Mobster Provenzano found after 42 years on the run

[stevew]

The head of the Sicilian Mafia, Bernardo Provenzano, nicknamed "The Tractor" for the way he once mowed down his rivals, was arrested without a struggle yesterday after 42 years on the run.


Bernardo Provenzano's arrest, on the day Silvio Berlusconi lost power, provoked a storm of speculation

The 73-year-old was found in a small farmhouse near his home town, Corleone. A small earthquake shuddered through the hills minutes before the police arrived.

At first he denied being the world's most wanted Mafia fugitive. But after an on-the-spot DNA test, he confessed: "Yes, it's true, I am Bernado Provenzano."

He was then flown to a court in Palermo, where a crowd screamed: "Bastard. Murderer". Provenzano, wearing a windbreaker and tinted glasses, glanced to the side at one point but made no audible comment.

He was a good deal changed from the photograph on his wanted poster and the only picture of him in circulation until yesterday - one of the reasons for his success in eluding capture.

An assertion in a recent film that he had been in the Corleone area all the time, protected by the omerta code of silence and possibly friends in high places, was proved correct. He may have left only once: for a clandestine prostate operation in the south of France three years ago.

His arrest, on the day Silvio Berlusconi lost power, provoked a storm of speculation across Italy.

Some people suggested that his capture was a signal that his protection by the establishment was at an end. Others saw the arrest as an attempt to improve the standing of the outgoing interior minister, Giuseppe Pisanu, a possible leader of the opposition.

Police said they tracked Provenzano down through a trail of pizzini - typed messages on bits of paper through which he controlled the Mafia's multi-billion-pound empire.

They also shadowed the henchmen who took food to the building in the final days. A typewriter was taken away from the farmhouse. Giovanni Marino, a shepherd who owns the building, was also arrested.

"It is a very positive move, even though Provenzano is no longer the operative head of Cosa Nostra, more a 'noble godfather'," said Luciano Violante, the speaker of the lower house and a former anti-Mafia prosecutor.

"Now we may be able to tell who protected him for all these years."

Provenzano, the subject of the Godfather novel and films, had been on the run since 1963 after being involved in the killing of a rival, Michele Navarra. He became No 2 to Toto "The Beast" Riina and they presided over hundreds of killings in the 1980s.

Provenzano was sentenced to life in jail in absentia for a string of crimes, including the 1992 murder of anti-Mafia magistrates.

After Riina's arrest in 1993, he became the godfather and is believed to have stamped out the gang warfare he had once excelled at, allowing Cosa Nostra to get on with making money. Another of his nicknames is "The Accountant".

Two weeks ago his lawyer, Salvatore Traina, said his client had been "dead for years," a claim interpreted by some to mean that he no longer posed a threat.

[Mustang]

Couldn't find the guy living near his home town for 42 years?

riiiiiiiight...

[vex]

Originally Posted by Mustang

Couldn't find the guy living near his home town for 42 years?

riiiiiiiight...

Bah, you've obviously never heard of the safehouse.

[oliegirl]

I'm now in the mood to watch The Godfather

[Cap Ologist]

Originally Posted by vex

Bah, you've obviously never heard of the safehouse.

I heard he had a 53.16% picciotto with a tommygun, 18 bullets, 1 bodyguard and cars in 2 cities to help protect him.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Cap Ologist

I heard he had a 53.16% picciotto with a tommygun, 18 bullets, 1 bodyguard and cars in 2 cities to help protect him.

Bah.
10,000 bullets should take him down, especially if you've got the hammer.

[JHandley]

Cap, that's funny

[stevew]

Well, pretty much everyone I thought would post in this thread already has

Other than Bosshogg.

[CraigSca]

It was getting lost in an Oregon snowstorm that cost him.

[kid_dynamite]

i wonder if the police caught Jakes and Bergzilla yet, they are the real brains behind the operation

[Cap Ologist]

I heard Chillos' Chamberlain Position went over well at the prison.

[stevew]

I was trying to remember Chillos's name. I think Chillos ratted him out.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Cap Ologist

I heard Chillos' Chamberlain Position went over well at the prison.

He always did like that position, the little bitch.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by kid_dynamite

i wonder if the police caught Jakes and Bergzilla yet, they are the real brains behind the operation

lol. Hey, I posted a thread about someone dying over tater tots a few months ago. Lemme see if I can dig it up.

[stevew]

dola

http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/...ght=tater+tots

[Izulde]

I have the urge to go hunt up some of the old Mafia games I used to play.

[Izulde]

dola,

The most recent update on CNN's European site says they've arrested three people who allegedly helped him stay in hiding all these years.

[Bearcat729]

Originally Posted by vex

Bah, you've obviously never heard of the safehouse.

I wonder what the cost of 42 years of time in the safe house was.

[vex]

Originally Posted by Izulde

dola,

The most recent update on CNN's European site says they've arrested three people who allegedly helped him stay in hiding all these years.

Those rats will be on the hitlist in no time.

[vex]

Originally Posted by Bearcat729

I wonder what the cost of 42 years of time in the safe house was.

[Poli]

Omerta. I never knew thee.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by Bearcat729

I wonder what the cost of 42 years of time in the safe house was.

Nobody was within 2 levels of him, so they couldn't try to shoot at him with 60K.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by Bearcat729

I wonder what the cost of 42 years of time in the safe house was.

According to standard rates, It would be 48,798,223,770,240,0000. Fucker must be running some scripts or something.

[vex]

Originally Posted by stevew

According to standard rates, It would be 48,798,223,770,240,0000. Fucker must be running some scripts or something.

I heard he was head of LSO, so this would explain that.

[Senator]

Originally Posted by stevew

The head of the Sicilian Mafia, Bernardo Provenzano, nicknamed "The Tractor" for the way he once mowed down his rivals,

"The Tractor"
That would be a great name for a football player.