Salvatore "Toto" Riina from the 1970s until his arrest in 1993 was the boss of the mafia clan from the Sicilian town of Corleone. He was known as a ruthless and cruel man, who was called only the Beast. Riina was once considered the capo del capi of the Sicilian mafia and was involved in more than a thousand murders.
Peasant from Corleone
Salvatore Riina was born in Corleone on November 16, 1930. As a teenager, he joined the local mafia group, which at that time was run by a respected local doctor, Michele Navarra.
The criminal life of Toto Riina began with the entry into the detachment, the head of which was Luciano Leggio. In 1949, Toto received orders to kill a man named Domenico DeMateo; it was his first victim. For this crime, Salvatore was arrested and imprisoned for 6 years.
After leaving prison, he returned to his old village and engaged in cigarette smuggling, cattle theft and extortion. In those years, bandits from richer and more powerful clans dismissively called members of the Leggio group "peasants." This nickname cost dearly to everyone who spoke it at least once. In the mid-1950s, Luciano Leggio and his team became less dependent on the supreme boss Michele Navarra. Tensions grew between them, and Navarra decided to eliminate the rebellious “lieutenant”. In the summer of 1958, there was an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Leggio, which only kindled his fury.
A couple of weeks after the unsuccessful assassination attempt, Luciano Leggio and his men struck back. The squad of killers included Salvatore Riina and Bernardo Provenzano. On August 2, 1958, Navarra and another doctor were driving home when they came under machine-gun fire from an ambush. The car was riddled with bullets, as a result of which both Navarre and his companion died. In the following weeks and months, several of Navarre's most devoted people were destroyed, and Leggio took control of the Corleone clan.
"Corleonesi" led by Leggio
Representatives of the gang from Corleone became famous as violent criminals who killed everyone who stood in their way. The police drew attention to the increase in violence and identified the person responsible for the bloodshed. Soon, Riina, Provenzano and Legio were put on the wanted list. At about the same time, Leggio joined supporters of Salvatore Greco, who led the war against Angelo Barber, the leader of a hostile mafia structure. These events went down in history as the First Sicilian Mafia War. In December 1962, on the orders of Barber, Calcedonio Di Pisa was killed, who was accused of stealing heroin from a party intended to be sent to New York. In response, Greco ordered the murder of Salvatore Barber. The killings continued until 1963, when Angelo Barbera was arrested. However, this war forced the government to organize a large-scale operation against the mafia, as a result of which hundreds of people were imprisoned. In 1964, Leggio and Riina were taken into custody, but they managed to intimidate the jury and witnesses. A little later, Riina was released and again went underground. For the next 23 years, he remained a ghost.
By 1969, when Leggio came out, a lot has changed in the structure of the mafia. The copula, formed in 1957 by Joseph Bonanno, by this time included only three original participants: Gaetano Badalamenti, Stefano Bontade and Luciano Leggio. At meetings, instead of his boss, his deputy Salvatore Riina was often present. In the same year, the assassination of Michele Cavatayo, a former member of the copula and leader of the Aquasantha clan, was organized. One of his killers was Riina. After this, bandits from Corleone extended their power to Palermo, the center of the Sicilian mafia.
Mattanza, 1981-1983
Lejo, who was hiding in Milan, was arrested in 1974 after the police established a tapping on his phone. Even from prison, he continued to manage his affairs through Toto Riina and Bernardo Provenzano, who among the mafia colleagues were known as Le belve, or "wild animals." Riina began to gather allies throughout Sicily to destroy her rivals. Among these rivals were members of the copula, Gaetano Badalamenti and Stefano Bontade, as well as Salvatore Incerillo and Tommaso Buschetta. The second Mafia war is usually called Mattanza, a term for tuna fishing in Sicily. The catalyst for the growth of violence was the removal of Gaetano Badalamenti from the post of head of the Sicilian mafia. Riina accused Badalamenti of appropriating money from the sale of drugs, as a result of which the latter had to flee to America. Another reason for the outbreak of war was the 1978 assassination of Giuseppe Di Cristina, ally of Salvatore Inzerillo. It was clear that Riina aimed to seize the supreme power in the Sicilian mafia and complete control over drug trafficking.
