Salvatore Riina and the title of "Boss of all Bosses"

[aleksandrored]

Based on the books I have read, the documents and the forum, I would like to express my opinion on the subject, if it is well I intend to put in the "articles" to preserve.

Much is heard about Salvatore Riina being the "Capo di tutti i capi", and having created an Alternative Cosa Nostra, more violent, not discreet and dictatorial, but will it be that way? as a clan like the Corleonesi changed the whole structure of the Sicilian mafia?

In my opinion, all this is an exaggeration of the media, there is no "boss of all bosses" position, and what happened in the 80s and 90s was only a violent period of the Mafia, due to fear and unpreparedness of the law .

Since the late 1950s the Corleonesi were reputed to be violent, they even stood out and differentiated themselves from other clans for this, but they were never a very powerful clan or with many members, but during the decade of the 70s and 80s they represented a new era for Cosa Nostra, an era with new bosses, new opportunities and fear-oriented, yet without losing their manners.

This triggered the Second Mafia War, where the old men were killed and the new ones took their places, what I'm trying to say is that the Corleonesi (especially Riina and Provenzano) created a new era for the Mafia out of fear and new opportunities, creating a new commission, where members were loyal to Riina, and at the same time feared him, so I believe Riina was not a boss of all bosses but only the leader of the commission, a committee where members were grateful to him for a new age, but at the same time were afraid to counteract him, if he killed the old bosses who would tell the new bosses?

As the 1980's progressed, it became more apparent that Riina did what she wished to do on the basis of her fear of others, killing anyone who might harm her, as well as the relatives of Tommaso Buscetta and the death of Giovanni Falcone, and I believe that after this last Riina was no longer seen as a feared chief, but rather as a chief who needed to be detained.

After his arrest in 1993 the supposed title passed to Provenzano, and there comes the great exaggeration of the media, if at the time of Riina the title was already somewhat abusive, for Provenzano he is even worse, this is the opposite of Riina, made Cosa Nostra silent again, he did not fear the other clans, there was no more to obey him without limits, after the events caused by Riina the Corleonesi already fell into decline, which kept them alive with the title of "boss of all bosses" was purely the media, Provenzano did not have the same power as Riina, was only carrying the burden left by him.

After the arrest of Provenzano in 2006 it was the turn of Matteo Messina Denaro to be received with this title, something that no longer makes sense, but the media still tries to push that he is the supreme leader of Cosa Nostra, I believe they need a scapegoat, someone to be blamed for everything, and thus give a sense of peace to society

What I meant by this article is that the so-called "boss of all bosses" is an invention, created in a time of fear, illusion and new opportunities, something that was in the past and recent members will not repeat those mistakes, not there is a boss who puts so much fear to the point of turning the commission's opinion into only his opinion.

I would like the opinion of the members about this, something to add or even to criticize, if I said a lot of bullshit say to me, I think the good thing about this forum are the different opinions that end up creating good arguments.

[JeremyTheJew]

I dont know... Riina was pretty powerfull... took oit almost everyone.

Didnt he send word to gotti to kill inzerllo?

Prpvenzano was respected bc he brought peace funny bc his nickname came from.him mowing down enemies lime a tractor.

And dennaro, i heard is well beyond rich. So idk where his fear level is. Was he Corelonesi? I thoight he technocally wasnt...?

Lo piccolo was another BOB

[scagghiuni]

riina was a boss of bosses because he ordered other members of the commission (both provincial and regional) what to do and he personally chosen capimandamento, provenzano discussed with them but he never ordered he was only the boss of corleone mandamento
yes sometimes the title is inflated by media, matteo messina denaro is not a boss of bosses, he's the provincial boss of trapani
at the ending of 1800 according to police and sangiorgi report francesco siino, boss of noce family, was the boss of bosses

[RONALD]

This is some off topic, but i have too say it, since i dont speak or can read Italian, its to bad that the docs on YouTube,
about Riina or Buscetta are not subtiteled to English...most of them. This one is a very good one on Riina:le verita nacoste
It was on NGC translated in english

[Wiseguy]

While the term "Boss of Bosses" has been thrown around too much, if it applied to anyone, it was Riina.

[Antiliar]

The point that Aleksandrored is making is that there was/is no OFFICIAL title of "Boss of Bosses." He didn't deny that Riina was a powerful Mafioso, only that the title "Boss of Bosses" is a media invention.

