Provenzano: The Phantom Of Corleone

Steve Kroft Reports On The Mafia's Influence In Italy

(CBS)  Mormino says the claim that Dell'Utri was the mafia's ambassador to the court of Berlusconi is a "fairy tale that would be hard to prove."

"During the trial last year, the prosecutors said the reason Berlusconi hired Dell'Utri was because Dell'Utri had all these contacts with the mafia before he ever went to work for Berlusconi and that was useful to Berlusconi," Kroft remarks.

"That’s absolutely not true. They met in college, played soccer together. Dell’Utri is a man of culture, one of the most important in Italy. You should go see his library. It’s extraordinary," says Mormino.

Asked if Dell'Utri will stay with Berlusconi perhaps until he goes to prison, Mormino says, "Well, we hope he won’t end up in prison. We’re certain he won’t go. He’ll remain with Berlusconi, that’s for sure. Berlusconi won’t forget their brother-like bond."

Berlusconi has his own problems right now. The former prime minister is facing criminal charges for tax fraud. He is not the first Italian prime minister to be prosecuted after leaving office – Giulio Andreotti was indicted for having ties to the mafia. He was later acquitted because the statute of limitations had expired.

"I’m no longer surprised by anything anymore. I look at what we are able to prove in the courtroom," says anti-mafia prosecutor Piero Grasso.

He says proving anything in the courtroom is becoming harder and harder these days. Wire tapping mafia figures has always been one of the most successful ways of catching them, but when government officials began turning up in some of those conversations, parliament made it illegal to eavesdrop on lawmakers even if they are talking with the mafia.

"There are laws now that say you cannot tape a member of parliament talking to the mafia. Does that make things difficult for you to make cases?" Kroft asks.

"Everything becomes harder. A mafioso can make a call to a member of parliament and that intercepted call cannot be used without permission of parliament, which means disclosing our investigations," Grasso says.

"It’s like a joke," Kroft says.

"It’s democracy," the prosecutor replies in English.

"Italian democracy," Kroft remarks.

"Italian democracy," Grasso agrees.

It is that Italian’s lack faith in government, the courts, and the rule of law that has allowed the mafia to prosper in Italy. And the fact that Bernardo Provenzano has begun serving a life sentence at a prison in Terni is not going to change that.

"I don’t think its going to be easy to take his place. Bosses in prison are still bosses. He’s going to be the boss," says Grasso.

How could a mafia boss run a billion dollar empire from prison? The same way he ran it from a one room shepherd’s cottage in Corleone. In theory, Provenzano is being held in isolation but the prison director told 60 Minutes he has access to television and the guards, and visits from his family. And once a month he is allowed to send his laundry home to his wife.

---

Last April, Provenzano was moved from his prison in Terni to a maximum security prison outside Turin. He was reportedly transferred after prison guards gave him a cake for his 74th birthday. Authorities were concerned that the mafia boss and the guards had become "too friendly."

[jecaiazzo]

I visit relatives(famiglia Castronovo)in Bagheria frequently, one of whom serves on the Nat'l Police and disclosed the revival of the Mafia 3 years ago, when 10-year jail sentences given to hundreds of mafiosi expired. They were back.

Your expose' disclosed the revival & I hope the att'n it generates pushes the gov't to do something. I was offended by one part of your expose that intimated that the Sicilian people willingly tolerate the Mafia in their midst. This is not true. The small business owners are the very victims of the extortion payments demanded. If one doesn't pay "u pizzu", their business gets burned to the ground. If they complain to the local police, they and their sons will be assasinated. So, if they do go to a Mafiosi to ask for a favor, it is because they are forced to go there. The legitimate government simply does not function.

Italy has RICO-type laws. The Federal Carab'i should investigate the Mafia, not locals.The prosecution should only rely on evidence collected by forensics, such as wiretaps and videotapes, augmented by the testimony of Mafiosi who can be made to talk because they are otherwise facing life sentences. This eliminates the need for the victims to testify.

PS: Arba Sicula (Sicilian Dawn) is an organization based @ St John's U. We are dedicated to spreading the 3,500 year old culture of the Island, of which the Mafia is but a footnote. Sicilians have proudly adopted the slogan "Ambasadors of Culture".

