Il capo dei capi
Tags: murder

Plot synopsis:
=== First episode (1943–1958) ===
15 January 1993. Cosa nostra 'superboss' Salvatore Riina has been arrested after 23 years, and receives a visit in prison from his childhood friend, Biagio Schirò, triggering a flashback. In 1943, as a boy of 13 years, Riina is working in the fields around the town of Corleone when he finds a buried bomb. His father decides to take the bomb home, in order to extract the gunpowder from inside in order to sell it to hunters in order to supplement his very low farm labourer's income. The bomb explodes, killing Riina's father and younger brother, and leaving Salvatore as the head of the family to lead a life of misery.
Tired of living in poverty, Totò, together with his friends Bernardo Provenzano (aka Binnu), Calogero Bagarella and Biagio Schiarò, begins to work for Luciano Liggio, Picciotto of the boss Michele Navarra, who meanwhile orders the kidnapping and murder of Placido Rizzotto. Soon after, Totò gets into a murderous fight with 'Menico, the son of a miller to whom he sells his grain, and ends up in prison; meanwhile Schiarò's change of heart takes him back to school. Six years later, Totò, an adult by now, is freed. Waiting outside the prison gates are Provenzano, Bagarella and a new member of the gang, Luciano Maino.
Riina soon picks up where he left off in Liggio's gang: intent on more power and infamy, the gang murder the capo Michele Navarra and plan to expand towards Palermo. Schirò, meanwhile, has become a police officer and is working with Chief Inspector Angelo Mangano on Liggio and his gang. Totò meets the studious younger sister of Calogero Bargarella, Ninetta, and falls in love. It soon emerges that Ninetta is a close friend of Teresa, who in turn is dating Biagio Schirò.
=== Second episode (1963–1969) ===
The full Corleonese Clan (Luciano Liggio, Totò Riina, Bernardo Provenzano, Calogero Bagarella and Luciano Maino) prepare to go to Palermo for a 'business discussion' with Salvatore La Barbera and Vito Ciancimino. As soon as they arrive, they begin straight away to demand respect: first killing a butcher who would not pay for a load of clandestine meat, then killing an accountant who had paid protection to the wrong family. One evening, while the Corleonesi are in a night club (where Maino meets a girl, Maria Nigro) Salvatore La Barbera is kidnapped and killed by Michele Cavataio. All the other mafiosi in La Barbera's clan flee from Palermo.
Back in Corleone, Totò's relationship with Ninetta Bagarella strengthens. Biagio discovers from Teresa that word has it that Riina will be at Ninetta's one evening, and organizes a search. Nevertheless, Totò manages to hide both himself and his friend Calogero, and neither are caught. Totò promises to Ninetta not to enact revenge on Teresa for the betrayal, but she tells him that she had already decided to break all links to her friend, rather to continue her relationship in secret with him.
On June 30, 1963, in the Ciaculli quarter of Palermo, a police officer notices a parked Alfa Giulietta. Unaware that the car is packed with explosives, an officer opens the boot which triggers the bomb inside which kills seven people. This leads to many arrests, with many other mafiosi, including the Corleonesi, going into hiding. Maino refuses to do so, preferring to stay in Palermo with his girlfriend. While fleeing from Corleone, Totò and Calogero are stopped by a police patrol. Calogero manages to escape but Totò is arrested; he attempts to provide forged identity documents but these fail when he is recognized by Biagio.
A few days later, Biagio tells Teresa (who has just graduated) that Riina has been caught, and that the two can marry without threat. At the same time, an eavesdropping Ninetta (also recently graduated) overhears everything. Schirò goes to the parents of Teresa to ask her hand in marriage and, after an awkward conversation with her father, is given their blessing.
Meanwhile Maria, Maino's girlfriend, discovers his hidden life via the newspapers, and convinces him to go to the police. He tells Judge Cesare Terranova everything he knows about the Corleonesi. Shortly after, Luciano Liggio too is arrested by Commissario Mangano and Schirò, discovered hiding in the wardrobe of the ex-girlfriend of Placido Rizzotto.
The Bari trial begins, and Maino stands as witness, fingering directly Totò and his companions, and testifying to all of their murders. Despite this concrete proof, Liggio, Riina and the other convicts are released thanks to a lack of evidence - the jury had been threatened. A few days after the trial, Luciano Maino is found, hanging, at his home.
