The boss of the bosses

Movie
German title	The boss of the bosses
Original title	Il capo dei capi
Country of production	Italy
original language	Italian
Publishing year	2007
length	90 minutes per episode
Rod
Director	Enzo Monteleone ; Alexis Sweet
script	Attilio Bolzoni ; Giuseppe D'Avanzo ; Stefano Bises ; Claudio Fava ; Domenico Starnone
production	Pietro Valsecchi
camera	Federico Masiero
cut	Clelio Benevento ; Alessandro Heffler
occupation
	Claudio Gioè : Salvatore Riina; Daniele Liotti : Biagio Schirò; Salvatore Lazzaro : Bernardo Provenzano; Claudio Castrogiovanni : Luciano Liggio;

The boss of the bosses (original title: Il capo dei capi ) is a six-part Italian television miniseries . It was first broadcast in Italy between October and November 2007 on Canale 5 . The series is a film adaptation of the life of the Sicilian mafia boss Salvatore Riina , aka Totò u Curtu . The character is interpreted by Claudio Gioè and the role of Bernardo Provenzano by Salvatore Lazzaro . Directed by Alexis Sweet and Enzo Monteleone . The series was produced by Taodue .

action

Palermo, January 15, 1993: the super boss of the Cosa Nostra Salvatore Riina has been captured after a 23-year escape. In prison he receives a visit from his childhood friend Biagio Schirò . In the conversation Toto Riina is asked by Biagio to remember their common past:

First episode (1943-1958)

In 1943 Salvatore Riina was already a young man at the age of 13. He lives in Corleone . While working in the field, he finds a bomb from World War II . The father would like to take the gunpowder from the bomb and sell it to the hunters to supplement his meager income. However, the bomb explodes during the operation and kills Totò's father and little brother. Totò becomes head of the family and is forced to continue to live in misery.

Tired of living in constant poverty, Totò decides to work for Luciano Liggio with his friends Bernardo Provenzano (alias Binnu), Calogero Bagarella and Biagio Schirò. Liggio is a so-called “picciotto del boss” and is one of Michele Navarra's men . Liggio arranges for the kidnapping and murder of the unionist Placido Rizzotto .

While Riina brings the grain he has grown to the miller in his daily work, he notices that the miller is cheating the farmers out of their grain. In revenge, Riina decides to kill the miller's herd of animals. In order to restore the family honor, the son of the miller Totò calls for a duel. Riina fatally wounds the miller's son and goes to prison. While Riina is in custody, his friend Biagio Schirò devotes himself to studying.

Totò is released after six years in prison. Outside the prison, Bernardo Provenzano , Calogero Bagarella and a new member of the gang, Luciano Maino, are waiting for him . He learns that Schirò no longer belongs to the gang. Together with Luciano Liggio as the head of the gang, they murder the mafia boss Michele Navarra. Schirò, who has meanwhile become a police officer, starts investigating the gang and thus his former friends with Commissioner Angelo Mangano . After the death of Navarre, the gang began to spread towards Palermo. In the meantime, Totò meets Ninetta Bagarella . She is the younger sister of Calogero Bagarella . As a hard-working student, she attends the Liceo Classico. He falls in love with her, but finds out that her best friend Teresa is Biagio Schirò's fiancée.

Second episode (1963-1969)

The whole clan from Corleone (Luciano Liggio, Totò Riina , Bernardo Provenzano, Calogero Bagarella and Luciano Maino ) is preparing to go to Palermo to talk about business with the Mafia bosses Salvatore La Barbera and Vito Ciancimino . In Corleone, Totò regularly visits his beloved Ninetta Bagarella . When they arrived in Palermo, the Corleone clan began to gain respect. First they kill a butcher who refused to pay for an illegal load of meat and then an accountant who paid his protection money to the wrong family.

