Toto Riina: The Bloodiest Godfather in Mafia History | Documentary History - AT

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00:00 POWER THROUGH BLOODSHED
01:17:35 THE DOWNFALL

This is the story of the rise and fall of Toto Riina, through interviews of prosecutors, judges, police officers, lawyers and his own inside-men who are now repentant and have accepted to cooperate with justice.

In May 1992, a motorway near Palermo, Sicily, explodes killing Judge Falcone and several people of his inner circle, marking the climax in the war between the Italian State and the Cosa Nostra that killed thousands. One year later, after a 25-year manhunt, Toto Riina, the Godfather of all Godfathers, is finally arrested and brought to justice in a historic trial.

In a 5-year in depth investigation, discover how a young rural mobster took power in the 1970’s over the Cosa Nostra, Sicily’s legendary mafia, torturing and killing each competitor one by one, becoming the most feared and violent organized-crime leader ever. He broke the mafia code by declaring war on the Italian State, multiplying assassinations and establishing terror among government, police, the judicial systems and the Sicilian people.

POWER THROUGH BLOODSHED: Mosco Levi Boucault’s film retraces over two parts the extraordinary destiny of Totò Riina (1930-2017), the son of a peasant from Corleone, a small Sicilian town 60km from Palermo, who became the “capo de tutti capi” of the local Mafia, Cosa Nostra. It is a tale that is neither mythical nor romantic, a wild and bloody adventure, almost Shakespearian in its drama, dotted with hundreds of killings around the eternal conflict between the thirst for power and the rule of law. Mainly based on exclusive and gripping testimony of underworld killers-turned-informers, the first part tracks the irresistible and merciless ascension of a cunning and ambitious man, who killed and schemed his way into the triumvirate which ran Cosa Nostra. From then on, he imposed a reign of terror, eliminating anyone who opposed him within Cosa Nostra and, for the first time in the history of the Mafia, assassinating representatives of institutions that were fighting it, including magistrates, police officers, politicians and journalists. This escalation culminated in 1982 with the slaying of General Alberto Dalla Chiesa, sent by Rome re-establish order in Sicily. Totò Riina then ruled over the whole island with impunity.

THE DOWNFALL: The assassination of Dalla Chiesa in 1982 was one crime too many. Targeted directly, the Palermo prosecutor’s office set a team of magistrates on Totò Riina’s case, going after the businessmen and politicians who had previously been untouchable thanks to their mafia links.

Totò Riina responded by having the magistrate Rocco Chinnici killed in a car-bomb attack. Two young magistrates from Palermo, Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, then made bringing down the Mafia their sole aim in life. Thanks to the testimony of one of Riina’s former rivals bent on revenge, they issued hundreds of arrest warrants against Cosa Nostra. In 1986, despite the climate of terror which Riina maintained whilst on the run, a “maxi trial” was held in Palermo with 475 accused. It resulted in some very heavy sentences, including a life term for Riina, pronounced in his absence. Against all expectations, this historic verdict was confirmed both on appeal and at the supreme court. Enraged, Riina in 1992 organized two bombings which killed respectively Falcone and Borsellino – a double tragedy that sticks in the memory of Sicilians like 9/11 does for New Yorkers. Totò Riina was finally arrested in 1993, and would die in prison. This bloody battle played out in Europe between 1977 and 1994, on a sun-kissed island with a very dark side.

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CORLEONE: MAFIA AND BLOOD
Directed by Mosco BOUCAULT
All Rights Reserved

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