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Open ambition is a dangerous thing for a mafioso. For years, Salvatore Lo Piccolo managed to mask his highest aspirations as he rose from loyal foot soldier to the upper reaches of the Mafia hierarchy. The 65-year-old Palermo native always seemed to know how to wind up on the winning side of internal feuds, a gift that eventually made him supreme boss in the Sicilian capital. But Lo Piccolo wanted more: control over the entire island of Sicily, expanded cooperation with U.S. mobsters, even the title of capo dei capi - the boss of bosses...
...Some 40 members of the same special "Catturando" police unit that nabbed Provenzano in the hills of Corleone found the Lo Piccolos, and several other top Mafia figures, in a pair of well-furnished houses near the town of Cinisi, just west of Palermo. The senior Lo Piccolo, sporting a leather jacket and a mane of white hair and beard, shared only a vague resemblance with the most recent composite sketch. On the premises, police found weapons, cash, fake identification and the tiny handwritten notes that Provenzano also utilized for communicating among mob bosses. Italian media report that the younger...
...Indeed, the Mafia is still very much a family affair. Loyalty is ensured by blood rites and membership passed down through the generations of certain clans. The elder Lo Piccolo may have spelled his own doom by being in close proximity to his son for a summit on Monday. Provenzano, who evaded capture for 43 years, including a decade as Italy's most wanted man, famously lived in isolation, often in rugged conditions to better duck the authorities...
...older Lo Piccolo, a native of the Tommaso Natale neighborhood of western Palermo, had been Provenzano's top lieutenant in the capital while grooming his son for succession. Since his ascension in the wake of Provenzano's capture, police say Lo Piccolo was also focused on expanding ties with the American mob. He had favored allowing a historic Mafia family to return to the Sicilian capital after more than two decades of forced exile in the United States, following an internal mob war in the 1980s. Dubbed "gli scappati" (the fled ones), the Inzerillo family had been on the verge...
...whoever bet on Lo Piccolo is now sure to suffer. Pretenders to the throne will now see a power vacuum. Matteo Messina Denaro, who hails from the west coast Sicilian city of Trapani, may be in position now to take over supreme control of the organization. Messina Denaro, 45, is said to have a weakness for fast cars and Armani suits, but was nevertheless highly respected by the more traditional Provenzano. Investigators say they had an almost father-and-son rapport...