Nino Madonia resided in Constance, Germany , where he was connected to the financier Vito Roberto Palazzolo in the laundering of narco-dollars from the " Pizza connection". He was sentenced to 15 years in prison in the Palermo maxi-trial .

In May 1987 he was arrested together with his father and brother Giuseppe . Having been released from prison after only a year, the then head of Cosa Nostra Totò Riina entrusted him with the regency of the district of Resuttana of Palermo in place of his now imprisoned father.

In December 1989 the police arrested Madonia in an apartment in Via Mariano d'Amelio (where the famous massacre took place three years later ) in which a ledger of extortions delivered to around 150 entrepreneurs was found. The list included the names of car showrooms, boutiques, restaurants and small factories whose extortion rates range from 150,000 lire to 7 million lire. None of those whose names were on the list of extortionists helped investigators identify the identity of the extortionists . Since then he has been in prison where he has to serve a series of life sentences for multiple mafia-related murders.