[peterzest-2009]

Sicily,Oh Sicily!
Another "Sicilian vespers" yet to come? I do not think so.
Now it would take an appeal to the European
Parliament or the United Nations to restore civil rights and democracy in Italy. The people alone cannot do it. Italians resident abroad cannot either. Italian political scenario is just too fragmented and all the major political parties from the right and left are in collusion with the mafia.
Enough of this Pirandellian farce. They all should hang!
Sicily ruined Athenian`s democracy in the Peloponnisian wars and will do the same to Rome now.

[branchoff]

Bravo! There are real investigative journalists still alive & well within the U.S. boarders.

NOW ... please use your brilliant skills to the same exuberance within the borders of the U.S. Particularly in the lobbyist-lobby of Washington D.C.!

The 'people' of this country look to journalists to guide them on the way of 'what's going on here'.

At 60 years, by my humble opinion, you in the journalist brigade have failed Miserably over the course of the last (especially 40 years). Maybe because of hush-hush topics not acceptable to the SPONSORS and $-bills to your part-of-the-problem parent corporation.

Peace,
Bill Fiala

Peace,
Bill Fiala

[emhawks]

I'm glad they caught the murderous thug. I despise the Mafia. May Provenzano spend what's left of his rotten, cursed life in prison watching his power & control slip slowly away.

[emhawks]

I'm glad they caught the murderous thug. I despise the Mafia. May Provenzano spend what's left of his rotten, cursed life in prison watching his power & control slip slowly away.

[emhawks]

I'm glad they caught the murderous thug. I despise the Mafia. May Provenzano spend what's left of his rotten, cursed life in prison watching his power & control slip slowly away.

[emhawks]

I'm glad they caught the murderous thug. I despise the Mafia. May Provenzano spend what's left of his rotten, cursed life in prison watching his power & control slip slowly away.

[giorgionyc]

A good report; particularly welcome was the focus on the nexus between the Sicilian Mafia and Italian politicians. In my book, An Offer We Can't Refuse: The Mafia in the Mind of America I discuss some differences between organized crime in the US and in Sicily. Whereas the American Cosa Nostra is in decline, the Italian Mafia (and non-Sicilian crime groups like Naples' camorre clans and Calabria's 'Ndrangheta) flourishes, thanks to its infiltration of the worlds of politics, business, and finance. There was one error, however in the report: 80 percent of Palermo businesses have been said to pay "protection" money ("il pizzo"), not 80 percent of all Sicilian businesses, as the report said. And I wish more had been said about the anti-mafia movement in Sicily. It was good that Rita Borsellino was interviewed, but what about Addiopizzo, an anti-mafia association led by young people, or the Libera association, which reclaims lands confiscated from the Mafia by the government? There is much more resistance to the Mafia than the 60 Minutes report included. Another omisssion: although the report linked former Italian PM Berlusconi to the Mafia, alliances between organized crime and conservative politicians and parties antedate Berlusconi. Moreover, the resistance to the Mafia has been led by parties and civic groups of the Left.

[giorgionyc]

A good report; particularly welcome was the focus on the nexus between the Sicilian Mafia and Italian politicians. In my book, An Offer We Can't Refuse: The Mafia in the Mind of America (Faber and Faber, 2006)I discuss some differences between organized crime in the US and in Sicily. Whereas the American Cosa Nostra is in decline, the Italian Mafia (and non-Sicilian crime groups like Naples' camorre clans and Calabria's 'Ndrangheta) flourishes, thanks to its infiltration of the worlds of politics, business, and finance. There was one error, however in the report: 80 percent of Palermo businesses have been said to pay "protection" money ("il pizzo"), not 80 percent of all Sicilian businesses, as the report said. And I wish more had been said about the anti-mafia movement in Sicily. It was good that Rita Borsellino was interviewed, but what about Addiopizzo, an anti-mafia association led by young people, or the Libera association, which reclaims lands confiscated from the Mafia by the government? There is much more resistance to the Mafia than the 60 Minutes report included. Another omisssion: although the report linked former Italian PM Berlusconi to the Mafia, alliances between organized crime and conservative politicians and parties antedate Berlusconi. Moreover, the resistance to the Mafia has been led by parties and civic groups of the Left.

