Salvatore Riina: Encyclopedia II - Salvatore Riina - Rise To Power

Salvatore Riina - Rise To Power

Born in 1930, Riina was raised in Corleone and joined the local Mafia clan, the Corleonesi, at the age of eighteen after he committed a murder on their behalf. The following year he was arrested after shooting a man dead during an argument and subsequently served six-years in prison for manslaughter.

The head of the Corleonesi was Michele Navarra until 1958 when he was shot to death on the orders of Luciano Liggio, a ruthless 33-year-old mafioso who subsequently became the new boss. Together with Totò Riina and Bernardo Provenzano (who were two of the gunmen in Navarra's slaying), Liggio began to increase the power of the Corleonesi. Because they hailed from a relatively small town, the Corleonesi were not a major factor in the Sicilian Mafia in the 1950s, at least not compared to the major Families based in the capital, Palermo. In a gross underestimation of the mobsters from Corleone, the Palermo bosses often referred to the Corleonesi as i viddani - "the peasants".

In the early 1960s, Liggio, Riina and Provenzano, who had spent the last few years hunting down and killing dozens of Navarra's surviving supporters, were forced to go into hiding thanks to arrest warrants. Riina and Leggio were arrested and tried in 1969 for murders carried out earlier that decade. They were acquitted thanks to intimidation of the jurors and witnessess. Riina went into hiding later that year after he was indicted on a further murder charge and he was to remain a fugitive for the next twenty-three-years.

In 1974 Luciano Liggio was arrested and imprisoned for the murder of Michele Navarra sixteen-years previously, and although Liggio retained some influence from behind bars, Riina was now the effective head of the Corleonesi.

During the 1970s Sicily became an important location in the international heroin trade, especially with regards to the refining and exporting of the narcotic. The profits to be had from heroin were vast, and exceeded those of the traditional activities of extortion and loan-sharking. Totò Riina wanted to take control of the trade and was to do so by planning a war against the rival Mafia Families.

During the late 1970s, Riina orchestrated the murders of a number of high-profile public officials, such as judges, prosecutors and members of the Carabinieri. As well as intimidating the state, these assassinations also helped to frame the Corleonesi's rivals. The Godfathers of many Mafia Families were often highly visible in their communities, rubbing shoulders with politicians and mayors, protecting themselves with bribes rather than violence. In contrast, Riina, Provenzano and other Corleonesi were fugitives, always in hiding and rarely seen by other mobsters, let alone the public. Consequently, when a policeman or judge was killed it was the more visible Mafia Families who were the subject of any official investigations, especially as these assassinations were deliberately carried out in the territory (or 'turf') of the Corleonesi's rivals rather than anywhere near the town of Corleone itself.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Rise To Power", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki