Son of Sicilian mafia boss Totò Riina not welcome in Corleone: "We want to leave our mafia past behind us"

The Sicilian town of Corleone wants Salvuccio Riina, son of the notorious mafia boss Totò Riina, to leave. Salvuccio Riina was released last month after a long prison sentence and went back to live in Corleone. But the town does not like that and has passed a resolution to remove Riina from there. "Corleone wants to leave his mafia past behind. Even by repelling unwanted fellow citizens."
Kathleen Heylen
Fri 12 May12:37
Corleone, a farming town in western Sicily. In the 1960s and 1970s, people mainly lived from agriculture and cattle breeding. It would have remained a meaningless place were it not for the fact that Corleone is the birthplace of Italy's most notorious mafia bosses. Luciano Leggio for example, Bernardo Provenzano, but especially Totò Riina. As leaders of the Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian mafia, they sowed death and destruction in the second half of the 20th century.

The grip of the Corleonesi , as the kingpins were called, was enormous. It inspired the American writer Mario Puzo to write the book "The godfather", in which the (fictional) mafia family Corleone rules. The movie trilogy of the same name, starring Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone and Al Pacino as Michael Corleone, made Corleone's reputation as a mob capital almost ineradicable.

The town of Corleone has long been bored with its status as the cradle of the Mafia and is making frantic efforts to rid itself of it. But the arrival of Guiseppe Salvatore "Salvuccio" Riina, one of Totò Riina's sons, does no good. Salvuccio (46) was released in April after serving 9 years in prison and has returned to live in Corleone. And the city council doesn't like that.

Corleone wants to put his mafia past behind him. Even by repelling unwanted fellow citizens.

City Council of Corleone
The city council now haspassed a resolutionin which they request that Riina move out. "We want to send a loud and clear message once again: Corleone wants to put his mafia past behind him. Even by repelling unwanted fellow citizens. Like Salvuccio Riina, who has never distanced himself from the despicable crimes of his father, Totò. The reputational damage that the Riina family has brought to the city is enormous and difficult to recover."

The resolution has been forwarded to the police, but the final decision to remove Salvuccio from Corleone rests with the courts in the Sicilian capital of Palermo.

Salvatore "Totò" Riina has been called "the mafia boss of mafia bosses". As a Corleonese, he seized total power within the Cosa Nostra in the 1970s, after his predecessor Luciano Leggio, also from Corleone, had paved the way. At that time, Sicily was a major hub for the heroin trade to the United States. Riina became obsessed with the "narcodollars" he saw flowing to other mafia families in Sicily, and he wanted it all for himself.

Riina took the already existing mafia violence to a new level of brutality. He eliminated his criminal opponents on a large (and gruesome) scale and targeted prosecutors, journalists and judges who stood in his way. He would be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people. Riina was also behind the murder of investigating judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, who brought many mafiosi to justice. Those murders shocked Italy and launched a major operation that would eventually lead to his arrest. Riina had been in jail since 1993, under the strictest prison regime. He passed away in 2017.

Toto Riina had four children. Two of his sons followed in their father's criminal footsteps. His eldest son, Giovanni, was ordered at the age of 19 to strangle a kidnapped businessman, his ritual entry into the Cosa Nostra. He was sentenced to life in prison in 1996.

Giuseppe Riina (46), his youngest son, who should now disappear from Corleone, was in prison for extortion, money laundering and ties to the mafia. But he also came into contact with the court earlier. He does not hide his sympathy for his father and rather wrote a book that caused quite a stir in Italy.