01x03 - Dominate Through Terror

[bunniefuu]

[ominous music playing]

[narrator] Fear.

[woman screaming]

[narrator] The paralyzing feeling

of imminent danger.

A dreaded nightmare about to come true.

But when you're a mob boss

looking to consolidate your power,

you look at human emotions

differently.

[man] Mob bosses rule by fear.

It's the best weapon.

[screaming]

[narrator] And there's one tested method

for putting this spine-tingling tool

to work.

To make people understand fear,

you have to perform violence.

[screams]

[man 2] If you are able to say,

"I can k*ll you,

I can k*ll your wife,

I can k*ll your daughter,

don't f*ck with me"

you become a very powerful person.

[narrator] Nobody demonstrated this lesson

as effectively as Sicily's boss of bosses,

Salvatore "Toto" Riina.

Toto Riina was associated

with mass m*rder, with absolute power.

Riina used violence

to incite terror on a national level.

[narrator] Riina's unflinching methods

powered his rise to dominance

over the legendary Sicilian Mafia

for nearly two decades

while earning him the title "La Belva,"

The Beast.

So, if you're ready to see

what terror can do for you,

buckle up.

[g*nsh*t]

[theme music playing]

During Toto Riina's tyrannical reign

over the Sicilian Mafia,

he earned billions

through diverse pursuits,

including global drug trafficking,

weapons smuggling, and real estate.

But he was mainly known

for this astonishing figure.

He is thought to have authorized

between 800 and 1,000 killings.

[narrator] How did Riina become

such a master of ruthless

and efficient execution?

Practice.

Let me show you what I mean.

Toto Riina was born in 1930 in Corleone

into a peasant family.

Corleone was a typical rural town

with a strong Mafia presence.

Riina's father and brothers were thought

to be involved in the local Mafia,

and Riina begins to make his way up

with the aim of becoming

the boss of the Corleonesi.

[narrator] After being indicted

on a m*rder charge in 1969,

Riina went underground,

but didn't miss a beat.

[man 2] Secrecy was one of his weapons,

and it built up

his mystique within the Mafia.

This kind of ghost figure

that could be anywhere

and might be listening to you

as you spoke.

Hello?

[narrator] Riina took over control

of the Corleonesi faction in 1974,

but he had grander ambitions.

He was aiming to become

the head of everything.

To be the boss of bosses

of the Sicilian Mafia.

He didn't need a luxurious lifestyle.

He didn't care about that stuff,

but what he did care about was power.

One of the things

that Riina is supposed to have said is,

"Comandare é meglio che fottere,"

which means, if I can use plain English,

"Being boss is better than f*cking."

[narrator] Couldn't have

said it better myself.

But to follow in the Beast's path

to mob supremacy,

you must overcome

countless obstacles along the way,

starting with

one of the greatest irritants

to power of them all.

Morning paper.

[narrator] Nothing says you've made it

like getting into the papers.

But smart mob bosses know better.

The Mafia is extremely invested

in its public image.

What journalism does is to bring out

these facts about violence,

about their business deals.

They name names,

they expose what the Mafia is doing.

[narrator] That's why as a mob boss,

you'll sometimes have to k*ll

more than the story.

Ready for some headlines?

Minnesota mob boss Isadore Blumenfeld,

better known as Kid Cann, was suspected

of having journalists Walter Liggett

gunned down in front of his wife

and daughter after Liggett refused

to stop reporting

on Cann's corrupt influence

over the state's government.

After fleeing to Benito Mussolini's Italy

to avoid a m*rder charge,

New York mob boss Vito Genovese

reportedly ordered the k*lling

of anti-fascist newspaper editor

Carlo Tresca

to keep Il Duce on his side.

While it's widely believed

that Pablo Escobar k*lled the editor

and publisher of a Colombian newspaper

known for exposing drug traffickers.

And for good measure,

also had its offices bombed.

As Riina continued his quest

to consolidate power

within the Sicilian Mafia,

he also had to deal

with challenges from the fourth estate,

like this guy.

Mario Francese was a journalist

for the Giornale di Sicilia,

which is a massive Sicilian newspaper,

and he was about

to break a story on Riina.

[narrator] The subject,

Riina's corrupt role

in a lucrative public works project.

[Robin] Mario Francese investigated

all of the moneys, public funds

that were going to go

into the building of this dam,

$200 million at the time.

[narrator] That's a lot of damn money.

To protect his interests,

Riina needed to act fast.

Francese had been investigating

Riina's illicit activities for years,

and now, the big picture

is finally coming into focus.

[Robin] He was putting the names

of the mafiosi,

but also the names of businesspeople

who were working with the Mafia.

