Salvatore Riina

Salvatore Riina, also known as Totò Riina (born November 16, 1930) is one of the most infamous members of the Sicilian Mafia. He was nicknamed The Beast, or sometimes Shorty (U curtu in Sicilian) due to his diminutive height, although no-one ever dared to call him either nickname to his face. During his life-long career in crime he personally killed around forty people and is believed to have ordered the deaths of upwards of a thousand more.

Rise To Power

Born in 1930, Riina was raised in Corleone and joined the local Mafia clan, the Corleonesi, as a young adult. In 1949, aged eighteen, he was arrested after shooting a man dead during an argument and subsequently served six-years in prison for manslaughter.

Related Topics:
1930 - Corleone - 1949 - Manslaughter

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The head of the Corleonesi was Michele Navarra until 1958 when he was shot to death on the orders of Luciano Liggio, a ruthless 33-year-old mafioso who subsequently became the new boss. Together with Totò Riina and Bernardo Provenzano (who are suspected of being the gunmen in Navarra's slaying), Liggio began to increase the power of the Corleonesi. Because they hailed from a relatively small town, the Corleonesi were not a major factor in the Sicilian Mafia in the 1950s, at least not compared to the major Families based in the capital, Palermo. In fact, the Palermo bosses often referred to the Corleonesi as i viddani - "the peasants".

Related Topics:
Michele Navarra - 1958 - Luciano Liggio - Bernardo Provenzano - 1950s - Palermo

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In the early 1960s, Liggio, Riina and Provenzano were forced to go into hiding thanks to arrest warrants. Riina was handed a life sentence in 1963 for murder, but it was an in absentia sentence, meaning Riina was not present in court. He was to remain a fugitive for three decades.

Related Topics:
1960s - 1963 - In absentia

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In 1974, Liggio was arrested and imprisoned for life on a murder charge, and although he retained some influence from behind bars, Riina was now the effective head of the Corleonesi. By the end the decade, Sicily became an important location in the international heroin trade, especially with regards to the refining and exporting of the narcotic. The profits to be had from heroin were vast, and exceeded those of the traditional activities of extortion and loan-sharking. Riina wanted to take control of the trade and was to do so by planning a war against the rival Mafia Families.

Related Topics:
1974 - Heroin - Narcotic

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During the late 1970s, Riina orchestrated the murders of a number of high-profile public officials, such as judges, prosecutors and members of the Carabinieri. As well as intimidating the state, these assassinations also helped to frame the Corleonesi's rivals. The Godfathers of many Mafia Families were often highly visible in their communities, rubbing shoulders with politicians and mayors, protecting themselves with bribes rather than violence. In contrast, Riina, Provenzano and other Corleonesi were fugitives, always in hiding and rarely seen by other mobsters, let alone the public. Consequently, when a policeman or judge was killed it was the more visible Mafia Families who were the subject of any official investigations, especially as these assassinations were deliberately carried out in the territory (or 'turf') of the Corleonesi's rivals rather than anywhere near the town of Corleone itself.

Related Topics:
1970s - Judges - Prosecutors - Carabinieri - Politicians - Mayors - Bribes

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