Stefano Bontade - Second Mafia War

Second Mafia War

The Second Mafia War raged from 1981 to 1983. In fact, two wars were being waged simultaneously by the Corleonesi clan. Riina had secretly formed an alliance of mafiosi in different families, cutting across clan divisions, in defiance of the rules concerning loyalty in Cosa Nostra. This secretive inter-family group would become known as the Corleonesi. The Corleonesi slaughtered the ruling families of the Palermo Mafia to take control of the organisation while waging a parallel war against Italian authorities and law enforcement to intimidate and prevent effective investigations and prosecutions.

The Corleonesi initiated the war against the coalition led by Bontade and Badalamenti to try to control heroin trafficking. Despite the larger economic means and the wider international network, the Bontade-Spatola-Inzerillo-Badalamenti network was unable to withstand the ruthless violence of the Corleonesi. The most important members of the Inzerillo, Spatola and Gambino clans were arrested in March 1980 for heroin trafficking, which undermined Bontade’s position significantly.

On April 23, 1981, whilst driving home from his 42nd birthday party, Bontade was machine gunned to death in his car, a Giulietta 2000, in Palermo. The slaying was carried out by Riina's favourite hitman Pino Greco also known as the "little old shoe" (scarpuzzedda) – a nephew of Michele Greco. Bontade’s close ally, Salvatore Inzerillo, was killed three weeks later with the same Kalashnikov.

Many of Bontade's friends, fellow mafiosi and relatives were cut down in the following months to prevent them from avenging the death of their boss. One of Bontade's close friends was Tommaso Buscetta, who subsequently became a pentito (collaborating witness) after he was arrested in Brazil in 1983. Salvatore Contorno, one of Bontade’s trusted aides, followed Buscetta’s example. They were the key witnesses that enabled prosecuting magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino and the Antimafia pool to successfully prosecute the Mafia in the Maxi Trial in the mid-1980s.