Corleone apologizes for decades of Mafia murders

ROME--Corleone, the Sicilian hill town synonymous with Mafia, seeks forgiveness for the murders, shootings and intimidation committed by its godfathers. Leoluchina Savona, mayor of the town, apologized to victims of the Mafia's vendettas, bombings and killings on behalf of the inhabitants of the town, immortalized by The Godfather book and subsequent films starring Marlon Brando and Al Pacino.

The appeal was made on the 20th anniversary of the arrest of a Corleone-born mafia leader, Toto Riina, nicknamed "The Beast" for his ruthlessness and brutality. The mayor stated during a related ceremony:

"I apologize in the name of all the people of Corleone. I ask forgiveness for the blood that was spilled. To the Mafia, I ask you to leave this land, to abandon the struggle. I ask them to admit defeat, to surrender."

To remind that politicians, police, and ordinary people killed by the Mafia, including prominent prosecutors Paolo Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone, did not die in vain, she said: "In the 20 years since the arrest of Toto Riina, their blood reminds us all that there can only be one path to choose in this war (that of legality)."

Once the capo di tutti capi (boss of bosses) of the powerful Corleonesi faction of the Mafia, Riina is serving multiple life-sentences for several murders, including assassination of rival gangsters. He was succeeded by Bernardo "The Bulldozer" Provenzano, who in turn was arrested in 2006 after more than 40 years as a fugitive.

References to The Godfather in Corleone are everywhere – a bar on the main street offers a bitter aperitif called "Don Corleone Amaro", while just across the road, the walls of a pastry shop are covered in black and white pictures of Brando and Pacino in scenes from the films.

SOURCE: "Corleone apologises for decades of Mafia murders" by Nick Squires in Rome; January 16, 2013.