[narrator] Riina can't have

the reporter connecting the dots.

So he gives an order

to his brother-in-law, Leoluca Bagarella.

Francese leaves work late that night.

And as he approaches

his home on Viale Campania

[g*nsh*t]

With his nosy adversary

now out of the way,

Toto Riina finds the next morning's paper

much more to his liking.

The violence was sending a direct message

to other journalists and people

who were also interested

in exposing the Mafia,

"Stay away, or you'll meet the same fate."

[narrator] Making an example

of pesky reporters

checks one problem off your list.

But when your goal is total domination

Be right back.

you're going to need to deal with rivals

who aren't going

to just fight with their pens.

How do you bring them to heel?

[Alexander] To be at the top

of the pyramid,

you've got to be the toughest

and meanest dog in the kennel,

and that means using your teeth.

[man] Universal motivation

of the mob is violence.

You could be

the best businessman in the world.

Without having violence,

you're not lasting

in the street as a businessman.

That doesn't work.

[narrator] By the early '80s,

Riina was dead set on increasing

his power within the Sicilian Mafia.

But he faced a stubborn obstacle.

Something called the Commission.

[Dana] The Mafia Commission,

also called the Cupola,

is a governing body of sorts of the Mafia.

It was made up of the head boss

of the different families.

It was a way of collaborating

to make sure

that business stayed on track.

Riina begins to sit

in the Commission in about 1969

but begins to have

ambitions of domination.

[narrator] Riina's modest goal,

force the Commission to name him

Capo dei Capi, the Boss of Bosses.

But there was one small problem.

That position didn't exist.

He believed

that he should have absolute power.

He did not want to share.

[narrator] So Riina decided to turn

the job he had into the job he wanted.

The Beast's plan, destroy

his top rivals' organizations from within.

It starts by making secret side deals

with members of other Mafia families

across Sicily.

In return,

they do Riina's dirty work for him

taking out their bosses

and filling the ranks with mafiosi

loyal to Riina.

Before long, only a few rivals

remain from the old guard.

Dealing with them will require

a more customized approach.

[Dana] Stefano Bontate was the head

of one of the most powerful

Palermo crime families.

Bontate's closest ally was a man

named Salvatore Inzerillo.

Both Inzerillo and Bontate opposed Riina,

and so then for Riina,

something needs to be done.

[narrator] One night,

Stefano Bontate is celebrating

his 42nd birthday at his home in Palermo.

Tipped off to the celebration,

Riina's men stake out positions nearby.

At 8:30 p.m, Bontate leaves the party

to spend the night at his country villa

and runs into a most unwelcome surprise.

Two and a half weeks later,

Salvatore Inzerillo's wrapping up

a visit to his mistress

with his bulletproof Alfa Romeo

parked outside.

Riina's assassins have done

their homework on this target too.

So when Inzerillo departs

from his afternoon tryst,

Riina gets the ultimate satisfaction.

But the Beast isn't done yet.

When at his father's funeral,

Inzerillo's young son, Giuseppe,

vows to exact revenge

on his father's k*ller,

Riina decides to make

an example of him as well.

[Alexander] They k*ll

Inzerillo's 16-year-old son.

[Robin] And before they k*lled him,

Riina had his arm chopped off.

This says to anyone

who might go against Riina

how they might end up.

[narrator] Riina's plan

worked to perfection.

Riina was quite successful

at terrorizing a group of hardened K*llers

into seeing things his way,

and the end result was compliance.

And so many members of the Commission

chose to cede Riina his power

rather than meet the same ends.

[narrator] You've successfully used

the blood of your rivals

to fuel your climb

to the top of mob boss mountain.

As you continue your terrifying reign,

expect another set of enemies

inside the government

to put you in their sights.

How do you show them

who's really in charge?

As boss of bosses,

you need to demonstrate to everyone

that you have the ultimate power.

No!

It's very important for a mob boss

to be the guy

holding the strings over lawmakers

because it allows them

to expand their control and their rule.

[narrator] And when heroic officials

forget who's running things,

remind them.

Like Toto Riina did.

In the early '80s,

there was a culture of fear

because people saw bodies

on the streets on almost a daily basis.

People were terrified to go out.

They were terrified to leave their houses.

[newscaster] Sicily is

where the Mafia began,

but this is new and disturbing.

Around 100 Mafia executions

so far this year.

The citizens were crying out

to public officials to do something.

[women crying]

The national government decides

to send their most prestigious

and powerful police official,

General Alberto Dalla Chiesa,

to Palermo with special powers

to combat the Mafia.

[narrator] But when it came

to preserving his dominance,

Riina had special powers of his own.

