The latest Boss of the Cosa Nostra in Palermo was Toto Riina. The era of “Scarface,” with Tony Montana, and Don Corleone, is over; French rappers have become increasingly “deep” in their mafia references.
The Last Boss of the Cosa Nostra in Palermo, Palermo, Often Cited by Rappers
Heuss L’Enfoiré is the first to draw in the track “Mauvais” from “Horizon Vertical,” his collaborative album with Vald, with the punchline: “I am not Savastano, I am more Toto Riina.” Later, Maes and 13 Block will create a song in tribute to this mafia godfather who roamed around Palermo. Let’s delve into the story of a gangster who destroyed… the Mafia in Palermo due to his stubbornness. All rappers mention The Last Boss of the Cosa Nostra in Palermo.
The Godfathers of Cities and the Godfathers of the Fields!
In Palermo, two categories of Godfather are distinguished, the Godfather of the cities and the Godfather of the Fields. The former is close to politics, the judiciary, and economic circles. The latter, more Old School, operates like a basic gangster. In dialogue, he prefers the power of his weapons and armies. Apparently, The Last Boss of the Cosa Nostra in Palermo belongs to the second category, but he would have dreamed of belonging to the first. The gangster was nicknamed “The Godfather of Godfathers.”
Toto Riina: The Birth of Evil
His story begins in Corleone, as a sign of destiny. The Capo dei Capei is born in the city named after the reigning dynasty in F.F Coppola’s “The Godfather“. The gangster comes from a very poor family of peasants. He loses his father at a very young age and finds himself with 6 mouths to feed.
It is essential to understand that the Sicilian mafia has little to do with the Calabrian mafia. At the end of his life, Toto plays the role of a good family man, a devout believer, and the perfect husband. The moral values upheld by the Sicilian mafia place family and religion at the center of everything. These values are recurrent in The Godfather trilogy. Here is born The Last Boss of the Cosa Nostra in Palermo.
The Last Boss of the Cosa Nostra in Palermo, Palermo: The First Crimes
Far from letting his family die of hunger, Toto Riina embarks on a mad race of crime. He executes his first man at the age of 19. He enters the local Mafia. No one really agrees on how to define him. While some “repentants” tell the media that he is “perfectly humble,” others find him “manipulative.” Meanwhile, a police officer from Palermo declared that he was a “boss devoid of any charisma.” Especially since he was a “concentrate of pure violence.” After his first incarceration, he settles into the local Mafia and marries a schoolteacher with whom he will have 4 children.
For years, Toto Riina ruled the Mafia with an iron fist, spending nearly 24 years on the run. The Mafia Wars between 1981 and 1983 resulted in nearly a thousand deaths. There were nearly 4 homicides per day, according to a journalist specializing in the mafia. With each new problem, Toto Riina reacted with the greatest violence. It was this violence that would undo the Cosa Nostra. Because The Last Boss of the Cosa Nostra in Palermo eventually turned against the police and the magistrate in a murderous frenzy.
The End of the Boss of the Cosa Nostra in Palermo
According to a report from Le Nouvel Observateur: this campaign began in “1982, with the murder in the heart of Palermo of the government’s special envoy, General Carlo Alberto dalla Chiesa, and culminated in 1992 with the assassination, three months apart, of judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino.” It’s a story that Toto Riina and Al Capone undoubtedly share. Whenever a gangster tries to bring the state to its knees, he is caught by justice. In the history of gangsterism, only Pablo Escobar has managed to stand up to a state.
Because after Toto Riina’s criminal campaign, the Italian state implemented a new “offense” close to Sarkozy’s “gang membership offense.” This legal opportunity would precipitate the fall of the Italian Cosa Nostra, which became the top priority in Italy over 10 years and was not allowed to overflow. At that point, Toto Riina had nothing to do with the Corleone family from Coppola’s “The Godfather”, which tried above all to avoid conflicts by making deals with politics.
He was arrested on January 15, 1993, after 24 years on the run. A documentary by Mosco Levi Boucault, broadcast in 2019 on Arte, recounts his journey that caused the Fall of the Cosa Nostra. The last Boss of the Cosa Nostra in Palermo was lost.
