The mafia ”boss of bosses” who had eluded Italian police for more than four decades was finally captured in Sicily on Tuesday as most of his compatriots had their attention focused on a different kind of ruthless power struggle. The man nicknamed ”the tractor”, because of the way he crushed his opponents, was arrested without a shot being fired near his home town of Corleone, the organisation’s heartland, a place forever associated with the Godfather films.
Bernardo Provenzano (73) in ill health, was taken into custody following a painstaking police operation that most Italians believed would never happen. During his 40 years on the run, the capo di tutti i capi was long thought to have been protected from arrest by his powerful friends. Now the man wanted for the contemptuous murder of two anti-mafia magistrates in 1992 is finally behind bars.
The arrest of Italy’s most wanted man after the declaration of election results has inevitably inspired conspiracy theories. Piero Grasso caused a storm earlier this year as newly appointed head of Italy’s anti-mafia operations by suggesting that Provenzano had not yet been brought to justice because he was being protected by ”businessmen, technical experts, professionals and even politicians”.
The arrest is a huge coup for the outgoing Minister of the Interior, Giuseppe Pisanu, who will be in the running for leader of Forza Italia should Silvio Berlusconi decide to resign. Equally, many mafia prosecutors are firmly attached to the left and it could be seen as a sign that Romano Prodi’s new government wants to crack down hard on organised crime. Speaking on a cellphone on Tuesday a few hours after the arrest, a clearly jubilant Michele Prestipino, the Palermo magistrate who headed one of the investigative units set up to track down Provenzano, said it was ”a very important day, not just for Sicily, but for all of Italy”.
He said the fugitive mafia boss had been arrested at 11.30am in a masseria — a type of farmhouse — near the town of Corleone and had not put up a fight after being surrounded by a team of police. Prestipino told The Guardian that the arrest had come after police had been following known associates of Provenzano for several days.
”We did not know until this morning that we were close,” he said. ”You can imagine that we are very, very pleased to have found a man who has been on the run for more than 40 years and to be able to bring to justice the actual head of Cosa Nostra who has been protected all these years by many people. This is an era that has come to an end.”
He thanked the police investigators involved, saying their success had been the result of many years of diligence, patience and hard work.
According to Italian news agencies, Provenzano was tracked down by investigators who had been following a series of pizzini — handwritten or typewritten notes — that he and his close circle used to communicate with each other. Provenzano, who never used a cellphone, landline phone or computer for security reasons, had been using this method of communication for more than 40 years. The only photo that the police had of him was an ancient mugshot from the late 50s, enhanced by computer.
Investigators supposedly followed mafia henchmen who had been carrying notes from Provenzano’s wife. They also watched the delivery of two packages to the house and decided to storm the property. Provenzano, who was wearing jeans and a blue jacket, and who was described as being thin and bony faced, possibly because of his illness, was taken by surprise and arrested. Police said they found more pizzini in his pockets. Although Provenzano admitted his identity, it has apparently also been confirmed by DNA testing although police have not given details of when and how the tests took place.
”Provenzano was not betrayed by anyone, by informers or by anyone who was working for him,” said Giuseppe Caruso, the head of Palermo police. ”We got him thanks to old-fashioned investigation, by following people we knew were in his inner circle. At a certain point, we made the decision to act and search the house.”
Italy’s top anti-mafia prosecutor, Piero Grasso, who was present when Provenzano’s particulars were taken after his arrest, said the former fugitive looked a bit older than his identikit photo, but younger than his 73 years. Roberto Centauro, president of Italy’s anti-mafia commission, said: ”The arrest is a triumph for those who have worked for years to arrest Provenzano and shows that the state has won.” But he said the fight against the mafia would continue. President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi also sent his congratulations to Pisanu and the investigating officers in Sicily.
Provenzano left school at 10 but was credited with a wily intelligence that belied his lack of education and won him a secondary nickname of ”the accountant”. He is credited with making his branch of the mafia much more subtle and less wedded to violence than his predecessors. He was ”old school” in that he still regarded not informing on mafia members as a matter of honour at a time when the organisation was increasingly riddled with informers. He knew that capture was always a possibility and had rigged up a grille in the front door through which he could see what was going on outside.
Ever since the brazen attack in 1992 on the campaigning magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, who were blown up in Palermo, Provenzano has been on top of the wanted list. Hundreds of thousands of Italians took to the streets in protest at the murders but he still escaped.
Over the years, police and carabinieri have come tantalisingly close to catching the ”ghost of Corleone”. The last time was on September 19 2004, when they tracked Francesco Pastoia, one of Provenzano’s many ”postmen”, to a meeting with the fugitive godfather. But the quarry made off just before the planned encounter. Pastoia killed himself in jail two days later.
Criminal record
Name Bernardo Provenzano
Born Corleone, Sicily, January 31 1933
Left school 1943
Early career hitman for the mafia
Nicknames ”the tractor”, ”the accountant”, ”the invisible man”, ”the sick don”
Wanted in connection with several murders from 1958 ( rival mafia leader Michele Navarra) to 1992 (anti-mafia magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino); extortion; bribery; construction frauds; heroin trafficking
Tribute from his own mafia boss ”He shoots like an angel but has the brain of a chicken”
Reward for capture â,¬2,5-million – Guardian Unlimited Â