Read Online Boss of Bosses by Clare Longrigg - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Clare Longrigg
Ads: Link
interview with Sicilian journalist Salvo Palazzolo. ‘A girl from such a good family . . . how did she end up involved with that sort, everyone wondered. How was it possible? Her mother always came to Mass.’
The local police were embarrassed. When they questioned Saveria about her boyfriend’s whereabouts, she claimed not to know. Then she appeared in town, visibly pregnant and proud. ‘When the police saw I was expecting, they sent for me’, she reportedly told the local priest. ‘They asked me, “How can you tell us you don’t know where Provenzano is hiding, given your condition?” And I said, “Wait a minute, can’t a woman have a baby with anyone other than her husband?”’
Not when her husband is a mafioso, as she knew, and the police knew perfectly well. Cosa Nostra takes a strong line on women’s moral conduct. Saveria was apparently enjoying the mystique of her relationship with an outlaw, and unafraid of moral condemnation. She no longer belonged in this small town, and it seemed she didn’t care what anyone thought.
When the rumour reached Badalamenti that Saveria was expecting a baby, he was furious. A young mafioso in his charge, seducing a local girl! It was very bad for Cosa Nostra’s image. As the local boss, he was the people’s moral guardian, and men were to treat women with respect at all times and protect the ideal of the family. (If a wife discovered her husband was having an affair, she’d take the children and go back to her mother’s. The boss would take it upon himself to pay her a visit and persuade her to come back.) Badalamenti couldn’t allow any sort of public immoral behaviour: ‘He told Bernardo Provenzano he had to formalize his relationship with her’, recalls Giovanni Impastato. ‘Even if they couldn’t get married in church, he wanted the situation sorted out.’
Provenzano did as Badalamenti instructed and started looking for a suitable plot of land to build his new family a home. On the outskirts of Cinisi in the stony, sloping countryside Provenzano chose a plot of land to build a home for himself and his beloved. According to investigations by the carabinieri, the deeds were signed and registered by Saveria’s brother Salvatore, and Bernardo had plans drawn up showing a spacious villa for a young family to grow into.
However, once work was under way, the builders received an unexpected visit from the carabinieri, wanting to know who owned the place. Before any further investigations could ensue, the plot was sold, with its unfinished structure, stalled and rusting, still in place. Bernardo and Saveria, who now had a healthy baby boy, named Angelo after Bernardo’s father, would have to find somewhere else to build their first home.
This was Saveria’s first taste of the rootlessness of her life ahead: she could no longer run back to her parents in Cinisi, but she and her new family had no place to call home. She could, however, draw on the intelligence and resourcefulness that Binnu had so admired in her; she had some understanding of the Mafia’s rules and its
raison d’être
. Over the years she spent with Binnu, Saveria, coming from a legitimate family, would need all her personal resources to withstand the pressures of life in the Mafia. She had to renounce any personal ambition and throw in her lot with a man who lived in constant danger. She was fortunate in that Binnu’s nature made him more disposed tospending time with her and their son than with his Mafia associates, but he was often forced to move around, for security reasons or for meetings, and she would never know where he was going or for how long. She had to accept anything from him, on faith.
‘A woman who comes from a Mafia background doesn’t ask for explanations for the things she sees’, said the
pentito
Leonardo Messina. ‘The true wealth of a man of honour is a wife who understands his role.’
Ninetta Bagarella, who married Totò Riina, grew up immersed in the Corleone
The local police were embarrassed. When they questioned Saveria about her boyfriend’s whereabouts, she claimed not to know. Then she appeared in town, visibly pregnant and proud. ‘When the police saw I was expecting, they sent for me’, she reportedly told the local priest. ‘They asked me, “How can you tell us you don’t know where Provenzano is hiding, given your condition?” And I said, “Wait a minute, can’t a woman have a baby with anyone other than her husband?”’
Not when her husband is a mafioso, as she knew, and the police knew perfectly well. Cosa Nostra takes a strong line on women’s moral conduct. Saveria was apparently enjoying the mystique of her relationship with an outlaw, and unafraid of moral condemnation. She no longer belonged in this small town, and it seemed she didn’t care what anyone thought.
When the rumour reached Badalamenti that Saveria was expecting a baby, he was furious. A young mafioso in his charge, seducing a local girl! It was very bad for Cosa Nostra’s image. As the local boss, he was the people’s moral guardian, and men were to treat women with respect at all times and protect the ideal of the family. (If a wife discovered her husband was having an affair, she’d take the children and go back to her mother’s. The boss would take it upon himself to pay her a visit and persuade her to come back.) Badalamenti couldn’t allow any sort of public immoral behaviour: ‘He told Bernardo Provenzano he had to formalize his relationship with her’, recalls Giovanni Impastato. ‘Even if they couldn’t get married in church, he wanted the situation sorted out.’
Provenzano did as Badalamenti instructed and started looking for a suitable plot of land to build his new family a home. On the outskirts of Cinisi in the stony, sloping countryside Provenzano chose a plot of land to build a home for himself and his beloved. According to investigations by the carabinieri, the deeds were signed and registered by Saveria’s brother Salvatore, and Bernardo had plans drawn up showing a spacious villa for a young family to grow into.
However, once work was under way, the builders received an unexpected visit from the carabinieri, wanting to know who owned the place. Before any further investigations could ensue, the plot was sold, with its unfinished structure, stalled and rusting, still in place. Bernardo and Saveria, who now had a healthy baby boy, named Angelo after Bernardo’s father, would have to find somewhere else to build their first home.
This was Saveria’s first taste of the rootlessness of her life ahead: she could no longer run back to her parents in Cinisi, but she and her new family had no place to call home. She could, however, draw on the intelligence and resourcefulness that Binnu had so admired in her; she had some understanding of the Mafia’s rules and its
raison d’être
. Over the years she spent with Binnu, Saveria, coming from a legitimate family, would need all her personal resources to withstand the pressures of life in the Mafia. She had to renounce any personal ambition and throw in her lot with a man who lived in constant danger. She was fortunate in that Binnu’s nature made him more disposed tospending time with her and their son than with his Mafia associates, but he was often forced to move around, for security reasons or for meetings, and she would never know where he was going or for how long. She had to accept anything from him, on faith.
‘A woman who comes from a Mafia background doesn’t ask for explanations for the things she sees’, said the
pentito
Leonardo Messina. ‘The true wealth of a man of honour is a wife who understands his role.’
Ninetta Bagarella, who married Totò Riina, grew up immersed in the Corleone
Similar Books
