Eric Reguly
Globe and Mail Blog Post Last updated on Friday, Apr. 03, 2009 02:46PM EDT
Mediaset, the Italian broadcaster owned by former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, never had much success with The Sopranos, the HBO series that was a smash hit in the United States, Canada and about a million other Mafia-TV-craving markets. It’s hard to say why the Italians gave it a miss. Airing it late at night probably didn’t help. A Roman friend of mine had a better theory. She said Italian audiences were put off by the fact that Tony Soprano and his gang were just your garden-variety New Jersey thugs. If they’re going to watch a TV series about Mafiosi, the Mafiosi had better be famous.
Enter Il Capo dei Capi — The Boss of Bosses — a six-part series which debuted on Mediaset’s flagship Channel 5 last month. It has been a huge success, grabbing about 28 per cent of the audience viewing share. What does it have that the The Sopranos doesn’t have? The answer: The most nastiest, most brutal — and famous — Mafioso in postwar history.
Il Capo dei Capi is about the rise and fall of Salvatore (Toto) Riina, who was arrested in 1993 after some 30 years on the lam and who will likely die in his high-security prison cell near Milan. Among other horrors, he ordered the assassinations of two high-profile judges, Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino. In the late 1980s, 2,000 bodies piled up in the great Sicilian Mafia war between the Palermo families and Riina’s rival Corleone clan. Most of the victims were from the Palermo families.
The TV series is slickly produced and traces Riina’s rise from Sicilian shepherd to ultimate boss. But it is more than just blood-splattered entertainment. The audiences appreciate its sophisticated story telling, which suggests Riina’s success was due as much to political and economic collusion as sheer bad temper.
The International Herald Tribune and various websites have reported that Riina himself watches and enjoys the TV series. Riina’s sons, who are in prison too, are also said to be fans.
Riina’s successor, Bernardo Provenzano, who was arrested last year after 40 years on the run, will no doubt be flattered to know that a TV series on his life is in the works. It will be called L’Ultimo Padrino — The Last Boss — and airs on Mediaset early next year.
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