Some comments by the expert John Dickie.
What happens now? My guess: the political drift within Cosa Nostra continues, and with it the organization's decline.
Cosa Nostra is weaker than it has ever been. The state is better at fighting Cosa Nostra than ever. Both of those things are legacies of Riina’s rule.
Meanwhile, income is falling, which means less money to keep prisoners and their families happy—so more chance they will turn state’s evidence
On 2 occasions, senior mafiosi tried to pull the Commission together, which could have opened the way for a new leader to emerge. But both times the police were watching and captured them all.
The state has been turning the screw. Riina was on his way to a meeting of the ruling Commission when he was captured in ’93. The Commission hasn’t managed to meet since.
Meanwhile, police and investigators have learned the lessons of Giovanni Falcone and his fight against Riina in the 1980s, and offer a much, much tougher opponent.
Hence Cosa Nostra’s division. Riina’s successor Provenzano didn’t have the authority to deal with it. Cosa Nostra has remained pretty much ungovernable.
However, Riina’s allies are terrified of that the exiles will return and exact vengeance for the slaughter of the 1980s.
Riina drove many of his enemies into exile. Since his capture, they have been angling to return, looking for allies in the old country. The mafia is weak and needs its American links more than ever.
Excellent quotes! He was a horrible boss who’s brutality led to the mafia becoming very weak in Sicily. The Mafia was near complete control of Sicily, making billions off of drugs along, and they fucked it all up.
