Salvatore Riina

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Police photo of the young Salvatore Riina with fingerprints

Salvatore "Totò" Riina (born November 16, 1930 in Corleone , Sicily ; † November 17, 2017 in Parma ) was a member of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra and for about two decades the head of the Corleonesi , a clan from the notorious Mafia stronghold of Corleone . He was considered a presumed " Capo di tutti i capi " (Italian for "boss of the bosses"). Because of his small height of 1.58 m he was also called u curtu (the short one). The Italian media dubbed Riina la belva (the beast) because of his ruthlessness and brutality .

Criminal career

Salvatore Riina was born the son of a Corleonese farmer who was involved in criminal business. When he was twelve years old, his father died in a bomb explosion that also killed one of Salvatore's brothers and seriously injured another; he himself remained completely unharmed. He joined Luciano Liggio early on, who had already made a career in the Corleone Mafia family. Riina had met Liggio in prison in the mid-1940s and over time became his right-hand man.

In 1949, Riina committed his first murder at the age of 19, probably becoming a full member of the Cosa Nostra , as the Sicilian mafia calls itself. When the power-hungry Liggio came into conflict with the family's capo, Michele Navarra , Liggio's group began a vandalism campaign against one of Navarra's underbosses. Riina, his friend Bernardo Provenzano , the Bagarella brothers and others ravaged its property. Navarre ordered an unsuccessful attack on Liggio in retaliation. On August 2, 1958, Navarre was murdered by Liggio's group; Submachine guns modeled on the Italian-American Mafia were used for the first time in Sicily in the attack, which caused a sensation. In the years that followed, there was a bloody power struggle between Navarre's remaining supporters and Liggio's group in Corleone. Liggio's men, who had the upper hand from the beginning, were not satisfied with a mere victory, but killed all opponents they could get hold of. From 1943 to 1961, 52 murders and 22 attempted murders were recorded in Corleone; In addition, many people disappeared without a trace, victims of the so-called Lupara bianca . Riina was one of Liggio's most active and efficient killers in the battle for Corleone .

After the beginning of the First Mafia War , countless Mafiosi were arrested, including Riina. He shared his cell with the mechanic and car thief Gaspare Mutolo , who was later accepted into the Cosa Nostra himself. Mutolo became a key witness decades later, describing Riina and his personality in detail. When Riina once asked him about his car thefts and wanted to know whether Mutolo was also capable of killing people, Mutolo replied: "If it has to." Riina, satisfied with the answer, could not understand that Mutolo was found it harder to murder a person than to commit robbery: “If you shoot someone, it takes a second. If you commit a robbery, you need more time for it. ”Riina described his own philosophy of life to his“ pupil ”as follows:“ You have to use all possibilities to achieve your goal and eliminate all possible obstacles. ”

When the Cosa Nostra, after years of relative inactivity, killed the perpetrator of the First Mafia War in 1969 with Michele Cavataio , Riina, who had meanwhile been released, led the action, who had meanwhile risen to the second man in the organization. It was Calogero Bagarella , shot one of Liggios men of Cavataio. Riina, who was engaged to Bagarella's sister Ninetta and who later also married, wore a black tie temporarily as a token of mourning. Riina had been wanted again by arrest warrant since the early 1970s, but was not arrested until 1993.

When Liggio was arrested in Milan in 1974 after having fled for years, the leadership of the Corleonese family passed to Riina. Liggio had often been represented by Riina at meetings of the Mafia Commission ( Cupola ) before. In the late 1970s, Riina was hiding in a country house in Borgo Molara in the Altofonte and Monreale area . He soon took the first steps to achieve supremacy within the Cosa Nostra. In the bloody Second Mafia War in the early 1980s, the Corleonesians and the other families allied with them achieved absolute supremacy; more than 1,000 people died in this war. Riina proceeded exactly as Luciano Liggio had shown him in Corleone, and literally exterminated all opponents in a campaign of destruction. When Riina had the Palermitan boss Rosario Riccobono and over 20 of his men murdered in a single day shortly before Christmas 1982, he was delighted and allegedly got into euphoria: “We even did better than the Americans with their Valentine's Day massacre ! "

Falcone (left) and Borsellino (right) on demonstration banners: You didn't murder them, their ideas continue on our feet

In parallel to a downright slaughter of their opponents, the Corleonesians began a campaign against the state. For years, prosecutors, judges, politicians, journalists and also uninvolved civilians have been killed. Riina also became known outside Italy when he commissioned the 1992 murders of Paolo Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone, as well as Salvatore Lima . In addition, he is said to be responsible for about 100 other murders, of which he is said to have committed several dozen personally. B. also the murder of Rosario Riccobono.

