Sicily against Cosa Nostra: From Corleone’s Rule to Capaci’s Aftermath

Thinking in general terms of “organized crime” makes it hard to grasp the depth of Mafia  control in daily Sicilian life. In some towns, even the water supply was a private fiefdom:  families bought water from wells owned by clans. The Mafia adapted perfectly to the  modern welfare state: by corruption and intimidation it infiltrated public contracts,  winning tenders directly or siphoning money through subcontractors and shell  companies. The model spread across the South, rooting itself in daily needs and in  politics alike. 

It was within this system that Salvatore “Totò” Riina rose to become the capo dei capi of  Cosa Nostra. His career cannot be separated from his hometown, Corleone, which had  turned into the power base of a new Mafia order. In 1958, Luciano Leggio murdered  Michele Navarra and took control of the local cosca. From Corleone came Riina,  Bernardo Provenzano, and Leoluca Bagarella, the core of the Corleonesi faction. By the  early 1980s, they had waged the Second Mafia War, exterminating Palermo’s historic  bosses and installing themselves as the undisputed rulers of Cosa Nostra. Corleone,  once an agricultural backwater, now symbolized a Mafia of secrecy, bloodshed, an  ruthless centralization. 

In January 1993, Riina was finally arrested by the Carabinieri after more than two decades  at the helm of one of the world’s richest criminal enterprises. He controlled multibillion dollar drug routes, global laundering networks, and a sprawling system of extortion.  Convicted in absentia for 150 murders, he was already serving multiple life sentences.  His fall coincided with Italy’s deepest political crisis since WWII: the Cold War had  ended, the Communist Party dissolved, and the patronage system that had long  shielded Mafia interests through the Christian Democrats collapsed. Suddenly, the old  protection rackets, public-works kickbacks, and vote brokering that sustained Cosa  Nostra were exposed to daylight. 

The state had already begun to strike back. Judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo  Borsellino had launched the Maxi-Trial (1986–92), backed by new tools: asset seizures,  witness protection, and the 41-bis prison regime. Their assassinations in 1992, Falcone  on the A29 near Capaci, Borsellino in Via D’Amelio, shocked the country. The civic  backlash was immediate: Palermo’s middle class filled the streets, schools and  shopkeepers organized demonstrations, church groups mobilized, and NGOs like Libera  later pushed for the social reuse of confiscated Mafia assets (Law 109/1996), turning  villas and farms into cooperatives and social projects. 

Cosa Nostra retaliated with terror on the mainland. On 27 May 1993, at 1:04 a.m., a Fiat  Fiorino packed with 277 kilograms of explosives detonated in Via dei Georgofili, just 

behind Florence’s Uffizi Gallery. Five people were killed, and 173 paintings and 56  sculptures were damaged, along with the Accademia dei Georgofili and the Diocesan  Museum of Santo Stefano al Ponte. Years of painstaking restoration followed, while Italy  confronted the Mafia’s capacity to strike at the cultural heart of the nation. 

Meanwhile, in Catania, the late ’80s and early ’90s were marked by a parallel inferno:  rival clans, Santapaola, Cappello, Cursoti, Laudani, unleashed waves of killings that  rippled into Palermo alliances. Everyday places became killing grounds: service stations  on the Palermo–Catania highway, barber shops in Canalicchio, a butcher on Via Ferro  Fabiani, even the cemetery. The roll call of murders was relentless: Nello Colombrita in  1989; “Nino” Pace, executed in a barber shop in 1990; Angelo Barbera, a Cursoti leader,  in 1991; the 1992 killings of Alfio Amato and Rosario Piacente. Even innocents were  targeted: Maurizio Colombrita was shot while laying flowers for his brother. The violence  left deep scars, still revisited today in courtrooms, newsrooms, and family memorials. 

The operation that captured Riina in 1993 was led by “Capitano Ultimo,” the nom de  guerre of Sergio De Caprio, then a Carabinieri ROS officer. A graduate of the Nunziatella  military academy, De Caprio had served in Bagheria and Milan before creating the  undercover unit “Crimor,” redeployed to Palermo in late 1992. 

Yet triumph turned to controversy. De Caprio and his superior, General Mario Mori, were  later charged with allegedly mishandling surveillance that might have led investigators  to Riina’s hideout; both were acquitted in 2006 (“the fact does not constitute a crime”).  De Caprio went on to serve in environmental policing and external intelligence, and later  founded a social association for vulnerable communities. His career has oscillated  between decorated service, controversy, and political engagement, reflecting how the  fight against the Mafia has always been entwined with Italy’s broader struggles over  justice, politics, and power. 

Bibliography 

1. Uffizi Galleries. (2019, May 26). Remembering 27 May 1993. https://www.uffizi.it/en/events/georgofili-2019 

2. Reuters. (2017, November 16). Mob boss and mass murderer Riina dies of natural  causes. https://www.reuters.com/article/world/mob-boss-and-mass-murderer riina-dies-of-natural-causes-idUSKBN1DH0P5/ 

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855la_legge_n_109_96_per_l_uso_sociale_dei_beni_confiscati_alle_mafie_compie_ ventitre_anni 

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Authored by Caterina Di Liberto - Head, Italian Organized Crime Division 2025/2026