In May 1982,

Dalla Chiesa arrives in Palermo

along with his new young wife, Emanuela.

A few months into their stay,

the couple leaves police headquarters

for an evening out

accompanied by a police escort.

But as they cross a major street,

they're surrounded.

Dalla Chiesa valiantly tries

to shield his wife.

But it's no use.

They're shot 30 times.

When you take,

for example, spectacular overkill,

you know, machine g*n fire

in the middle of the street,

that serves as a message

to the community and sometimes the nation.

[narrator] Dalla Chiesa's funeral

draws a crowd,

and the mourners are angry.

They pelt officials with coins,

frustrated by the government's inability

to keep the Mafia under control.

[Alexander] At the time

of Dalla Chiesa's funeral,

someone carried a sign that says,

"Here dies the hope

of every honest Sicilian."

[narrator] In other words,

mission accomplished.

[Robin] k*lling Dalla Chiesa showed,

"We can take out anyone,

and we will k*ll you

if you get into our business."

[narrator] Show me a better case

for total submission.

But as the playbook will show,

you'll only maintain

your absolute authority

as long as you keep up

your high standards.

One slip

[tires screeching]

could lead to disaster.

[growling]

[screams]

[narrator] When your goal is to terrorize

an entire society into submission,

there is no room for half measures.

If you're gonna harm your enemies,

make sure you do it complete,

so they can never come after you.

[Bobby] If you had trouble

with somebody at one point,

that trouble's always gonna be there.

This is why they have to be taken home.

[narrator] That's why

these wise men of honor

always made sure to tie up loose ends.

After Whitey Bulger

allegedly marked rival g*ng leader

Al Notarangeli for death,

the hunt led to the murders

of Notarangeli's brother

and an unlucky bartender

before Whitey's top assassin

finally eliminated his target.

Australian mobster Robert Trimbole

took two attempts to get rid

of anti-drug campaigner Donald Mackay.

First, trying to lure him

with a fake business deal

before ultimately having him

shot to death in a parking lot.

While Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman

spent a decade

trying to k*ll rival cartel leader,

Ramón Arellano Félix,

including a failed as*ault

on a Puerto Vallarta nightclub.

When Arellano was finally taken down,

El Chapo reportedly called it the most

pleasurable experience of his life.

With hundreds of suspected murders

already on his résumé,

Riina had a solid record

of handling his affairs.

But there was one Mafia rival

who remained frustratingly

beyond his reach.

Tommaso Buscetta was known

as the "Boss of Two Worlds"

because he had business interests

on both sides of the Atlantic.

He was involved in the drug trade

and ended up moving to Brazil.

[narrator] Buscetta helped form

the Sicilian Mafia Commission

and was an ally

of Riina's top rivals-turned-victims,

Palermo bosses Bontate

and Inzerillo.

Riina saw him as a threat,

and he wanted him back,

and he wanted to take him out.

[narrator] Riina decides

to lure Buscetta into the open

by using extreme methods of persuasion.

Much to the misfortune

of Buscetta's eldest sons

who, after taking

their new car out for a spin,

are kidnapped and never heard from again.

It's believed they fell victim

to lupara bianca,

the white shotgun.

[Dana] Lupara bianca is a k*lling

where the body disappears,

and this is another way

that the Mafia exercises fear over people.

So not only is

the evidence impossible to find,

but it doubly punishes families

who can't grieve their dead.

[narrator] Riina hopes

that Buscetta's grief

and desire for revenge

will draw him out of hiding.

It does not.

So the day after Christmas,

Riina sends his butchers to a pizzeria

near Palermo's Statue of Liberty

where they g*n down

Buscetta's son-in-law and two nephews.

[g*ns firing]

Somehow they don't recognize

Buscetta's daughter behind the counter.

Two days later,

the holiday m*ssacre continues.

[glass shatters]

Buscetta's brother and nephew are shot

to death at the family glass business.

[Alexander] Riina k*lled

around a dozen family members

of Tommaso Buscetta.

Most of these people

had absolutely nothing to do

with Mafia business.

[narrator] But despite

Riina's extraordinary efforts,

Tommaso Buscetta refuses to take the bait.

[Dana] Buscetta wasn't convinced.

He didn't come back.

[narrator] Finally, Buscetta's exile

comes to an involuntary end.

[Alexander] Brazilian authorities

arrest him.

They extradite him back to Italy in 1984.

So, Buscetta finds himself

in Italian police custody.

He then is met by Giovanni Falcone.

Giovanni Falcone was

a powerful anti-Mafia prosecutor.

[narrator] Buscetta decides to make

the most of his current circumstances

by exacting revenge against the Beast.