=== Third episode (1969-1978) ===
Biagio and Teresa have married, and have a baby (Antonio) at the beginning of the episode. Simultaneously Riina and his fellow mafiosi - Provenzano, Bagarella and two other men, soldiers of Tano Badalamenti, boss of Cinisi - enter the offices of Michele Cavataio dressed as police officers of the Guardia di Finanza. The aim of the attack is to assassinate Cavataio, who had earlier killed Salvatore La Barbera.
One of Badalamenti's henchmen, nervously lets his gun fire, killing two men and triggering a massacre - no longer under cover, they have to murder five others before reaching Cavataio. Following a spree of bullets, Cavataio feings death until Totò and Calogero enter, when he turns and shoots, hitting and killing Bagarella. Enraged, Provenzano responds by beating Cavataio to death with the butt of his gun.
In Corleone, Totò informs his own sister, and girlfriend of Calogero, Arcangela, of his friends death. He then calls on his Ninetta, Calogero's sister, calling her away from her teaching job and giving her the news; meanwhile Schirò requests a transfer to Palermo. Needing cash in order to make key investments in Palermo, Riina decides to kidnap the young lad, Antonio Caruso, from the town hall while visiting now mayor Vito Ciancimino. This triggers the disdain of the mafiosi of Palermo, in particular bosses Stefano Bontade and Giuseppe Di Cristina.
On May 5, 1971, Riina orders the homicide of District Attorney Pietro Scaglione, and during the ambush Maresciallo Lo Russo is also killed. Totò wishes to flee with Ninetta to Venice, and marry. Having discovered the body of Bagarella, the police decide to search the home of his sister, Arcangela, and find a photo of Ninetta and Totò. Implicated, the police arrest Ninetta. During her trial, Vito Maranza, one of Riina's men, goes to Biagio's house and kidnaps Teresa and Antonio, holding them to ransom until Bagarella is released.
Luciano Liggio is arrested in Milan by commissario Mangano, as a consequence Riina becomes the main capo of the Corleonesi Clan, and is chosen by Don Michele Greco as his 'prediletto' (his favourite).
Two of Riina's soldati are ordered to kill Giuseppe Di Cristina but fail, killing instead his driver. Shadowing Di Cristina, they discover that he is collaborating with Commissario Boris Giuliano. Meanwhile Totò and Ninetta marry.
Some of the mafiosi - Pippo Calderone, Badalamenti and Di Cristina - begin to have problems with Totò, and their interaction becomes cold. At a successive meeting of the Commissione, Riina asks for their lives and is given permission to kill only Cristina, though he also kills Calderone.
At the end of the episode, Silvio Albertini, an honest colleague of Schirò, chances upon the hiding place of Riina, his wife and Provenzano. He immediately telephones Biagio from a phone box, and summons him to the location. As soon as he arrives, Schirò heads up to the apartment and finds Silvio's lifeless body on the floor. Suddenly, Riina's two soldati appear and beat Schirò. Riina emerges and warns his old friend to leave his family alone, especially Ninetta, before knocking him out cold.
=== Fourth episode (1979–1981) ===
=== Fifth episode (1982-1987) ===
The fifth episode begins with Pio La Torre, regional secretary of the Communist, which on one hand is a debate in Corleone to prevent the construction of a military base in Comiso and the other side with the full Commission. In the commission there is a certain Apuzzo, a dear friend of Tommaso Buscetta pretending to be loyal to Toto Riina.
The Mangano Commissioner, now retired, advised the magistrates in Palermo (who want to fight the Mafia at all costs) Schiro as wildcard to find all the large and back to Corleone to tell Schirò to go to Palermo to work with Giovanni Falcone Paolo Borsellino and Rocco Chinnici.
While Toto plays with her son Giovanni, Ninette is pregnant again and is concerned for the ideas of her husband. Toto then decides to call a few of his soldiers and ordered the murder of Pio La Torre.
Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa was sent to Palermo. The first action of General Dalla Chiesa is to send his men to search the collector of Ignazio Salvo, powerful man colluded with the Mafia. Shortly after General Dalla Chiesa was killed by "soldiers" Riina and Nitto Santapaola. Also killed Rocco Chinnici.
Meanwhile Apuzzo travels to Brazil by Tommaso Buscetta. Toto as they are known and does kill him and all of Buscetta relatives. Tommasino was arrested for heroin trafficking. In the Brazilian prison he is tortured, but did not speak. He is transferred to Italy and started working with Giovanni Falcone, which explains the structure of Cosa Nostra. After questioning are arrested hundreds and hundreds of people, among them was Vito Ciancimino.
