Salvatore Lo Piccolo

Salvatore Lo Piccolo (born 20 July 1942), also known as "the Baron" (il Barone), is a Sicilian mafioso and one of the most powerful bosses of Palermo, Sicily.

Lo Piccolo rose through the ranks of the Palermo mafia throughout the 1980s and he became the capomandamento of the San Lorenzo district in 1993, replacing Salvatore Biondino, who was sent to prison.

Having survived the Second Mafia War, Lo Piccolo gradually extended his influence in the area in and around Palermo in the 1980s and 1990s.

His influence in Palermo extended to Capaci, Isola delle Femmine, Carini, Villagrazia di Carini, Sferracavallo and Partanna-Mondello.

According to Italian DIA (Direzione Investigativa Antimafia), Salvatore Lo Piccolo and his son, Sandro Lo Piccolo, were in charge of most of the urban territory of Palermo.

Their area of influence encompassed the "mandamenti" of San Lorenzo, Passo di Rigano and Gangi, including the coastal area up to Cefalù, and part of the territory of Messina, including the towns of Mistretta and Tortorici.

Lo Piccolo allegedly made his fortune with drug trafficking and skimming off public contracts.

He forced the residents of the low-income housing projects in the ZEN area of Palermo to pay him to keep the building corridors lit. He allegedly has strong links with the American Mafia.

The Inzerillo family had been one of the clans whose leaders – among them Salvatore Inzerillo – were killed by the Corleonesi during the second Mafia War in the 1980s and which had been in exile in the United States.

Lo Piccolo was a fugitive since 1983 and had been running his Mafia affairs in hiding.

According to ANSA, "police were concerned by a couple of top-level hits they feared might spark a full-blown war of succession. Police said Lo Piccolo had the upper hand because he had been Provenzano's right-hand man in Palermo and his greater experience won him the respect of the older generation of bosses as they pursued Provenzano's policy of keeping as low as possible while strengthening their power network. These bosses had been reined in by Provenzano when he put an end to the Riina-driven war against the state that claimed the lives of Mafia crusaders Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino in 1992."

The ensuing power struggle, following Provenzano's arrest, led not only to increased violence in Sicily but also to likely renewed cooperation between the Sicilian mafia and the US-based Gambino crime family.

Their growing relationship may open new possibilities for the Sicilian Mafia to launder money through US institutions.

In March 2005, the Lo Piccolo clan was subject of a police operation known as the "Notte di San Lorenzo".

Eighty-four arrest warrants were issued.

Nonetheless, Salvatore and his son Sandro Lo Piccolo remained at large.

With the capture of Bernardo Provenzano on 11 April 2006, Lo Piccolo had been cementing his power and rise to the top of the Palermo Mafia until his own arrest on 5 November 2007.

It is believed that his family spread across Europe due to rising tensions, settling in England, Portugal, and southern Spain.

Lo Piccolo is also known as ; il vecchio). In clandestine correspondence with former mafia boss Bernardo Provenzano, Lo Piccolo used to identify himself by the number 30. Lo Piccolo's fortune came from the international cocaine trafficking, the extortion of businesses, and the theft of money allocated for public works projects. He invested much of his earnings in real estate. Lo Piccolo long supported Provenzano's policy of not directing violence toward the state and preferred arbitration as means to settle conflict between rival mafia factions.

Lo Piccolo was born in the neighbourhood Partanna Mondello in Palermo.

He was the driver of the local Mafia boss Rosario Riccobono, who was killed in the Second Mafia War.

Lo Piccolo changed sides and became an ally of the Corleonesi.

Bosses like Pippo Calò and Nino Rotolo pleaded to save the life of Lo Piccolo.

Nearly 25 years later Rotolo would regret his appeal when a conflict arose between the two.

Rotolo was overheard on bugs installed by the police saying: "One who should have died. He was the 'godson' of Saro Riccobono and should have gone."

After the arrest of Bernardo Provenzano on 11 April 2006, Salvatore Lo Piccolo and Matteo Messina Denaro were thought to be the new leaders of Cosa Nostra.

However, the pizzini (small slips of paper used to communicate with other mafiosi to avoid phone conversations) found at Provenzano's hide-out indicated that Provenzano's joint deputies in Palermo were Salvatore Lo Piccolo and Antonio Rotolo, capo mandamento of Pagliarelli, a Corleonesi loyalist in the days of Totò Riina.

In a message referring to an important decision for Cosa Nostra, Provenzano told Rotolo: "It's up to you, me and Lo Piccolo to decide this thing."

Anti-Mafia prosecutor Antonio Ingroia of the Direzione distrettuale antimafia (DDA) of Palermo said that it was unlikely that there would be an all-out war over who would fill Provenzano's shoes.

"Right now I don't think that's probable," he said.

Of the two possible successors, Ingroia thought Lo Piccolo was the more likely heir to the Mafia throne.

"He's from Palermo, and that's still the most powerful Mafia stronghold," Ingroia said.

A 'pax mafiosa' initially had settled in after Provenzano's arrest because neither Lo Piccolo nor Matteo Messina Denaro appeared to have sufficient forces to seek control of Cosa Nostra, according to the Italian news agency ANSA.

Subsequent investigation revealed that Lo Piccolo and Messina Denaro had reached an accommodation and that the real threat to Lo Piccolo came from Rotolo who was arrested in June 2006.

On 20 June 2006, two months after Provenzano's arrest, authorities issued 52 arrest warrants against the top echelon of Cosa Nostra in the city of Palermo (Operation Gotha).

Among the arrestees were Antonio Rotolo and his right-hand men Antonino Cinà (who had been the personal physician of Salvatore Riina and Provenzano) and the builder Francesco Bonura, as well as Gerlando Alberti, the ageing pioneer of heroin refineries.

The investigations showed that Rotolo had built a kind of federation within the Mafia, comprising 13 families grouped in four clans.

The city of Palermo was ruled by this triumvirate replacing the Palermo's Mafia Commission whose members are all in jail.

The investigation also indicated that the position of Salvatore Lo Piccolo was not undisputed.

A clash between Lo Piccolo and Rotolo had been developing over a request from the Inzerillo family to be allowed to return to Palermo.