Buscetta collaborates

with Giovanni Falcone,

and he gives

very detailed information about the Mafia.

To bring down Riina,

as a vendetta, his testimony enabled

the anti-Mafia prosecutors

to charge the members of the Commission

for approving hundreds of murders.

[narrator] When it came to finishing

the job with Buscetta,

Riina failed with disastrous consequences.

He and the entire Mafia were now

in the authorities' crosshairs.

But even when all seems hopeless,

you can still regain your hold

by getting back on side with the playbook

and showing how far you're willing to go.

[crowd clamoring]

[narrator] There's a word

for when you've got nothing left to lose,

freedom.

So when it seems like your enemies

are getting the upper hand,

it's your chance to take off the gloves.

[woman] Mob bosses

are dangerous when cornered.

You don't know what they're gonna do.

[narrator] And with Buscetta

singing like a canary,

the walls were closing in on Toto Riina.

[Alexander] Falcone begins to draw up

arrest warrants for 366 people,

which is a hell of a lot.

[narrator] Riina was included

in the arrest list

but continued to evade capture.

Many of the top mafiosi

working underneath him weren't so lucky.

Toto Riina felt a massive threat.

Everything that he worked for

was being dismantled

with each of these arrests.

[narrator] What followed

were landmark proceedings

that became known as the Maxi Trials,

with Giovanni Falcone at the helm.

[Alexander] The whole premise

of the Maxi Trial

is that you are putting the organization

of the Mafia itself on trial.

[speaking in Italian]

So the ambition of the Maxi Trial

was actually eliminating the Mafia.

[narrator] And when you're

the Mafia's boss of bosses

that's personal.

[Dana] Many mafiosi assumed

that because of Riina's

vast political connections,

that they would be not found guilty.

But out of these 475 people on trial,

342 were convicted.

But dozens of them were in absentia

because they were in hiding,

and this includes Toto Riina.

[Robin] By finding them guilty,

Falcone proved that the Sicilian Mafia

was not invincible.

You had what was called

"l'emergenza pentiti,"

the emergency of mafiosi

becoming state's witnesses.

And so Riina had to try

to somehow show the mafiosi

that if they became collaborators,

they weren't safe either.

He could get to anyone.

INTERNATIONAL AIRPOR

[narrator] On May 23rd, 1992,

the hero of the Maxi Trials,

Giovanni Falcone,

returns to Palermo with his wife.

Their arrival doesn't go unnoticed.

Falcone makes a bold choice.

Rather than riding

with his security detail,

he insists on driving his own car

from the airport to his country home,

unaware that Riina and his allies

have been plotting their revenge.

As Falcone's caravan approaches

the town of Capaci,

the trap is sprung.

Falcone and his wife

suffer fatal injuries,

and the expl*si*n is so massive,

it registers on local earthquake sensors.

But Riina isn't finished.

Two months later, Falcone's colleague

in the anti-Mafia task force,

Paolo Borsellino, is also k*lled

by a car b*mb

outside his mother's apartment building.

Riina's message is undeniable.

The message is, "If you mess with us,

we don't care how high we have to go,

we don't care how protected you are,

we will k*ll you."

[narrator] But in making

his case so vigorously,

Riina triggered

some unintended consequences.

The Italian state is so embarrassed

by the killings of Falcone and Borsellino,

they send 7,000 army troops to Sicily

to take back control of the territory.

[narrator] Six months later,

with the remnants

of Riina's Mafia under siege,

a frightened associate

leads authorities to Riina's hideout.

And the Beast is taken into custody.

[newscaster] The boss of bosses

of the Sicilian underworld,

Salvatore Riina,

was arrested two days ago.

[narrator] So now, after executing

his reign of terror entirely

from underground,

Riina is finally ready for his close-up.

It was kind of like a Wizard of Oz moment.

You know, you pull the curtain,

and it's just a little old man.

[narrator] And what harm

could he possibly have done?

[in Italian] I was only a farmer.

I worked the land as an honest man.

Salvatore Riina has four children.

He loves children.

He loves everything and everyone.

[narrator] Oh, right.

After a dominating reign

over one of organized crime's

most storied institutions,

Toto Riina would die in a prison hospital

one day after his 87th birthday.

He remained a mystery to the end,

never speaking about his crimes

or giving up his connections

in business and politics.

But if wreaking havoc from the shadows

isn't your idea of a good time,

there is another way

to chart a course as mob boss

that will let you take center stage.

It's just not the right one.

Case in point, John Gotti,

the New York Mafia kingpin

who set the playbook ablaze

in his quest to make his own rules

and become a star,

bringing down

his entire organization in the process.

Ready to learn what not to do?

[theme music playing]