (who was in hospital in Corleone). At last they had some

kind of accurate identikit.

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By January 2006, magistrates Michele Prestipino, highly experienced in organised crime,

and Marzia Sabella, formerly an expert in paedophile rings, were leading the investigation.

‘We had to catch him,’ Sabella told me. ‘We had no option.’

The arrest

After several weeks of following the packages of laundry and food from Saveria

Palazzolo’s house in Corleone, police finally spotted unusual activity at a farm outbuilding,

usually used for making ricotta cheese. A man was seen putting up a TV ariel. They rigged

up close-circuit TV cameras. One of these eventually caught, for a brief moment, an arm

reaching out to take a package. Investigators had their man.

The flying squad closed in, and burst in on the fugitive boss in the early morning. He tried

to run, saying, ‘You’re making a big mistake.’ He was taken to Palermo police station,

where an angry crowd was shouting abuse at him. Reporters admitted to a strange sense of

disappointment at the boss’s extremely normal appearance.

Hot on the trail of the police was one of the investigators, anxious to avoid a situation like

the arrest of Riina: the villa where he’d been caught was sealed off by carabinieri for two

weeks – after which detectives found the place had been cleared out. When they searched

Provenzano’s final hiding place, police found dental plates, a freezer full of meat, and

quantities of prescription medicines, nail files, combs, mouthwash, as well as quantities of

underwear, packed up, as though ready for another move. Two loaded guns and bullets

were found hidden under stones outside. There was an electric typewriter, and the one he

used for his pizzini, his trusted, obsolete Olivetti. There were a number of bibles, one in

particular, ancient and full of little scribbled notes - which investigators believe is the code

for his numerical system of naming his people. This, and a number of pizzini, were taken

away for immediate analysis by the magistrates, who spent the whole of that night working

through the messages.

Aftermath

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After the arrest, people immediately began asking: how has it taken so long? In a country

that loves a good conspiracy theory, the fact that it happened on the night of an election was

considered suspicious by all sides.

After brief and unfruitful questioning by magistrates, weary and fazed at finding

themselves face to face with the man they had been hunting for so long, Provenzano was

transferred by helicopter to the high security facility at Terni. His only request was for a

bible.

On his first appearance in court, his lawyer said he would avail himself of the right to

silence, and then the defendant shook magistrates’ hands. On a subsequent court

appearance, he said, in response to a question, that he was being well looked after by the

prison medical director.

The first person arrested after Provenzano was caught, was his nephew, Carmelo Gariffo.

Shortly after that, three men were detained who were considered to be running the

organisaiton after the boss’s arrest: Nino Rotolo, boss of Pagliarelli, Antonino Cinà,

Provenzano’s former doctor, and the builder Franco Bonura. 52 others were picked up in

the same sweep. Clearly magistrates were wasting no time. At the end of July, the first

major political arrest was made, with the detention of Provenzano’s Forza Italia ally,

Giovanni Mercadante. More will almost certainly follow.

Provenzano’s first appearance in court after his arrest was in the ‘Trash’ trial, for fixed

contracts. He spoke via videolink, from the prison at Terni, to name his legal representative.

Reporters said his voice sounded hoarse and tired. His image appeared on the screen in the

courtroom, but he does not want his image to be photographed or filmed: ‘it’s a question of

privacy’ his lawyer said.

Another major trial in which Provenzano has made an appearance is the fruit of a major

investigation code named ‘Grande Oriente’, in which 20 of Provenzano’s men are

defendants. It covers ten years of mafia murders, from 1981-91, from the murder of mafia

boss Stefano Bontate, to the businessman who refused to pay protection money, Libero

Grassi, whose wife and son are attending every day of the trial.

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The current leaders of Cosa Nostra are allegedly Matteo Messina Denaro, and Salvatore Lo

Piccolo, both close to Provenzano, and both fugitives for over a decade. But things are not

looking good for the two bosses in hiding. Filippo Guttadauro, Messina Denaro’s

spokesman and go-between for Denaro and Provenzano, was arrested in July.

Provenzano’s legacy

The effect of Provenzano’s leadership on Cosa Nostra will be felt for some time: he

brought the organisation back from the brink of annihilation, reinstituted discipline, and

reformed the Commission. He made sure that, as each boss is arrested, there are others to

take his place. Because imprisoned Mafiosi have been well treated during their detention,

experienced men will, on their release, take up their positions in the organisation again.

As the recent political arrests show, the mafia is deeply embedded in the Italian institutions,

and in the public consciousness. After Provenzano’s arrest, the president of the region, Totò

Cuffaro, who is under investigation for mafia association, was re-elected, defeating the

anti-mafia candidate, Rita Borsellino. It was Cuffaro who responded to a recent TV

documentary about Cosa Nostra by making a public proclamation denying the mafia’s

existence. It seems we are back in the realms of mythology.

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