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Fear grips Sicilian town with the return of mafia boss' son

Giuseppe Salvatore Riina, the son of the most feared Sicilian Mafia boss, gestures as he leaves his mother's house in Corleone, southern Italy, on Friday. PHOTO: EPA

The Sicilian town of Corleone, forever linked to the mafia by The Godfather films starring the family of the same name, is trying to escape its mobster past by urging a real life boss' son to leave.

Giuseppe Salvatore Riina returned home after six years in jail on Friday, decked out in designer clothes and dark glasses and carrying pastries for his mother. Released on a technicality after his imprisonment on charges of extortion, money laundering and mafia association, Riina, 28, swaggered down the streets, greeting friends, as locals stared.

But his return was condemned by Mayor Antonio Iannazzo, who insisted that Corleone had changed since Giuseppe's father, Salvatore "The Beast" Riina, built a murderous mafia empire in the 1970s and 1980s.

"We don't want him here," the mayor said. "Corleone does not forgive him and wants to push on with the process of change."

He was backed by the town council, which passed a motion stating: "In this region, where signs and symbols are important, [Riina] has generated a state of alarm among the public."

Corleone has been transformed since Giuseppe's arrest in 2002, reflecting the weakening of the mafia in the wake of the arrests of fugitive godfathers Bernardo Provenzano in 2006 and Salvatore Lo Piccolo last year.

Riina the elder, now 77, is serving 12 life sentences for murder after his arrest in 1993. His properties in and around Corleone have been seized and turned into a school, an office for the tax police and even a countryside bed and breakfast. An anti-mafia pop concert in the town in December drew thousands.

"Corleone has developed good antibodies," said a local official, Dino Paternostro.

The release of Riina's son last week came after it emerged that his trial, including the appeals process, was not concluded in time, freeing him about two years early thanks to a rule limiting to six years the time spent in custody before a definitive sentence.

Sicilian Senator Anna Finocchiaro said his release "undermined efforts by police, magistrates and society to combat organized crime."
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