July 28, 1985 he was assassinated the commissioner Giuseppe Montana, who was investigating with Biagio on victims of the Second Mafia War. He is accused of murdering a young man. Brought to the police station, Giacalone (police constable) is carried away by the violence and killing the boy. The Ninni Cassara informs Falcone and opens an investigation by the judiciary on. Teresa and Antonio (wife and son of Schiro), who were in Rome, meanwhile, returned to Palermo.
On 6 August 1985 Ninni Cassara was killed by Joseph Greek "Scarpuzzedda", under the eyes of his wife and daughter. Meanwhile, in the home district dell'Asinara (in Sardinia), Falcone and Borsellino prepare the Maxi Trial that a few days later, he began his work. At the end of the process, Riina and Provenzano were sentenced in absentia while Michele Greek and Luciano Leggio and many others, present in the courtroom, are also sentenced to life imprisonment.
The episode ends with a shootout where we find on the one hand and on the other Schiro Vito Maranza and Leoluca Bagarella. The outcome of the shooting is a dead (Vito Maranza) seriously injured (Biagio Schiro).
=== Sixth episode(1988-1993) ===

Review: A must for all mafia-buffs!.
After I bought this series on DVD and watched the first episodes, I found myself glued to the television, and finished the 4DVD set in two days.
Riveting stuff!
The Series follows 4 young boys from the town of Corleone.
Two of these are celebrities like Toto Riina and Bernando Provenzano, eventual leaders of the Cosa Nostra, and the hero Biagio Schiro – who in the face of Mafiosi turns to the straight and narrow path (something of a rarity in the mafia stronghold of Corleone).
Biagio vs Riina drives the story throughout the better part of 50 years and it is a classic case of cat and mouse.
The Main characters and the people connected to them (wifes and children) are well developed.
I quite often found myself in the mindsets of both Schiro and Riina, and the actors portraying this pair did a great job.
The only character I felt lacked something was Provenzano.
He was a very important figure to the corleonesi-cosa nostra but is not as prominent as one would expect.
However, acting, directing and dialogue are top notch in general.
The hours just fly by!
I particularly enjoyed the scenes between Schiro and Boris/Falcone, where there is some much needed comic relief and nice one-liners.Don't get scared by the Italian, put the subtitles on and enjoy one of the best mafia tales of the 00's!.
il capo dei capi.
A great mafia film in six parts with excellent acting, I've watched it a few times, something I couldn't understand was the lack of detail in more than one occasion when killings took place in cars, during the killings it was clear to see the windows shatter in the cars but as the camera panned away there was no damage to be seen, this however didn't spoil the film, I speak Italian so it was bonus for me but I had to wait a bit to find an Italian that had also seen it to compare opinions, he thought it was great as well.
The story started with the death of Totó Riina's father and the responsibility of Totó becoming head of the family at a young age, Totó soon got the idea of wanting more out of life than working the land as a peasant, he teamed up with three other youths, one of them followed the path of the law and became the fictitious Biaggo Schiró that represented any tenacious and brave cop that was to fight against the mafia over decades, the character of Biaggio as a cop always wanted to investigate even when his superiors would rather leave things alone for the sake of an easy life an he would drop everything to continue his work at the expense of his family.
The character Luciano Ligio also played a great part in this film..
A story of the Mafioso based on real events....Superb !.
A TV series I liked after a long time.
Engrossing from the beginning.
They could have easily made it a much longer series as there are so many stories within the story it its the editing and streamline presentation which makes it that's much more intense.
Not being Italian had to use the subtitles which I think is more beneficial as you tend to have to concentrate and hence enjoy it more.
Also not being Italian I didn't realise notably that these were based on real events but got the clues when I started to see real clippings from TV news etc.
The acting from all the central characters is so laid back and real that you'd be forgiven if you thought they were the real characters.
The direction is good and does justice to such a difficult story and like I said earlier the editing was the key and a job well done.
Occasionally story flow seemed disjointed but I almost felt like it added to the whole charm.
A must watch series !.
A must watch series !.
Every detail is believable.
I am a Sicilian and I also happen to know quite well all the characters represented, apart from Schiro' which is the only fictional one.
I am amazed at the way Sicily and the Sicilians are portrayed: so accurate.
The dialogues, the accents, the tics, the looks in their eyes are incredibly real.
A lot of the actors are not Sicilians yet they manage to capture the essence of the culture of the island.
Never during the series does anyone speaks in a less than perfect Sicilian (with a Palermo accent even).
The Sicilian dialogues in the Godfather are ridiculous...
