Salvatore Lo Piccolo is flanked
by police in Palermo
Posted on 11/05/2007 2:42:41 PM PST by bruinbirdman
Italian police struck a mortal blow against the Sicilian Mafia today when they arrested Salvatore Lo Piccolo, the recently appointed boss of all the bosses.
Salvatore Lo Piccolo is flanked
by police in Palermo
Salvatore, 65, and his son Sandro, 32, were captured after a gun battle at a small villa in Giardinello, a small town near Palermo. Lo Piccolo, who is nicknamed The Baron, had been on the run for 24 years.
Cheering crowds gathered outside the police station in Palermo as the news broke, while senior policemen inside could be seen punching the air in joy and embracing each other.
Lo Piccolo made his fortune from drug-trafficking and used to force the tenants of the ZEN estate, the most rundown and deprived area in Palermo, to pay him in order to keep their water connected and their corridors lit.
He became the "Capo di Cosa Nostra", the head of all the Sicilian Mafia, after the arrest of Bernardo Provenzano in April 2006, although he had to wage a gang war against Matteo Messina Denaro for the title.
"He was the only man capable of taking over the operation from Provenzano," said Piero Grasso, the national anti-mafia chief. "We have hit Cosa Nostra very hard".
Experts said the Sicilian Mafia would find it very difficult to regroup after the capture of Provenzano and Lo Piccolo, its two bosses, in just two years.
In a scene reminiscent of The Sopranos, he was captured in his garage as he held a secret meeting with two other senior henchmen, Gaspare Pulizzi and Andrea Adamo, the bosses of two nearby regions.
Both men are on the list of the 30 most-wanted criminals in Italy. As Lo Piccolo was led away, his son Sandro sobbed: "I love you Dad, I love you".
The villa was close to the sea, and well-appointed, in contrast to the rustic shepherd’s hut where Provenzano was found.
Around 40 agents surrounded the property in the early morning, and opened fire on the four men inside, who were all armed.
Inside the house, the agents found a cache of weapons, money, false identity cards, and several notes between Lo Piccolo and his henchmen, known as "pizzini".
'Boss of bosses' Salvatore Lo Piccolo
Officers remarked that Lo Piccolo’s face was entirely different from the identikit photo of him. Like Provenzano, he may have had plastic surgery to change his appearance. He was well-dressed in a leather jacket but unshaven.
"This is an extraordinary day, that shows that our anti-mafia operation is really firing on all cylinders,” said Gaetano Paci, the public prosecutor.
Today is a national day of remembrance for victims of the Mafia
Cheers. Down with the criminals and thugs.
Wow, a real life Don Corleone?
Tomkow do you know this guy LOL!
bmflr
If they knew who he was despite his appearance differing markedly from the “identikit” then how did they know it was the right guy? Somewhere, some mafioso turned state’s evidence?
I suspect the infiltration goes both ways, however.
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