Bernardo Provenzano

Bernardo Provenzano (January 31st 1933 with Corleone in Sicily -) is a member directing of the sicilian Mafia.

Biography

Bernardo Provenzano becomes the head of the household of the Corleonesi , and thus de facto the Capo di tutti capi of all the Cosa Nostra, after the arrest in 1993 of Toto Riina, silent partner of the assassinations into 1992 of judges anti-Maffia Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino.

It is implied in hundreds of penal procedures. It was quoted in many lawsuits anti-Maffia since the beginning of the years 1980 by the Repentis. It maintained the conflict relations with Toto Riina, ex-owner of the “Cupola”, the “Parliament” of the Maffia Sicilian.

Like Louse Riina, Provenzano belonged initially to the band of Luciano Liggio of Corleone. It made its first murders with the beginning of the year 1960, at the time of the war which opposed the clan of Corleone to the Clan Navarra of Palermo. Its face was ignored majority of his/her collaborators of the clans corleonais. It did not state that by messages coded on paper with its right-hand men. It is known under the name of “Zu Binnu” in sicilian dialect or “U tratturi”, the tractor, for its determination.

After the arrest of Louse Riina in 1993 in Palermo, Bernardo Provenzano became supreme leader of Cosa Nostra until his arrest, on April 11th, 2006, in a farm located a few kilometres from Corleone.

Bernardo Provenzano, 74 years old, was condemned twelve times to the life imprisonment, during its mare, in particular for its role of silent partner in the assassinations of the judges antimafia Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino in 1992.

A long mare

Fugitive since 1963, the last photograph of him went back to 1959. An identikit picture could have been established in 2005 thanks to testimonys of the doctors of a private clinic with Marseilles, where it had been announced fine 2003. Provenzano was finally stopped the April 11th 2006 in a farm with Montagna dei Cavalli, with three kilometers of Corleone in Sicily.

Lawsuit

May 28th, 2007, opened before the Court of Assizes of Palermo the lawsuit of the last two chiefs of the Maffia Sicilian, Bernardo Provenzano and Toto Riina. The facts go back to 1969 and relate to a slaughter in which six men of Cosa Nostra had found death with Palermo.

Bernardo Provenzano is shown to be one of the direct actors of the shooting which has occurred on December 10th, 1969 and known as the " massacre of Viale Lazio" , which allowed the Clan of Corléonais of Provenzano and Toto Riina to eliminate several rival chiefs. The Corléonais were definitively to seize the power within Cosa Nostra with beginning of the year 80, after a war of the clans which made several hundreds of dead in Palermo.

References

Two chiefs of the Maffia Sicilian judged since their prison for a slaughter going back to 1969 , Le Monde, May 28th, 2007

See too

Organized crime

External bond

Biography

References

Press

the Supreme leader of the Maffia Italian was stopped , Le Monde , 4/11/2006
“Yes, I am Bernardo Provenzano” , Libération , 4/11/2006

Works on the Maffia and Cosa will nostra

Alexander Stille, Excels Cadavers , Vintage, 1995. ISBN 0099594919
John Dickie, Cosa Nostra , Coronet, 2004. ISBN 0340824352

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