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These days it's more easy to meet a fan of Don Corleone than meeting a real ‘mafioso’-an Italian colloquial for mafia members. Don Corleone the ‘boss of bosses’ and one of the original character in the 1969 novel "The godfather"; which was later turned into an Academy award winning Hollywood blockbuster of same name. The novel and movie had romanticized a previously less known criminal organisation, creating a colloquial language for organized crime. It also birthed a new genre of movies, movies that glamorously portrayed the notions of organised criminal families.

In reality the mafia-also known as la cosa nostra in Sicilian dialect, only ever had one ‘boss of bosses’ or “Il capo dei capi” as it was known in Sicily. Initially the group was more fragmented than it was organised, a group of “families” with loose affiliation. They had originated from Italy, borne out of the need to protect the poor in Sicily- an island off the coast of the Italian mainland, it slowly grew into a group of murderous thugs, driven by sheer greed.

Immigration had created a big Italian diaspora in America, hence some of the migrating Italians carried the flaming torches of organised crime. But in Italy where it had its roots, it grew into a much more feared and destructive demon.

The boss of bosses

"He was the fiercest and the nastiest mobster in the mafia probably in history," Francesco Bongarra, a journalist with Italian news agency Ansa.

Nicknamed the beast, Toto riina a stout and puffy short man, who made up for his height with his thirst for blood.

Born in a poverty stricken home in Corleone- the same town that the character of Don Corleone was named after, his family had lost the father in the most bizarre way. During world war two, his father a dim-witted man had tried opening an unexploded bomb, intending to extract and sell the powder when it exploded killing him and riina's 7 years old brother.

His cunning smile obfuscated his lust for blood. He had killed a person in a fight at the age of 19, took part in the assassination of the then Sicilian mafia boss at 27, he spent most of his 30’s hunting and killing the remnants of the supporters of the erstwhile boss, consequently earning himself the nickname "La belva"(The Beast).

By the mid 1980’s he was firmly in command of all of the Mafia in Italy, firmly crowning himself the boss of bosses, the first of its kind since the creation of the organisation, both in Italy, and also unheard of within the ranks of its cousins The America mafia. In the path to his ‘glory' the man known as the “beast" had ‘littered’ the streets and countryside of Corleone with dead bodies.



His murderous reign brought about the bleakest moments of terror in Italy, so unprecedented that the Italian state government made a special law for the trial and imprisonment of him and his cohorts. His war to unite the independent mafia families in the early 1980’s, left a thousand or more dead in Sicily, he had simply wiped out all his opponents.

He enforced cruelty with an unprecedented level of savagery on all those who got in his way, as well as their innocent families, he famously killed the 14-year-old son of mafioso-turned-informant Santino Di Matteo. The boy, Giuseppe, was kidnapped in 1996, and after two years, strangled and his body dissolved in acid, as punishment for his father’s actions. He assassinated two popular anti mafia prosecutors, one of which he blew up on a road, the explosion was felt all over Sicily.




The killings drew worldwide attention and condemnation, leading to a concerted effort that led to his capture in 1993. Protesting his arrest, he went on a bombing tirade from prison, killing roughly 30 innocent people across Italy, including a Tv presenter that showed delight about his arrest.





“They’ll never break me, even if they give me 3,000 years,” Toto riina had once boasted in a recording from his prison after his arrest, the Italian state had made a new law-Article 41-bis prison regime, which gave the minister of justice power to imprison him in harsh conditions, denying him visits even from his family.

The beast had so much been tamed by the time he died in 2017, surviving multiple strokes, he requested to meet with some of the families of his victims, a move many believed was to bring peace to his unpeaceful existence.

As he lay dying of cancer, Mafia’s only ever boss of bosses who had once replied, “He does not have my moral stature,” when asked to reply to one of his accusers, was told by his nephew “goodbye uncle Toto, you are going to the Angels".

From Opera News Hub


By igbokwe Emmanuel chiemerie

The views expressed in this article are the writer's, they do not reflect the views of Opera News. Please report any fake news or defamatory statements to feedback-newshub@operanewshub.com

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A through boss always keep it thorough

He has Ewedu nd Amala blood flowing in him,
Very Wicked man

AudioNews:
He has Ewedu nd Amala blood flowing in him,
Very Wicked man

If he had Ewedu and Amala blood flowing in him, he would have lived and died a coward.

Where is Amotekun?

I didn't see Nigeria in the whole article

Well written... Enjoyed the God father in my secondary school days... Such a fascinating and amazing novel that i find very hard to drop

hardywaltz:
I didn't see Nigeria in the whole article

I tire oh

Aidlyfe:
If he had Ewedu and Amala blood flowing in him, he would have lived and died a coward.

Where is Amotekun?

Like Zik, Ojukwu and Kanu?

Some are geniuses at stupidity. You and your father are top of the list.

TheChameleon:
Like Zik, Ojukwu and Kanu?

Some are geniuses at stupidity. You and your father are top of the list.

Corona Virus kee you and your generations there. It will never be well with you in Jesus name. I come against you and your household in the name of chukwu okike abiama. The afflictions of the Egyptians shall befall you and your household.. No good thing shall locate you.... Mark my words; YOU SHALL PINE AND DIE.... AssLicker

[quote author=TheChameleon post=88578428][/quote]AssLicker,

Nothing pain me.... I am here celebrating the death of abba kyari..... the next is in your household. You shall cry with pains in your heart while I continue my celebration.. The God that Kpuff abba kyari will finish his wonderful works in your household �

[quote author=TheChameleon post=88579590][/quote]AssLicker, Corona Virus kee you and your generation in Jesus name... You shall be disgraced and disappointed in this life... Amen