A Corleone Mafioso Arrested: Fiction Meets Reality

The more wryly the gangster the later in life he is caught. Certainly there have been several arrests of mafia past their prime lately. Whitey Bulger, arrested on June 22nd, was 81 years old. He had been on the FBI's most wanted list for sixteen years, accused of murdering almost twenty people. Now, even more recently has been the arrest in Italy of Gaetano Riina (age 79). This has been especially popular among the news blogs because he's thought to be a controlling power of the Corleone clan.

If this is causing you to stare blankly, Corleone is a small town in Sicily made extremely famous by the Godfather movies. Don Corleone quotes should be coming to your mind by the dozens right now complete with a raspy Marlon Brando voice. Although the movies mention and feature Corleone, there was no actual footage shot in the town. When they filmed the Godfather movies, it was deemed Corleone was too developed to give the proper feel. Thus the parts of Sicily the movies actually show are located in Savoca and Forza d'Agro.

Gaetano Riina, like in any gangster movie, is steeped in blood relations to the mafia. His brother Salvatore "Toto" Riina was a mafia "king pin" although he's now serving a very long sentence in jail on murder charges. According to Yahoo News, Gaetano and two of his nephews (oh what fun to have mafia relatives) have been arrested on charges of "extortion and criminal association."

Also, just like the movies, when one mafia boss is taken down more crop up. After Toto Riina was arrested in 1993, Bernardo Provenzano took command. Provenzano was then arrested in 2006. Still, the police mention the Corleone clan as "continu[ing] to play a "central role" in the mafia despite multiple arrests of the crime syndicate's historic leadership." The mafia is like a weed, miss one root and it grows back. Leave the soil alone long enough and more weeds will grow. The current arrest of Gaetano and friends come at the end of a three-year long investigation by the Italian police force.

Corleone, the town, is a hot bed for mafia activity due to location. It's a midpoint between Palermo and Agrigento. It has been used as a front line in wars (mafia and otherwise) throughout Sicilian history. Add to this a long and involved history with the mafia and you have a place ideal for growth of such organizations. Nevertheless, the Italian police force has been working hard, arresting several high-ranking mafia figures in the past few years. These include the arrest Salvatore Lo Piccolo in 2007 and also a 2008 round up of 89 suspects in mafia activity.

Sources:

"Corleone, Sicily, Italy" italyworldclub accessed July, 2 2011

"Italian police arrest Corleone mafia boss" Marcello Paternostro accessed July, 2 2011

"Mafia godfather Gaetano Riina arrested in Sicily" Metro Web Reporter accessed July 2, 2011

Sicilian mafia decapitated by mass arrests, say police cnn.com written Dec. 16^th 2008, accessed June 2, 2011