Boss of Bosses

Bernado Provenzano, head of the Sicilian mafia, is Italy’s most notorious criminal. But despite apparent sightings all over Europe, for 43 years he eluded the police, until, on 11 April 2006, a crack police team broke into a tiny shepherd’s hut in the mountains above Corleone. At last they were able to capture Provenzano, just a few miles from his home.

A master of reinvention, he has been known variously as the Tractor, the Accountant, Uncle Bernie and even the Axe Man. He took over Cosa Nostra when it was on its knees, after the carnage of an all-out war with the state, and restored its power by going underground and infiltrating business, law and politics at the highest levels. In prison his human side emerged when his sole request was to marry his devoted companion, Saveria, who stood by him through years on the run.

Provenzano’s story is one of passion and betrayal, told by the investigators who tracked him down, the spies who worked for him, the officers who arrested him and his consigliere at the heart of Cosa Nostra.