This time, the Mafia loses all its credit with the people of Sicily and Italy. During the funerals, politicians are booed by angry citizens who believe that the state is partly to blame. They have to leave the cathedral amidst whistles. The popular revolt will force the government to react. The Italian army, composed of 7,000 soldiers, lands in Sicily. Its mission is to free the island from the Mafia. In less than six months, Toto Riina is arrested in the center of Palermo, where for 24 years on the run, he lived quietly.
Riina played the role of a simple man, a peasant. He described himself as ‘ignorant’. It was an image he portrayed; his form was his violence, and his management of the organization was through terror. Accumulating multiple life sentences, he is incarcerated under the special regime for mafia members. He is subjected to isolation and filmed 24/7. Yet, the end is still far off; “the beast’s” right-hand man, Bernardo Provenzano, now takes the reins. His new strategy is to return to what the mafia has always been, a silent octopus that seeps everywhere. Under his rule begins the ‘Pax Mafiosa’. The focus is on business, and street violence disappears. A thorny issue then comes to Provenzano’s table: What to do with the godfathers who exiled themselves to the United States because of his predecessor?
Two clans oppose each other within the Sicilian mafia. On one side, Salvatore Lo Piccolo (head of Palermo), who wishes to restore trafficking with the American mafia through their return. On the other, Antonio Rotolo, who fears a wave of vengeance and reprisals. The head of the underworld then loses credit and can no longer govern. Shortly after April 27, 2006, the great godfather Bernardo Provenzano is apprehended in his countryside of Corleone. After 13 years of reign, a 73-year-old man is arrested. The power of the Corleones is over.
The exiles from New York see it as a chance to return home to reclaim their place. Unfortunately for them, Operation “Old Bridge” will prevent them from doing so. On both sides of the Atlantic, the same scenes of arrests happen at dawn. Since the 1980s, this constitutes the largest joint operation against the Italo-American mafia.
Today, the ties remain historical and still exist, but they are not as strong as before. Cosa Nostra no longer has the same power as at its peak. The organization has become very weak compared to 20 or 30 years ago. It is impossible to know what the real connections are between the Sicilian and American Mafia. Cosa Nostra always has its secrets. However, one can assert that without its close ties with the underworld of the world’s greatest powers, the small Mediterranean island could never have given birth to the most formidable organized crime organization in history.
