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Authors: Clare Longrigg
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Mafia: her two brothers, Calogero and Leoluca, were Provenzano and Riina’s running mates. (Calogero was killed at the viale Lazio massacre in 1969.) At twenty-one, when her
fidanzato
was already on the run from the police, Ninetta earned the dubious honour of being the first woman to be arraigned for aiding and abetting the Mafia, by taking messages between her fiancé and his associates. Young as she was, she had shown an acute understanding of how Cosa Nostra operates within Sicilian society. The attractive young woman wore a light floral dress, and her dark hair long, to make a dramatic appearance in a Palermo court.
‘You say I am guilty, but I am only guilty of falling in love’, she cried. ‘You cannot judge me for loving a man, it’s my natural right. You ask how I could have chosen a man like Riina, about whom people say such terrible things. Is it against the law to love a man like Salvatore Riina? I love him and I know he is innocent.’
She was, inevitably, released without charge and three years later married her man in a church wedding. (The priest who conducted the service was later questioned by police, who accepted his defence that he could not condone two souls living in sin.)
Both Ninetta and Saveria, once they had committed themselves to these two outlaws, glamorous as they may have been, were destined to live their married lives as fugitives. Saveria and Binnu’s passion grew as they stood together against the ‘unjust persecution’ of the state, and the drama of their lives unfolded within its constrictions. There was money – though not always – and there were gifts. (Ninetta acquired enough fur coats to need a whole refrigerated room to store them, and serious jewels. Saveria was not interested in a fancy wardrobe or furs, but she and Binnu were undoubtedly comfortable.) Ninetta couldn’ttake the children and run home to mamma if her husband strayed, but then the Mafia has its particular code of honour in these matters: ‘You can do what you want,’ Riina reportedly said to a young mafioso who had been caught with his mistress, ‘but you must never disrespect your wife publicly.’ Binnu just wasn’t the type to indulge. While his Mafia friends enjoyed celebratory feasts and wild parties, he preferred to be alone, at home.
By going on the run, Provenzano had (albeit temporarily) cut off his route back to Corleone and his family, and he needed an alternative support structure. Saveria, with her family in Cinisi and her unquestioning acceptance of his chosen career, provided him with the security he needed. He recruited her relations to be his business associates and representatives. Her brother Paolo was a front man for many of Binnu’s enterprises, including the lease of a substantial tract of land. A police report described him as ‘particularly closed. A man of few words, extremely withdrawn and retiring, who never talked on the phone, and never met anyone.’ An extremely difficult subject for surveillance, in other words, and a most welcome addition to Bernardo Provenzano’s family circle.
Provenzano continued to register shares in his wife’s name. The young mafioso Giovanni Brusca later recalled that he and his associates had been told to favour a construction company with which Provenzano’s wife was associated. ‘We wondered, is he crazy, to put his wife in as a partner? We knew that sooner or later he was bound to have problems if his wife was mixed up in it.’
Saveria and Bernardo made their base in Bagheria, aided by his contacts in law enforcement and local government and by a culture that protected the Mafia. During this period they lived a quiet life, with no fear of arrest. When their son was seven, Saveria became pregnant again, and they had another baby, another boy, whom they named Francesco Paolo. In a culture where the customary greeting for newly-weds is
auguri e figli maschi
(‘congratulations, may you have sons’) Provenzano was doubly blessed.
‘I
fidanzato
was already on the run from the police, Ninetta earned the dubious honour of being the first woman to be arraigned for aiding and abetting the Mafia, by taking messages between her fiancé and his associates. Young as she was, she had shown an acute understanding of how Cosa Nostra operates within Sicilian society. The attractive young woman wore a light floral dress, and her dark hair long, to make a dramatic appearance in a Palermo court.
‘You say I am guilty, but I am only guilty of falling in love’, she cried. ‘You cannot judge me for loving a man, it’s my natural right. You ask how I could have chosen a man like Riina, about whom people say such terrible things. Is it against the law to love a man like Salvatore Riina? I love him and I know he is innocent.’
She was, inevitably, released without charge and three years later married her man in a church wedding. (The priest who conducted the service was later questioned by police, who accepted his defence that he could not condone two souls living in sin.)
Both Ninetta and Saveria, once they had committed themselves to these two outlaws, glamorous as they may have been, were destined to live their married lives as fugitives. Saveria and Binnu’s passion grew as they stood together against the ‘unjust persecution’ of the state, and the drama of their lives unfolded within its constrictions. There was money – though not always – and there were gifts. (Ninetta acquired enough fur coats to need a whole refrigerated room to store them, and serious jewels. Saveria was not interested in a fancy wardrobe or furs, but she and Binnu were undoubtedly comfortable.) Ninetta couldn’ttake the children and run home to mamma if her husband strayed, but then the Mafia has its particular code of honour in these matters: ‘You can do what you want,’ Riina reportedly said to a young mafioso who had been caught with his mistress, ‘but you must never disrespect your wife publicly.’ Binnu just wasn’t the type to indulge. While his Mafia friends enjoyed celebratory feasts and wild parties, he preferred to be alone, at home.
By going on the run, Provenzano had (albeit temporarily) cut off his route back to Corleone and his family, and he needed an alternative support structure. Saveria, with her family in Cinisi and her unquestioning acceptance of his chosen career, provided him with the security he needed. He recruited her relations to be his business associates and representatives. Her brother Paolo was a front man for many of Binnu’s enterprises, including the lease of a substantial tract of land. A police report described him as ‘particularly closed. A man of few words, extremely withdrawn and retiring, who never talked on the phone, and never met anyone.’ An extremely difficult subject for surveillance, in other words, and a most welcome addition to Bernardo Provenzano’s family circle.
Provenzano continued to register shares in his wife’s name. The young mafioso Giovanni Brusca later recalled that he and his associates had been told to favour a construction company with which Provenzano’s wife was associated. ‘We wondered, is he crazy, to put his wife in as a partner? We knew that sooner or later he was bound to have problems if his wife was mixed up in it.’
Saveria and Bernardo made their base in Bagheria, aided by his contacts in law enforcement and local government and by a culture that protected the Mafia. During this period they lived a quiet life, with no fear of arrest. When their son was seven, Saveria became pregnant again, and they had another baby, another boy, whom they named Francesco Paolo. In a culture where the customary greeting for newly-weds is
auguri e figli maschi
(‘congratulations, may you have sons’) Provenzano was doubly blessed.
‘I
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