Sicilian mobster dies in custody

Italian police say imprisoned reputed Mafia boss Gaetano Lo Presti, 52, hanged himself in his cell Dec. 16, according to stories by the BBC and UPI.

Lo Presti (right) had been arrested earlier in the day, part of a roundup of almost 100 alleged Mafiosi. Italian officials believed LoPresti was boss of a Mafia clan in a district of Palermo. Police say the Mafia leadership has been working to establish a ruling council and possibly a supreme boss of the organization. Bernardo Provenzano, the underworld organization's most powerful boss for many years, was arrested in April 2006. A successor, Salvatore LoPiccolo, was arrested in November 2007.

Officials say Lo Presti was found dead in his cell after he read police wiretap transcripts tying him to efforts to establish a provincial "commission."

Italy arrests 'Ndrangheta leader Condello

Italian police have nabbed the man they consider the "number one boss of the 'Ndrangheta" criminal society based in Reggio Calabria, according to a report by Gavin Jones of the Reuters news agency. Pasquale Condello, 57, was arrested Feb. 19. Authorities said his position in the underworld of the southern mainland of Italy was similar to that of Mafia boss of bosses Bernardo Provenzano of Sicily. Condello had been a fugitive from justice since a murder conviction in the late 1980s. Investigators believe his 'Ndrangheta organization controls cocaine trafficking through much of Europe.

Sicilian bigshot nabbed while watching Mafia TV show

Michele Catalano, reputed lieutenant of recently arrested Sicilian crime boss Salvatore LoPiccolo, was himself arrested last week while watching a Mafia-related television program, according to a Reuters report.

Catalano was watching the final episode in "The Boss of Bosses" - a TV mini-series based upon the 1993 arrest of Salvatore "Toto" Riina - when police burst into his home and placed him under arrest. He was charged with drug trafficking and extortion.

LoPiccolo, who officials say became Sicily's most powerful Mafioso after last year's capture of Bernardo Provenzano, was arrested last month, ending nearly a quarter century on the run.

Italy nabs top Mafia boss Lo Piccolo

The Italian police this morning arrested Salvatore Lo Piccolo, 65, reputed leader of the Sicilian Mafia, according to stories by Jeff Israely of TIME and Elisabetta Povoledo of the International Herald Tribune.

Lo Piccolo (right) had been a fugitive since 1983, when he was convicted of murder. Italian authorities believe he became the most powerful boss of the Sicilian Mafia after the April 2006 capture of Bernardo Provenzano near Corleone.

Lo Piccolo, his son Sandro, 35, and two other associates - Andrea Adamo and Gaspare Pulizzi - were arrested in homes in the town of Cinisi, just west of Palermo. Three dozen police surrounded the house. The four men surrendered after police fired warning shots.

During the arrests, police discovered weapons, cash, fake identification and the small handwritten notes that Provenzano used to communicate to other Mafiosi.

Police believe Lo Piccolo served as Provenzano's top lieutenant in the Sicilian underworld. They believe the mob boss was actively involved in strengthening ties between the Sicilian and American branches of the Mafia.

Matteo Messina Denaro, 45, of Trapani, long considered a contender for supreme boss of the Mafia, might take the opportunity of Lo Piccolo's arrest to seize control of the criminal society, investgators say. Also wanted by authorities, Denaro's location is not known.

Italian police nab Mafia administrator

Italian police last week announced the arrest of 72-year-old Giuseppe Lipari, suspected of managing the business affairs of now-jailed Sicilian Mafia boss Bernardo Provenzano.

Sicilian mob boss is focus of 3 books

Three new books discuss the underworld career of reputed Sicilian Mafia boss of bosses Bernardo Provenzano, according to a story by Steve Scherer of Bloomberg.com.

The books are all written in Italian: "Iddu: La Cattura di Bernardo Provenzano," "Il Codice Provenzano," and "Pizzini, Veleni e Cicoria."

The first book deals largely with the manhunt for the Sicilian boss who eluded authorities for more than 40 years. The second deals with the supposed code used by Provenzano to retain control over his vast underworld empire while in hiding. The third is largely a discussion with Italy's top Mafia prosecutor Pietro Grasso.

Related MobNews posts:

• Pondering Sicilian succession 03-31-07
• Sicilian godfather's Bible verse puzzle 01-04-07
• Two ambush murders in Sicily 08-22-06
• Sicily police arrest 52 suspected mafiosi 06-20-06
• Provenzano nearly caught in '04 05-09-06
• Sicilian boss's code 04-26-06

Pondering Sicilian succession

A March 28 article from Janes Intelligence Review mulls the transfer of power within the Sicilian Mafia after the April 11, 2006, arrest of boss Bernardo Provenzano.

