Second Mafia War. In the early 1970s, Luciano Leggio was boss of the Corleonesi clan and a member of the Sicilian Mafia Commission, and he forged a coalition of mafia clans known as the Corleonesi with himself as its leader. He initiated a campaign to dominate Cosa Nostra and its narcotics trade. Leggio was imprisoned in 1974, so he acted through his deputy Salvatore Riina, to whom he eventually handed over control. The Corleonesi bribed cash-strapped Palermo clans into the fold, subverted members of other clans, and secretly recruited new members. In 1977, the Corleonesi had Gaetano Badalamenti expelled from the commission on trumped-up charges of hiding drug revenues. In April 1981, the Corleonesi murdered a rival member of the Commission Stefano Bontade, and the Second Mafia War began in earnest. Hundreds of enemy mafiosi and their relatives were murdered, sometimes by traitors in their own clans. By manipulating the Mafia's rules and eliminating rivals, the Corleonesi came to completely dominate the commission. Riina used his power over the commission to replace the bosses of certain clans with hand-picked regents. In the end, the Corleonesi faction won and Riina effectively became the "boss of bosses" of the Sicilian Mafia. At the same time that the Corleonesi waged their campaign to dominate Cosa Nostra, they also waged a campaign of murder against journalists, officials, and policemen who dared to cross them. The police were frustrated with the lack of help that they were receiving from witnesses and politicians. At the funeral of a policeman murdered by mafiosi in 1985, policemen insulted and spat at two attending politicians, and a fight broke out between them and military police. Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti and High Court judge Corrado Carnevale were long been suspected of having ties to the Mafia, in addition to the Sicilian politician Salvatore Lima. In 1999, the Italian court of appeal held that Andreotti "had, not without personal advantages, knowingly and deliberately nurtured a stable relationship with the criminal organization, contributing to its strength by manifesting his availability to favor its members"; however, the court did not convict Andreotti due to the statute of limitations, which had been reached at the time of the ruling. Maxi Trial. In the early 1980s, magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino began a campaign against Cosa Nostra. Their big break came with the arrest of Tommaso Buscetta, a mafioso who chose to turn informant in exchange for protection from the Corleonesi, who had already murdered many of his friends and relatives. Other mafiosi followed his example. Falcone and Borsellino compiled their testimonies and organized the Maxi Trial, which lasted from February 1986 to December 1987. It was held in a bunker-courthouse specially built for the occasion, where 475 mafiosi were put on trial, of which, 338 were convicted. In January 1992, Italy's Supreme Court of Cassation confirmed these convictions. It is considered to be the most significant trial ever against the Sicilian Mafia, as well as the biggest trial in world history. War against the state and Riina's downfall. The Mafia retaliated violently. In 1988, they murdered a Palermo judge and his son; three years later, a prosecutor and an anti-mafia businessman were also murdered. Salvatore Lima, a close political ally of the Mafia, was murdered for failing to reverse the convictions as promised. Falcone was killed on May 23, 1992, with 400 kg (880 lb) of TNT positioned under the highway near Capaci, Sicily. Borsellino was also killed by a car bomb on July 19, 1992. This led to a public outcry and a massive government crackdown, resulting in the arrest of Salvatore Riina in January 1993. More and more informants emerged. Many paid a high price for their cooperation, usually through the murder of relatives. For example, Francesco Marino Mannoia's mother, aunt, and sister were murdered. After Riina's capture, numerous terror attacks were ordered as a warning to its members to not turn state's witness, but also in response to the overruling of the Article 41-bis prison regime. Tourist spots were attacked, such as the Via dei Georgofili in Florence, Via Palestro in Milan, and the Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano and Via San Teodoro in Rome, leaving 10 dead and 93 injured and causing severe damage to cultural heritage such as the Uffizi Gallery. The Catholic Church openly condemned the Mafia, two churches were bombed and an anti-Mafia priest was shot dead in Rome. The choice to hit cultural and church targets was partly to destabilize the government, but also because the Mafia felt that the Roman Catholic Church had abrogated an unwritten hands-off policy toward traditional organized crime in Southern Italy. After Riina's capture, the leadership of the Mafia was briefly held by Leoluca Bagarella, then passed to Bernardo Provenzano when Bagarella was captured in 1995. Provenzano ...
Show More
Show Less
Mar 27 20268 mins