One evening while the clan from Corleone is in a night club - there Maino meets Maria Nigro, who later persuades him to face the police - Salvatore La Barbera is kidnapped and murdered by Michele Cavataio . All who belong to the Barbera clan are also murdered. In the meantime, Biagio Schirò learns from his girlfriend Teresa that Totò is coming to Corleone to visit Ninetta. The search warrant in the Bagarella house remained unsuccessful, however, as Totò and Calogero were able to hide in time.

On June 30, 1963, in Contrada Ciaculli in Palermo, an Alfa Romeo Giulietta was found fully loaded with explosives. While the captain opens the trunk, the car jumps into the air. As a result, seven people die. As a result of the crime, several suspects are arrested. Maino prefers to stay with his girlfriend in Palermo instead of hiding with his comrades.

One evening Totò promises his Ninetta that he will not take revenge for the search of Teresa's house. However, Ninetta has already broken all contact with Teresa, so that she can maintain her relationship with Totò undisturbed. A little later, while Totò and Calogero Bagarella are fleeing Corleone, their car is stopped by a police squad. Totò is arrested while Calogero escapes. First he identifies himself with false papers. However, he is later recognized by Biagio.

During Teresa's graduation, she learns from Biagio that Totò has been arrested and that they can now marry in peace. Ninetta, who was just near the two of them, overhears the conversation and desperately escapes from school. Schirò goes to Teresa's parents to officially become engaged to her. A few days after Totò Riina was arrested , Luciano Maino began working with the judge Cesare Terranova and told him everything he knew. Luciano Liggio is later arrested by Inspector Mangano and Schirò.

In 1969 the Bari trial begins. Luciano Maino accuses Riina of the murder of several people in court. However, Riina succeeds in making Maino look mentally deranged, so that his statements cannot be taken seriously. Due to a lack of evidence and threats, Liggio, Riina and everyone else in the clan were acquitted. Totò returns home and becomes engaged to Ninetta. A few days after the trial, Luciano Maino was found hanged in his apartment by his friend Maria.

Third episode (1969–1978)

Biagio and Teresa are now married and have a son named Antonio. Riina and his clan are in the Palermo office of Michele Cavataio , who had previously eliminated Salvatore La Barbera . Totò Riina , Bernardo Provenzano , Calogero Bagarella and two men from the family of Tano Badalamenti (boss of the Cinisi ) intend to murder Michele Cavataio and disguise themselves as members of the Guardia di Finanza .

One of Badalamenti's men gets nervous and starts shooting prematurely. There is a massacre. Before they get into Cavataio's room, five men are shot. Cavataio pretends to be dead and the moment Binnu and Calogero approach, he turns and shoots them. Calogero is hit in the chest and dies. Binnu furiously hits Cavataio's skull with the bottom of his rifle until he dies. Schirò is transferred to Palermo and begins to investigate the “ strage di Viale Lazio ” after the massacre .

In Corleone, Totò informs his sister Arcangela of the death of her fiancé Calogero. She bursts into tears and slaps her brother. Totò sends one of his men to pick up Ninetta - who has meanwhile become a teacher at a women's school - to tell her what happened. In order to get hold of investment money for Palermo, Totò has little Antonino Caruso kidnapped. This leads to disagreement among the Mafia bosses in Palermo. Stefano Bontade and Giuseppe Di Cristina in particular condemn this act. In the meantime, Vito Ciancimino becomes mayor of the city.

On May 5, 1971, Riina charged his soldiers Vito Maranza and Pochet Coffi with the murder of the Attorney General Pietro Scaglione, and in the course of the attack, the sergeant Lo Russo was also killed. Totò decides to leave before the wedding with Ninetta. They can be photographed together and send Arcangela a photo of themselves. The photo is found during a police search. Then it is decided to bring Ninetta to the northern Italian border in order to remove it as far as possible from Totò. During the trial, Vito Maranza goes one of Totò's men to Biagio's home. He pretends to be a realtor and manages to lure Teresa and her son into an empty apartment. Once in the shell, the agent leaves both of them alone on the third floor and blocks the elevator. Teresa desperately looks for a way to the ground floor. However, she only finds blocked paths and is frightened. Biagio, who is in the courtroom, is told that his wife and child will only be released if the judge lifts Ninetta's exile to northern Italy.