[siculusugnu]

I realize how interesting the Mafia is to Americans and I don't condemn them for that. It does make for good television. Regarding 60 Minutes, I also understand that they report popular news and the capture of Provenzano was just that.
However I am EXTREMELY disappointed, as a Sicilian, that the only time I hear about Sicily on American television is when someone is talking about the Mafia.
When you talk about Tuscany it's for the beautiful landscape and wineries, Venice about its beautiful canals and glass blowers, Florence about its famous citizens,Rome about its history, but then Sicily and the Mafia.
Would it surprise the public to know that Sicily has ALL of these things mentioned above and much more! Sicily's culture is arguably the most rich and diverse of ALL of Italy and even Europe.
I would love to go into all of the reasons right now, but cannot. I do urge everyone to seek out information on the Sicilian people besides that of the Mafia. There is so much to appreciate!
-Micheli S.

[siculusugnu]

I realize how interesting the Mafia is to Americans and I don't condemn them for that. It does make for good television. Regarding 60 Minutes, I also understand that they report popular news and the capture of Provenzano was just that.
However I am EXTREMELY disappointed, as a Sicilian, that the only time I hear about Sicily on American television is when someone is talking about the Mafia.
When you talk about Tuscany it's for the beautiful landscape and wineries, Venice about its beautiful canals and glass blowers, Florence about its famous citizens,Rome about its history, but then Sicily and the Mafia.
Would it surprise the public to know that Sicily has ALL of these things mentioned above and much more! Sicily's culture is arguably the most rich and diverse of ALL of Italy and even Europe.
I would love to go into all of the reasons right now, but cannot. I do urge everyone to seek out information on the Sicilian people besides that of the Mafia. There is so much to appreciate!
-Micheli S.

[siculusugnu]

I realize how interesting the Mafia is to Americans and I don't condemn them for that. It does make for good television. Regarding 60 Minutes, I also understand that they report popular news and the capture of Provenzano was just that.
However I am EXTREMELY disappointed, as a Sicilian, that the only time I hear about Sicily on American television is when someone is talking about the Mafia.
When you talk about Tuscany it's for the beautiful landscape and wineries, Venice about its beautiful canals and glass blowers, Florence about its famous citizens,Rome about its history, but then Sicily and the Mafia.
Would it surprise the public to know that Sicily has ALL of these things mentioned above and much more! Sicily's culture is arguably the most rich and diverse of ALL of Italy and even Europe.
I would love to go into all of the reasons right now, but cannot. I do urge everyone to seek out information on the Sicilian people besides that of the Mafia. There is so much to appreciate!
-Micheli S.

[siculusugnu]

I realize how interesting the Mafia is to Americans and I don't condemn them for that. It does make for good television. Regarding 60 Minutes, I also understand that they report popular news and the capture of Provenzano was just that.
However I am EXTREMELY disappointed, as a Sicilian, that the only time I hear about Sicily on American television is when someone is talking about the Mafia.
When you talk about Tuscany it's for the beautiful landscape and wineries, Venice about its beautiful canals and glass blowers, Florence about its famous citizens,Rome about its history, but then Sicily and the Mafia.
Would it surprise the public to know that Sicily has ALL of these things mentioned above and much more! Sicily's culture is arguably the most rich and diverse of ALL of Italy and even Europe.
I would love to go into all of the reasons right now, but cannot. I do urge everyone to seek out information on the Sicilian people besides that of the Mafia. There is so much to appreciate!
-Micheli S.

[graziesiculi]

Unhappy with the way things have been going in Italy? Tired of scandal and corruption, and people saying the republic has gone the way of New Orleans? Well things could be much worse. All you have to do is look at present day Washington, and the United States, where the KKK with its friends in business and government still forms one of the country's biggest enterprises. Two term President Bush calls it "staying the course."

[graziesiculi]

Unhappy with the way things have been going in Italy? Tired of scandal and corruption, and people saying the republic has gone the way of New Orleans? Well things could be much worse. All you have to do is look at present day Washington, and the United States, where the KKK with its friends in business and government still forms one of the country's biggest enterprises. Two term President Bush calls it "staying the course."