In 1980, Tomaso Buchetta was released from prison and went to Brazil, so as not to get involved in the war. A year later, Stefano Bontade was killed, and two weeks later, Incerillo was shot dead. Thus, the main enemies of the bandits from Corleone were eliminated. However, Riina did not stop there and consistently killed all their relatives and friends. For example, Salvatore Kontorno killed 35 family members. As a result, the Sicilian mafioso Kontorno was afraid of his whole life and decided on the only kind of revenge, becoming a federal witness.
Cadaveri eccelenti (Radiant Corpses)
As the Corleonesis gained power and wealth, their ability to influence the government also grew. Politicians often collaborate with the mafia, and those who refuse are quickly removed. For example, in 1971, the prosecutor Pietro Scallione was killed after visiting his wife’s grave. He was close to Vito Changchimino, who would later become mayor of Palermo and would fulfill orders from Riina. In September 1982, the mafia again demonstrated that it could eliminate any person, and there would be nothing for it. Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa was shot dead, an Italian general who arrived in Sicily to hunt down the mafiosi and put an end to Mattanza. After that, no one dared to challenge the criminals until Giovanni Falcone appeared. At first, he received almost no help from his colleagues, because everyone was afraid to be killed by the mafia. After some time, the big mafia Tomaso Buschetta decided to testify in order to punish the Corleonesis, who killed all his relatives.
Bouchetta was one of the highest-ranking organized crime figures ever to testify; he revealed many of the internal details of the mafia’s work and pointed out the many people involved in Mattanza. Due to the huge amount of information received, in 1986 Falcone was able to bring the case to hearings in the Supreme Court. Before the start of the trial, the police tracked down several mafiosi to prosecute them. However, Toto Riina and his deputy Bernardo Provenzano remained at large. Bushetta became the main witness and sent to prison many of his old associates and enemies. After the trial, Falcone realized that he was in danger, and spent his last years surrounded by bodyguards.
The murder of Falcone
In 1992, Salvatore Riina was able to get to Falcone. The order for its destruction was received by Giovanni Brusca, belonging to the old mafia dynasty and devoted to his boss. On May 23, 1992, Bruska and his men planted a bomb on one of the sections of the highway leading to Palermo Airport. Falcone and his wife rode in an armored Fiat, accompanied by several police officers. Bruska and his people were waiting for them at some distance from the road. They waited for the right moment, and when Falcone's car approached the bomb, they detonated an explosive device. Several cars were destroyed at once, including the Falcone car, as well as a large section of the road. Falcone, his wife and three policemen died instantly. After that, Riina aimed to destroy Paolo Borsellino. Just a month later, Borsellino was killed near his home in a car bomb explosion. The deaths of these two human rights defenders were enraged by a people who were tired of enduring ongoing violence and constant fear of the bandits from Corleone.
Arrest and trial
Under pressure from the people, the Carabinieri had to make every effort to catch Toto Riina. On January 15, 1993, he was arrested right on the street, dragged from his own car. Toto's whereabouts were reported by his personal driver, Baldassare Di Maggio. They say that during the arrest of Riin, he shouted at the Carabinieri: Communista! In court, Toto claimed that he was an innocent accountant and had no idea that he was Italy's most wanted criminal in the last three decades. Soon the news of the capture of Riina appeared in the newspapers. It was a surprise that the head of the mafia has lived in Palermo all these years, unnoticed and unidentified by anyone. In 1974, he even spent his honeymoon in Venice, and no one knew about it. Most likely, people simply had no idea how he looks after many years on the run.
Riina has already been sentenced in absentia to two life sentences on charges of more than 100 crimes, including the murders of Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino. In 1998, he was sentenced to another life sentence for the murder of Salvo Lim, a corrupt politician closely associated with Corleonesi. Currently, the failed Don Corleone Toto Riina is in a maximum security prison on the island of Sardinia. In 2003, it was reported that in May and December he suffered two heart attacks.