[scagghiuni]

The point that Aleksandrored is making is that there was/is no OFFICIAL title of "Boss of Bosses." He didn't deny that Riina was a powerful Mafioso, only that the title "Boss of Bosses" is a media invention.

but in sicily there was the title of 'regional boss' , who was the boss of the regional commission formed by all provincial bosses from palermo, agrigento, trapani, caltanissetta and catania/eastern sicily, it's like to be the boss of bosses

[Antiliar]

The point that Aleksandrored is making is that there was/is no OFFICIAL title of "Boss of Bosses." He didn't deny that Riina was a powerful Mafioso, only that the title "Boss of Bosses" is a media invention.

but in sicily there was the title of 'regional boss' , who was the boss of the regional commission formed by all provincial bosses from palermo, agrigento, trapani, caltanissetta and catania/eastern sicily, it's like to be the boss of bosses

Yes, there was a regional boss and a provincial boss, but no single boss over all the provinces and all the regions called "capo dei capi"

[JeremyTheJew]

The point that Aleksandrored is making is that there was/is no OFFICIAL title of "Boss of Bosses." He didn't deny that Riina was a powerful Mafioso, only that the title "Boss of Bosses" is a media invention.

but in sicily there was the title of 'regional boss' , who was the boss of the regional commission formed by all provincial bosses from palermo, agrigento, trapani, caltanissetta and catania/eastern sicily, it's like to be the boss of bosses

Yes, there was a regional boss and a provincial boss, but no single boss over all the provinces and all the regions called "capo dei capi"

It went boss of fam - then there is boss of (3??) Families which i guess would be regional and then those regional bosses report to province boss??

How did they choose who became what and also would the province and regional bosses have crews under them?

Would all the regional boss.be xonsidered the commision or is that another layer?

[scagghiuni]

It went boss of fam - then there is boss of (3??) Families which i guess would be regional and then those regional bosses report to province boss??

How did they choose who became what and also would the province and regional bosses have crews under them?

Would all the regional boss.be xonsidered the commision or is that another layer?

the boss of 3 or more families is a 'capomandamento' who is a member of the provincial commission (for example palermo) that is led by a provincial boss, who is a member of the regional commission, formed by all provincial bosses
at least it worked so in the past, i don't know today, anyway probably there are still the provincial commissions

[scagghiuni]

The point that Aleksandrored is making is that there was/is no OFFICIAL title of "Boss of Bosses." He didn't deny that Riina was a powerful Mafioso, only that the title "Boss of Bosses" is a media invention.

but in sicily there was the title of 'regional boss' , who was the boss of the regional commission formed by all provincial bosses from palermo, agrigento, trapani, caltanissetta and catania/eastern sicily, it's like to be the boss of bosses

Yes, there was a regional boss and a provincial boss, but no single boss over all the provinces and all the regions called "capo dei capi"

yeah the name 'capo dei capi/boss of bosses) was invented by media, anywau like i said the regional boss was the facto a boss of bosses

[aleksandrored]

As for Riina having influence over sending a message to Gotti to kill Inzerillo, I think this was not his exclusive thing, the Sicilian mafia had good relations with the families of New York, if I am not mistaken Stefano Bontade had relations with John Gambino for the trafficking in heroin, just as Tommaso Buscetta himself also had links to drug trafficking in the 1970s.

As they said, the point I wanted to make is that there is no official title of head of all the bosses in the hierarchy, that would be something given by the media, now if there was in the past I do not know, a good example is Salvatore Maranzano, and on the Mafia in the 1800s is very difficult to find out about this, other than very old newspapers.

Matteo Messina Denaro I confess that I do not know his history as a whole, but what I do know is that he got more prominence in 2001 when he took over the province of Trapani and when he was cover in "L'Espresso" magazine, saying that he was the new boss of the Mafia, it is hard to say how powerful he is, but if we are to take into account that he has been a fugitive since 1993, we can say that he has a huge influence on the Sicilian Mafia.

[DPG]

IMO Maranzano is the only boss to hold the position in the way we view it. He was actually in control of all the families as far as naming there boss/underboss and they reported to him for 6 months or however long it lasted. He had everyone in line until he was killed.

[Pogo The Clown]

Maranzano didn't name the Bosses and UnderBosses of the families nor did he control them.


Pogo

[Wiseguy]

Maranzano didn't name the Bosses and UnderBosses of the families nor did he control them.


Pogo

That's why I consider Riina to be the only guy who was Boss of Bosses in power, if not in name.