Luciano Liggio is arrested by Commissioner Mangano in Milan. Thereupon Totò becomes the only boss of the Corleonesi clan and at the same time privileged to Michele Greco.

Two soldiers from Totò are charged with the murder of Giuseppe Di Cristina . However, these make a mistake and kill his driver. In the meantime, Totò and Ninetta get married. Vito Maranza and Pochet Coffi shadow Giuseppe Di Cristina and find out that he is working with Commissioner Boris Giuliano .

Pippo Calderone , Badalamenti and Di Cristina distance themselves more and more from Totò and in the meeting that follows Totò demands the lives of the three men. However, he is only granted the life of Di Cristina, but Totò also decides to execute Calderone.

Silvio Albertini, a loyal colleague of Biagio Schirò, finds out where Totò Riina, his wife Ninetta and Bernardo Provenzano are while examining some maps . He calls Biagio from a phone booth and asks him to come over. When Biagio arrives at his apartment, he finds Silvio's body. Biagio is unexpectedly beaten by Vito Maranza and Pochet Coffi. When he was lying on the floor, Totò came over and warned Biagio that he should leave his family and especially his wife Ninetta alone. He kicks him in the face and leaves him unconscious.

Fourth episode (1979-1981)

Schirò and Commissioner Boris Giuliano are with other police officers on their way to the Punta Raisi airport in Palermo to arrest some French chemists. They had traveled to Sicily to show Francesco Marino Mannoia (chemist from the Bontade family) how drugs are processed. In the meantime there is a meeting with the biggest mafia bosses. As soon as he arrived at the airport, Commissioner Giuliano was told by telephone that he was not allowed to arrest the two French because of lack of evidence. Peppe, a soldier from Bontade , accompanies Totò home and receives a large sum of money to have his dying brother treated in America. In the meantime, Totò and Ninetta have had two children (Concetta and Giovanni) and are expecting a third child. Schirò and Commissioner Boris Giuliano track down the Corleonesi refinery. After further investigation, Schirò tracks down another refinery, but this time it is that of Bontade. Meanwhile, Marino Mannoia is arrested. After Commissioner Giuliano returned to the police station, he received an intimidation call.

A suitcase full of money addressed to Bontade is found in Punta Raisi. Bontade now finally loses patience with Commissioner Giuliano and calls his allies in Rome. He asks to have Giuliano transferred to Rome and to have him killed if he should not accept the offer. Boris Giuliano takes the threat seriously and sends his family on vacation to the mountains and promises to come the following week. However, he himself was murdered a few days later in a bar by Leoluca Bagarella (Luchino). Meanwhile, Ninetta's contractions are getting worse. She is being taken to a hospital. However, it is a false alarm. There is now someone in town selling poorly processed drugs. Totò finds out that someone is called Tanino. It belongs to the right arm of Salvatore Inzerillo . Totò tries to win his friendship. Ninetta gives birth to her third child, Giuseppe, in Palermo's best clinic. She is recognized in the hospital by Teresa - who had just found out in the hospital that she was pregnant. Terrified, Ninetta grabs her child and escapes from the hospital with her brother Leoluca. Teresa Biagio calls excitedly to tell him about the incident. Totò also hears about the incident and sends his soldiers to the hospital to kill Teresa. Teresa manages to escape and is completely frightened in a state of shock. At the same moment she loses her child and is found by Schirò. In order not to expose herself to such dangers, Teresa decides to move to Rome with her child Antonio. After a while, Biagio overtakes her.