Although Riina was officially "fugitive" for over twenty years, he probably lived in Sicily the whole time and built himself a position of power in the Mafia. There is evidence that he spent several years in Palermo under the protection of the family of the Palermitan district of Noce. It is generally believed that this was only possible because he enjoyed protection due to bribery, entanglements and intimidation from the Sicilian government and the then very influential Democrazia Cristiana .

Arrested in 1993

The fact that Riina was finally arrested on January 15, 1993 in Palermo is also attributed to the fact that he had caused great public pressure on the politicians with the murders of the very popular "Mafia hunters" Paolo Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone take action against the mafia. In this context, Giovanni Brusca was arrested, who had been commissioned by Riina to murder Falcone. Riina was also accused of being involved in the murder of Salvatore Lima and of having commissioned the kidnapping and murder of the journalist Mauro De Mauro . Brusca put another version of Riina's arrest on record: Tired of the dictatorial and violent rule of Riina, Riina had been betrayed to the state by other mafia bosses such as his old friend Bernardo Provenzano. Following the arrest of Riina, his property, which amounted to approximately $ 125 million, was also confiscated.

Riina's right-hand man and successor was his brother-in-law Leoluca Bagarella ; When he was arrested in 1995, the leadership passed to Bernardo Provenzano, who was arrested in April 2006 after escaping in 1963. In 2004 it was revealed that Riina had suffered two heart attacks in May and December 2003. According to observers, Riina's sons apparently play a major role in the Cosa Nostra to Provenzano; through her, Riina herself, now over 80 years old, is said to have exercised a considerable influence.

After the sentencing

Salvatore Riina, arrested from 1993 onwards, was sentenced to life imprisonment thirteen times and was imprisoned in Parma until his death. On June 5, 2017, a court of cassation rejected an earlier judgment denying a petition for release on the grounds that Riina, like every prisoner, has the "right to death with dignity". A court in Bologna was supposed to decide whether Riina could be released, put under house arrest or hospitalized, as he suffered from severe kidney and brain problems and, according to the court of cassation, no longer poses a threat to the general public. On July 19, 2017, the court ruled that Riina could not be released early from prison and must remain in the sick section of the maximum security prison in Parma. He died there on November 17, 2017.

Films and documentaries

literature

  • John Follain: The Final Godfathers: Rise and Fall of the Corleones. Translated by Irmengard Gabler . Fischer Taschenbuchverlag, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-596-18370-8 .
  • Clare Longrigg: The godfather of the godparents. How Bernardo Provenzano organized the Mafia. Herbig, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-7766-2591-2 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Salvatore Toto Riina Mafia boss of the Cosa Nostra is dead , Spiegel Online , accessed on November 17, 2017
  2. ^ A b John Follain: The last Godfathers. Hodder & Stoughton, London 2008, ISBN 978-0-340-97919-8 .
  3. ^ Pino Arlacchi : Mafia from the inside - The life of Don Antonino Calderone. Fischer, Frankfurt a. M. 1995, ISBN 3-596-12477-8 .
  4. ^ Massimo Ciancimino and Francesco La Licata: Don Vito. Munich 2010, Piper Verlag, ISBN 978-3-492-05444-7 .
  5. ↑ John Follain: The last Godfathers. Hodder & Stoughton, London 2008, ISBN 978-0-340-97919-8 , p. 147.
  6. ^ Sicilian mafia boss Salvatore Riina last accessed on May 11, 2012.
  7. ↑ prosieben - Italy's notorious Mafia boss Riina soon to be at large?
  8. ↑ SPIEGEL ONLINE: Seriously ill mafia chief: The "boss of the bosses" remains in custody. Retrieved July 19, 2017 .
  9. ↑ Salvatore Toto Riina Mafia boss of the Cosa Nostra is dead , Spiegel Online , accessed on November 17, 2017
personal data
SURNAME Riina, Salvatore
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Riina, Totò (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian mafia boss
DATE OF BIRTH November 16, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Corleone , Sicily , Italy
DATE OF DEATH 17th November 2017
Place of death Parma , Italy