There is speculation that the Cosa Nostra is ruled at the moment by a triumvirate of Matteo Messina Denaro (right) of Trapani, Salvatore Lo Piccolo of Palermo and Domenico Raccuglia from Piana degli Albanesi.

Related MobNews posts:

• Sicilian godfather's Bible verse puzzle 01-04-07
• Two ambush murders in Sicily 08-22-06
• Sicily police arrest 52 suspected mafiosi 06-20-06
• Provenzano nearly caught in '04 05-09-06
• Sicilian boss's code 04-26-06

UK press tracks Mafia "godmother"

Quite a bit has been written in the U.K. press over the past few days regarding the British wife of jailed Mafia boss Antonio Rinzivillo. An Italian arrest warrant was issued last month for the woman, Ann Hathaway, 44, according to a report in the Edinburgh Evening News. Police suspect her of managing a Rinzivillo Family underworld empire valued in the millions of dollars. Hathaway has lived in Sicily and in mainland Italy. She reportedly moved recently to the Manchester region in her native Britain. The Sunday Mirror claimed it caught up with Hathaway at her small home in Manchester, where she "hardly lives up to the image of a Mafia Godmother." She has family in the area, and is believed to be living with her two daughters, aged 18 and 4, according to the Sunday Herald. Italian authorities believe Rinzivillo of Gela, Sicily, was once the second most powerful boss - under Bernardo Provenzano - in the Sicilian Mafia. He was jailed five years ago for the murder of an Italian lawyer and for drug trafficking. He was sentenced to 30 years. Italian police last month seized Rinzivillo assets worth the equivalent of $25 million. The assets included a supermarket, a pizzeria and two construction companies. More than 80 members of the Rinzivillo organization have been arrested. Hathaway is one of 10 women charged with involvement in the crime family. Rocco Ligouri, Italian prosecutor, told the Mirror, "We believe [Hathaway] was acting as the messenger between her husband in prison and other jailed members of the gang and people on the outside. We believe that she was involved in money laundering through pizzerias and building contractors." An article in the Evening Standard said Hathaway met her husband after moving to Italy as a teenager to begin a dancing career. Other sources indicate that she worked as a teacher of English. Hathaway and Rinzivillo married almost 20 years ago. The extradition of Hathaway to Italy could be difficult because the British government does not recognize Mafia association - the offense with which she has been charged in Italy - as a crime.

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Sicilian godfather's Bible verse puzzle

Authorities are studying a memorial message in a Sicilian newspaper placed by reputed Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, according to a story by Richard Owen of the UK Times.

Denaro's memorial notice to his father, who died in 1998, contains a Biblical verse in Latin, to which some words have been attached. Police suspect that Denaro might be using the message to communicate with underworld colleagues. Sicilian mob bosses, including Bernardo Provenzano who was captured last year, are known for sending coded messages based on Bible passages.

The first portion of the memorial, translated into English reads from the Old Testament Book of Ecclesiastes: "To every thing there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven, a time to be born and a time to die"

But, after that, it includes words not used in the Bible: "but only he who wants to will fly, and your flight has forever been sublime."

- Biography of Messina Denaro on Gangsters Incorporated

Anti-Mafia cardinal dies at 88

Cardinal Salvatore Pappalardo, a former archbishop of Palermo Sicily who publicly campaigned against the Mafia criminal society for a generation, died Dec. 10 at the age of 88, according to web sources.

Cardinal Pappalardo in the early 1980s challenged the Italian government to take on the Mafia, and over the years he encouraged his fellow priests to do so as well.

In April, when reputed Mafia leader Bernardo Provenzano was captured outside Corleone after four decades in hiding, Pappalardo noted that the event was both a positive and a negative sign. That Provenzano would finally face justice provided hope for the future, he said, but his ability to remain at large for so long was evidence that many remained willing to protect him.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told Italy's ANSA news agency, "[Pappalardo's] efforts against the Mafia, made amid risks and hostility..., were of deep value to the church and to all civil society."

Other MobNews items relating to the Sicilian Mafia:
Power struggle in Sicilian Mafia? 09-22-2006
Trying to solve mob boss's code 09-08-2006
Sicily police arrest 52 suspected Mafiosi 06-20-2006
Mafia-linked Sicily governor wins reelection 05-30-2006
Mafia is election issue in Sicily 05-21-2006
Italian justice minister linked to underworld 05-19-2006
Provenzano nearly caught in '04 05-09-2006
Sicilian boss's code 04-26-2006