After a conversation with Schirò, the judge Gaetano Costa decides to sign the arrest warrant against all Mafia bosses in Palermo. He is then shot by Bontade's men. In the meantime, Cesare Terranova is sent to the Palermo Justice Department. He is also murdered by Totò. As soon as the bosses from Palermo have shot Terranova, they decide to eliminate Totò as well. Riina then leaves his home - also because his apartment belonged to Stefano Bontade . All Palermitans are now against Totò. With the help of Tanino and Peppe, Riina manages to escape all attacks. After a short time he has Stefano Bontade, Salvatore Inzerillo and their family members killed. This massacre is also known as the seconda guerra di mafia (2nd Mafia War). At the end of the fourth episode, John Gambino, the greatest American mafia boss, comes to Sicily to stop the carnage. Totò Riina promises him that no man of honor will be murdered anymore.

Fifth episode (1982-1987)

The fifth episode begins with Pio La Torre. He is a communist who, on the one hand, leads a debate in Corleone to prevent the construction of a military base in Comiso and, on the other hand, leads a debate against the united commission. A certain Apuzzo works in the commission. He is a friend of Tommaso Buscetta and pretends to be a loyal friend of Totò Riina . Commissioner Mangano is now retired. He suggests that the magistrate use Schirò as a joker in order to track down all fleeing mafia bosses. He returns to Corleone to tell Schirò that he should go to Palermo to work with Giovanni Falcone , Paolo Borsellino and Rocco Chinnici .

While Totò is playing with his son Giovanni, Ninetta is pregnant again and worried about her husband's plans. Totò decides to assemble a couple of his soldiers and orders them to murder Pio La Torre. General Carlo Alberto Chiesa is ordered to Palermo. First, the general instructs his men to search Ignazio Salvo's tax collection office. A powerful person involved with the Mafia. A little later, Dalla Chiesa and Rocco Chinnici are murdered by Riina's soldiers and Nitto Santapaola . Apuzzo is now in Brazil with Tommaso Buscetta. Totò finds out about this and has Apuzzo and all of Buscetta's family members murdered. Buscetta is arrested for drug trafficking. He is tortured in the Brazilian prison. However, he refuses to make any statement. He is handed down to Italy and begins to work with Giovanni Falcone. He explains the structure of Cosa Nostra . Hundreds of people were arrested after the interrogation. Vito Ciancimino was among those arrested.

On July 28, 1985, Commissioner Giuseppe Montana was murdered. Together with Biagio, he investigated the dead in the Second Mafia War. A young man is accused of murder. In the police station, the young man is beaten so badly by an angry policeman that he collapses and dies. The chief of police informs Falcone of the event. As a result, an investigation into the incident is initiated by the magistrate. Teresa and Antonio return from Rome to Schirò in Palermo. On August 16, 1985, Ninni Cassarà was murdered in front of his wife and child. In the national judicial prison of Asinara in Sardinia Falcone and Borsellino the [maxi trial] prepare. At the end of the trial, Riina and Provenzano are sentenced in their absence, while Michele Greco , Luciano Liggio and many others present are sentenced to life imprisonment in the tribunal. This episode ends with a shootout between Schirò, Vito Maranza and Leoluca Bagarella . In this shootout, Vito Maranza was shot by Biagio. Biagio is seriously injured himself.

Sixth and final episode (1988–1993)

Biagio Schirò was seriously injured during the shootout with Leoluca Bagarella and Vito Maranza . He is taken to the hospital and fortunately survives. Totò Riina is nervous, among other things, because he has been sentenced to life imprisonment. Ignazio Salvo assures Totò that the judgment in the Court of Cassation will be modified. Totò commissions Luchino to shade Ignazio Salvo.

There are two candidates for the post of Senior Judge at the Supreme Judicial Council of Palermo: Giovanni Falcone and Antonino Meli . Falcone is the most popular candidate, but Meli was hired for this office. Riina assigns Pino Scarpuzzedda and Luchino to murder Giovanni Falcone. Scarpuzzedda organizes an assassination attempt at the lawyer Addaura's beach house near Mondello , but it fails. In the following days Scarpuzzedda commits two robberies in the area of the boss Pietro Aglieri . These are a bank robbery and a robbery at a jewelry store. Totò is tired of Scarpuzzedda acting independently and has him murdered.

