Bernardo Provenzano Captured

Bernardo Provenzano

Yes, Bernardo is finally captured on April 12, 2006, after a 40 year run. Here is some information about Bernardo Provenzano.

Bernardo Provenzano is a member of the Sicilian Mafia and is suspected of being the head of the Corleonesi, a Mafia Family from the village of Corleone, and de facto capo di tutti capi (Boss of Bosses) of the entire Sicilian Mafia.

He was captured by police in a farmhouse near the village of Corleone on April 11, 2006 after 43 years of evasion. He did not resist arrest.

His nickname is Binnu u tratturi (Sicilian for "Bennie the tractor") because, in the words of one informant, 'he mows people down'. Another nickname is The Accountant due to his apparently subtle and low-key approach to running his crime empire, at least in contrast to some of his more violent predecessors.

Early years

He was raised in Corleone and joined the Italian Mafia in his late teens. At the time, Michele Navarra was the head of the Corleonesi, but Provenzano became close to Luciano Leggio, a young and ambitious mobster. Navarra and Leggio went to war against each other in the mid-1950s.

In September 1958, Provenzano was one of the fourteen gunmen who backed up Leggio in the ambush and murder of Michele Navarra. Leggio subsequently became the head of the Family. Over the next five years, Provenzano helped Leggio hunt down and kill many of Navarra's surviving supporters. On September 10, 1963 an arrest warrant was issued against Provenzano for the murder of one of Navarra's men. Provenzano went on the run along with most of the rest of the Corleonesi.

Leggio went to prison for murder in 1974, effectively leaving Totò Riina in charge. Provenzano became the second in command of the Corleonesi, Riina's right-hand-man.

During Riina's time as godfather, Provenzano was believed to operate behind the scenes, dealing with the financial side of the criminal enterprises that he and Riina orchestrated, particularly heroin trafficking. It is not known to what extent that he participated in the Mafia war of 1981/82, initiated by Riina, which left over a thousand Mafiosi dead and resulted in the Corleonesi becoming the dominant Mafia Family in Sicily.

Elevation to Godfather

Toto Riina was arrested in January 1993 and subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment for ordering dozens of murders, including the two high-profile bombings that killed judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino. Falcone had been in charge of the Maxi Trial in the mid-1980s, and with Borsellino of the operation named mani pulite. Provenzano was also convicted of the same murders, in absentia.

It was not immediately clear that Provenzano had succeeded Riina. He hadn't been publicly seen since 1963, and when his wife and two grown sons came out from hiding in 1992, many then suspected that Provenzano was dead, from natural causes or otherwise. Informants subsequently claimed otherwise, saying that after Riina's arrest in 1993, Provenzano became the boss of the Corleonesi. It is said that two other mobsters, Leoluca Bagarella and Giovanni Brusca, challenged his leadership, but, even if they succeeded, they were both captured and imprisoned in 1995 and 1996 respectively.

Under Provenzano leadership, the Mafia became less bloodthirsty and more efficient. Provenzano is reported to have tried to arbitrate between rival mafia factions competing for business, and steered away from the attacks on high-profile figures that were hardening public opinion against the Mafia and provoking police to respond. He was a careful operator, who took few overt risks, revealing his whereabouts to only a handful of associates. He shunned the telephone and issued orders and communications (even to his family) through small, hand-delivered notes— "pizzini".

Curiously many of the notes from Provenzano that police have intercepted sign off with religious blessings, such as one that concluded "May the Lord bless and protect you." Coincidentally, according to mob godmother-turned-informant Giuseppina Vitale, Provenzano then appeared at a 1992 Cosa Nostra summit meeting dressed in the purple robes of a Catholic bishop.

Evasion and Capture

Provenzano had been a fugitive from the law ever since his indictment for murder in 1963 and it is theorized that he has been on the run longer than any other criminal, an unparalleled 43 years. The only known photos of him were taken during the 1950s. The authorities had been 'close' to capturing him for the past ten years, though those who believed it was impossible for one man to remain undetected for such a long time under normal circumstances, especially on a relatively small island like Sicily, theorized that 'Uncle Bernie', as he is known to his friends, had a tacit understanding with the Italian authorities, under which he was not harassed. Indeed, the fact that his predecessor, Totò Riina, was finally arrested at his home address after supposedly being 'on the run' for nearly twenty years, lent credence to this theory.

There is proof that he traveled recently to France, despite being a fugitive, and underwent a surgical operation in Marseille for a prostate tumor, even being reimbursed by the Italian National Health Care system.

On January 25, 2005, police raided various homes in Sicily and arrested forty-six Mafia suspects believed to be helping Provenzano elude the authorities. Although they did not catch the elusive Mafia boss himself, investigators nonetheless unearthed evidence that 72-year-old Provenzano was still very much alive and in control of the Mafia, in the form of his cryptic handwritten notes, his preferred method of giving orders to his men. Two months later another raid, which netted over eighty Mafiosi took place, although yet again Provenzano was not amongst those captured.
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However, Mafia informers said Provenzano moved between farmhouses in the region every two or three nights to evade capture. Tracing him was difficult because the authorities did not have an up-to-date photograph with which to identify him. The nearest likeness in their possesssion was a computer-generated image that attempted to predicted the effects of ageing on a photograph of Provenzano as a younger man. However, they were able to pinpoint Provezano's exact location by the simplest of connections, to a delivery of clean laundry at a farmhouse.

Provenzano was finally captured on April 12, 2006 by the Italian police near his home town, Corleone. A spokesman for the Palermo police, Agent Daniele Macaluso, said Provenzano had been arrested during the morning near Corleone, 37 miles south of Palermo and was being driven back to the Sicilian capital.

Source: Wikipedia

Bernardo Provenzano