But apart from this, the series manages to show how it is possible that someone after all so ignorant like Riina becomes so powerful, because he's very smart and clever, and uses his own code of communication in which he's very articulate.
The mixture between reality and fiction never comes to the detriment of one or the other, it's a perfectly fine balance.
I appreciate that Sicily is not abused in the photography, the background is never too idyllic or too crude.
A real masterpiece!.
Amazing!.
Having been very fortunate to spend over five years living and working in Italy with my family I look out for 'Italian' series and found in Corleone an amazing storyline that took in events that I even remember!
The story line is full of twists and turns and by starting with four young lads and telling their life stories I was (and still am) glued to my television.
The two main characters of Toto Riina and his once best friend Schiro Biagio completely captivate you and the 'one step ahead of the other' storyline is spellbinding.
You are completely engrossed in the various plots and to even imagine the horror going on around the lives of the Sicilian/Italian people is for us Brits, unimaginable!
Loved it..
The Corleone series.
Truth & fiction Having read the John Dickie's Cosa Nostra I found the Corleone series a bit disappointing.The main reason is the introduction of the fictitious police officer Bragio Shiro.
Unfortunately a most common interspersing strategy in series based on a true story.
In this case the trick did not function very well in my opinion.
Too much of the story was focusing on the relationship between Schiro and Riino from an early stage, and then later Falcone and Schiro.
A series that started out most promising ended up in irritation on my account.
A rating of 4 points are all I'm willing to give.Terje Ådland Bergen Norway...
A brutal reminder of the last 3 decades in Sicily, Wonderfully put together..
A magnificent documentary, in 6 parts, that portrays the life of Toto Riina, a simple peasant that grew out to be the head of the Italian Mafia, a guy that has been hiding out for almost 3 decades to the authorities.
Arrested and condemned somewhere around '96, he denied the existence of any underground organization like the Mafia and pleaded as being "a simple peasant".
125 million $ were to be taken out from him later on.The movie has 6 parts, each consisting of 1:30 hours.
It was broad casted on the Italian national TV and it was watched by Toto himself from behind the bars.I can't find a flaw in this movie to be honest, and i've really tried.
The action is as expected constructed around the main character Toto, a brutal individual aiming to overcome his "poor" condition.
He followed the simple codes of the brutal, ancient world of the Sicilian countryside, where force is the only law and there is no contradiction between personal kindness and extreme ferocity.
"His philosophy was that if someone's finger hurt, it was better to cut off his whole arm just to make sure," As he mentions every now and then "the hunger" is what motivates him and .
The acting is flawless.
The dialogs are well though.
The situations are real.The movie is a brutal reality of the last 3 decades in Sicily.I gave it 10/10 and i consider this to be a masterpiece of Italian cinematography.
Basically it just keeps you in front of the TV for the whole 9 hours.Definitely a must see!!!
Enjoy..
If you're a hardcore mafia-fan, watch this!.
When I first got this 4 disc DVD-set as a gift from a sister I thought it wouldn't be as good as it was, but it turned out to be brilliant!
The acting is truly outstanding, and there's enough action for those who require that.
Almost everything in this series happened with few exceptions.
It's important for the viewer to know that Biagio Schiro is a character made up in order to develop the plot through the timelines.
The character probably represents all of the brave men fighting against the mafia.I can't state enough that this TV-series is not the usual romantic view on the mafia you see in The Godfather etc etc.
I give this a 10 out of 10 because of actor performances, setting, plot, dialog, and the fact that someone actually had stones to make this TV-series in a more realistic way.That been said you should buy this, it's definitely money well spent!.
Brilliant.
One of my favourite series hands down.
From the beautiful Italian countryside to the wonderful acting by each cast member it will forever stay in my mind.
Toto Riina was a man on a mission to say the least, he rises up the pecking order until he controls it all; along the way you feel both sympathetic and intrigued by such a remarkable demeanour.
The role is played by two actors, one youthful riina and an older riina, both played the role extremely well.Masterpiece to say the least.
Full marks 10/10.
Absolutely Superb.
I just finished watching the entire series, and I can only heap more praise on the producers and directors of this.The lead villain is played brilliantly.
So menacing, and the thing that got me was that normally you start rooting for the villain.
You think, yes they did what they did because they were so poor......however, your sympathy for the villains goes about half way through when they start crossing a line.
The brutality gets worse.
The assassinations increase.Even if you don't like mafia type films, just watch this for the sheer spectacle, and storyline.
Real people and real emotions and how events effect them.
You really couldn't make up a story like this, and what hits home is that these were real people.