Falcone is transferred to Rome. Ninuzzo Schirò decides to follow in his father's footsteps and also becomes a police officer. The revision of the judgment of the Maxi Trial at the Court of Cassation is rejected. Riina Salvo then has Lima murdered. A few days later, Totò Riina and Giovanni Brusca meet to organize an assassination attempt on Giovanni Falcone.

On the day of the attack, the lawyer Giovanni Falcone is on their way to Palermo with his wife, the lawyer Francesca Morvillo and a protection group. When crossing a bridge fully loaded with explosives, the bridge explodes. Giovanni Falcone, his wife and the escort die in the assassination attempt. About two months later, lawyer Paolo Borsellino is assassinated. Also Ignazio Salvo is murdered men of Totos. In the meantime, Vito Ciancimino is contacted by the Karabinier chief to put an end to the carnage. Riina decides to negotiate with the state and prepares a letter with all its demands.

Binnu does not agree with the “war against all institutions” that Totò has started and leads a heated discussion with him while they have lunch with Ninetta and Luchino.

One evening Baldassare Di Maggio alias Balduccio - a soldier from Totò Riina - is stopped by a police while he is driving his car. He is arrested and taken to the police station. He decides to cooperate with the police and arrests Totò Riina by telling the police about Totò's whereabouts in Palermo.

After Riina is arrested, his wife Ninetta and their children (Concetta, Giovanni, Giuseppe e Lucia) return to Corleone. In Totò's house, Luchino, Binnu and Giovanni Brusca take with them all the documents that could prove their undoing. The episode ends with a dialogue between Biagio Schirò and Totò Riina.

background

The shooting took place mainly in the area of Ragusa and partly in Catania . The filming of Corleone was done in Monterosso Almo , while Palermo airport is actually Catania airport . Various scenes were also shot in Vittoria , Acate and in parts of Marina di Ragusa , Donnalucata and Scicli .

The character Biagio Schirò is based at least in part on the police officer Biagio Melita, who had Totò Riina arrested in 1963 during a roadblock.

In the sixth episode, real footage of the 1993 arrest of Totò Riina was broadcast.

The police officer who photographed Riina after her arrest is director Alexis Sweet.

Mario Francese's family members have sued Mediaset and the film's scriptwriters. Mario Francese is not represented in the film, but Biagio Schirò , who is partly fictitious, is represented . Ninetta Bagarella , the wife of Totò Riina , has announced that she intends to sue the scriptwriters of the film over the damage caused by this film.

reception

Every Thursday from prison, Totò Riina followed all six parts of the film. At the end of the series he is said to have been satisfied with Claudio Gioè's interpretation of himself.

Antonio Ingroia , the PM of the Dda of Palermo claims that films like "The Boss of the Bosses" have a damaging effect on the viewer because they can create a positive image of mafia criminals. During a school visit in Palermo, Ingroia asked some students who they thought was the most likeable person in the whole film and all of them answered Totò Riina. In a previous interview, the same students testified that the Mafia is a harmful association and never wants to be part of it. In the program "Viva Voce" on Radio 24 Ingroia stated that he is against censorship of the film.

Pino Pisicchio is of the opinion that this film portrays Salvatore Riina as a poor Sicilian unlucky fellow with a likable face. The then Justice Minister Clemente Mastella believed that this film should not have come on television.

The sociologist Antonio Marziale , who cares about the rights of minors and is a member of the ministerial commission, believes that the message given to young people is destructive from an educational point of view and cannot be defined as social engagement. If a prime-time porn film had been shown instead of this film, it would certainly have had a less damaging effect.

