The notorious Mafia boss Bernardo Provenzano, who was the undisputed head of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra from 1993 until 2006, has died in hospital at the age of 83.
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Lawyer Rosalba Di Gregorio had cited Provenzano’s increasing physical frailty and mental infirmity in several failed attempts to persuade anti-Mafia prosecutors to ease the rigid prison conditions meant to prevent mobsters from wielding power from behind bars.
Di Gregorio had cited Provenzano’s increasing physical frailty and mental infirmity in several failed attempts to persuade anti-Mafia prosecutors to ease the rigid prison conditions meant to prevent mobsters from wielding power from behind bars.
Ex-Sicilian Mafia chief Bernardo Provenzano, 83, was jailed 10 years ago for several murders including the killing of two judges in 1992.
He was bron in the village of Corlene and reportedly committed his first murder at the age of 25.
He took command of the crime group in 1993 following the arrest of ex-boss Salvatore “Toto” Riina.
Widely thought to have been the head of the Corleonesi, the Sicialian Mafia faction that originated in the town of Corleone, he was a fugitive from the law for an unparalleled 43 years from 1963 until his capture in 2006.
He was nicknamed “The Tractor” because of the way he mowed down clan enemies.
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Provenzano had previously attempted suicide in 2012 in his maximum-security prison in Parma, Italy.