Andrea Camilleri says in the daily La Stampa : “I am of the opinion that the only literature about the Mafia should only come from the log books of the police and the Carabinieri and from the court judgments of the magistrate.” Claudio Gioè admitted: “It is it is clear that Riina also has the capacity to seduce people. It is not possible that the bad ones cannot be anything but bad. It would have been ridiculous to play a bad guy all the time and grin all the time. We Sicilians know that the Mafia can be seductive. "

Differences with historical events

Biagio Schirò

Biagio Schirò is a fictional person and arose from the fantasy of the scriptwriters. The character Schirò is supposed to represent all people who fought against the Mafia. He is a childhood friend of Totò Riina. As an orphan, he works with Riina in the country. When Riina arrives in prison for murder, Biagio devotes himself to studying. After a few years he becomes a policeman. He marries Teresa and continues his investigation into Totò Riina. Colleagues who support him are almost all killed. In the end, Schirò is seriously injured by Totò Riina in a gun battle with two soldiers. He survived, and after much effort, Riina is finally arrested. In the end, Schirò manages to talk to Riina one last time.

Luciano Maino

Luciano Maino is also a fictional person. However, he is inspired by the person Luciano Raia. Raia is a former Cosa Nostra killer who has regretted his actions and subsequently worked with the police. His statements led to the Bari trial in 1969. In contrast to the character played in the film, he did not hang himself. In the Bari trial, his statements were not believed. He was declared insane and sent to an asylum, where he died a year later.

Other differences

The character of Commissioner Angelo Mangano has been heavily fictionalized. In addition, Mangano says in a conversation with Schirò that he comes from a suburb of Syracuse. In contrast, the real Mangano comes from a suburb of Catania.
In the first episode, Michele Navarra is introduced to be much older than he really was. In the dispute with Placido Rizzotto , he claims that he fought as a soldier in the First World War. This would have been totally impossible in reality, since Navarre was born in 1905.
In the third episode, Leoluca Bagarella appears almost like a teenager in the early 1970s. In reality he was almost 30 years old.
In the film, Leoluca Bagarella is portrayed as a merciless killer from Corleone and is considered the little brother of Ninetta Bagarella . In reality, however, he is two years older than Ninetta.
The second episode shows a shootout that is said to have taken place in the Vucciria market in Palermo during the “First Mafia War”. However, the shooting took place in a fish market in Palermo, on Via Empedocle Restivo.
In the second episode, Liggio Totò Riina introduces the main mafia families. Calogero Ganci is also mentioned among those mentioned. Which is completely impossible since Calogero Ganci was still an infant at the time. In all likelihood his father Raffaele Ganci was meant.
The third episode shows the Viale Lazio massacre. Seven people die in the film. In reality, however, there were six dead.
In the third episode, two mistakes can be seen during the murder of the mafia boss Riesi Giuseppe Di Cristina . In reality, both of his bodyguards died during the unsuccessful assassination and only one can be seen in the film. Di Cristina was actually murdered at a bus stop and not in front of the entrance of his hotel as shown in the film.
In the third episode, Antonio Caruso is kidnapped in 1971 . In the film he is portrayed like a child. In reality, however, he was already 21 years old.
In the third episode, the failed assassination attempt on mafia boss Riesi Giuseppe Di Cristina takes place before Totò Riina's wedding. However, Riina married in 1974, the attack was in 1978.
In the fourth episode, Giuseppe Riina is born in 1979, directly after the assassination attempt on Boris Giuliano . However, Giuseppe Riina was born in 1977.
In the fourth episode, Leoluca Bagarella shoots Boris Giuliano with a single shot in the chest. In reality, however, there were seven shots in the back.
In the fifth episode, the procurator Giovanni Pizzillo criticizes the relationship between Falcone and Morvillo. He accuses Morvillo of damaging the image of the magistrate if she has a child unmarried. In reality, Morvillo was divorced at the time and never had children.
In the fifth episode at the entrance to the Maxi Trial , Tommaso Buscetta was received with insults and screams from the accused. In fact, it was dead quiet while Buscetta stepped into the courtroom.
In the film, the killer Pochet Coffi ( Sergio Friscia ) is dedicated to Mario Prestifilippo , who served for the Corleonesi until 1987.

Web links

The boss of bosses in the Internet Movie Database (English)