“Luck... the family has never had much, so we're not going to let it pass us by when we come across it.”
These are the words that Salvatore Riina's father expressed when in 1943 he discovered a shell forgotten by the war in the fields.
A gold mine for this family of Sicilian farmers from Corleone, who see in this disastrous vestige the opportunity to recover powder, copper, iron to resell them.
Destiny decided otherwise.
The shell explodes, destroying the father, the elder brother, injuring another and leaving his wife pregnant.
On September 11, 1943, Toto Riina became the sole breadwinner of the family at the age of 13 and marked the birth of the godfather of the godfathers of Cosa Nostra.
Refusing the misery to which he is condemned by becoming an “asshole” in the pay of the powerful, the young boy will embark on the path of organized crime.
Until becoming its supreme leader.
The Fauve de Corleone
brilliantly illustrates this journey.
Toto Riina entered the legend of organized crime with a sad record: 28 life sentences, 150 murders to his credit (for the tip of the iceberg), assassination of judges, police officers, political leaders, sponsor of numerous car bomb attacks including those carried out against judges Falcone and Borsellino, 24 years on the run.
Nicknamed La Belva (the wild beast), described by his own henchmen as a man of implacable coldness and cruelty, the godfather of godfathers, nicknamed the wild beast, rose through the ranks of Cosa Nostra by spreading unquenchable violence.
Murder of a police officer and a journalist perpetrated by the Corleonesi, in the center of Palermo.
Éditions Delcourt, 2024 - JD Morvan, Facundo Percio, Facundo Teyo and Vladimiro Merino
How was this poor Sicilian peasant, raised in a family steeped in faith and morals, able to climb the ladder to the top of Cosa Nostra?
With accuracy, dynamism and creativity, Jean-David Morvan was able to unravel the complex workings of this ascent.
The screenwriter recounts the post-war poverty, the bravado of the young boy who does not hesitate to defy the henchmen of the local godfather, his initiation rite, his first murder at 19 followed by incarceration, the escalation into violence, torture, murder, betrayal, bloodshed and clandestinity.
He paints the portrait of a dark man devoid of pity, obsessed by his thirst for power, his ease in killing and getting rid of bothers up to the highest levels of the State.
The young Toto Riina witnesses the brutal death of his father.
Éditions Delcourt, 2024 - JD Morvan, Facundo Percio, Facundo Teyo and Vladimiro Merino
In
The Beast of Corleone
, the reader does not witness a simple summary of events.
In an original production, Morvan imagines the mafioso at the dawn of his death in 2017, in his prison in Parma, in full examination of conscience.
He confronts him with an imaginary double, the honest man he could have been if his father had not died prematurely.
Faced with this double who does not let himself be fooled, the old man tries to justify his actions, violence as a necessary evil to exist in the criminal organization.
Implicitly, the album shows a certain social reality: for many young people, the mafia represents the only way to rise in society and be respected.
In the extraordinary Arte documentary,
Corleone, the godfather of godfathers
, an incarcerated henchman testifies:
“Before Cosa Nostra, I was nobody,”
he declares in front of the cameras.
The godfather's first murder, aged 19.
Éditions Delcourt, 2024 - JD Morvan, Facundo Percio, Facundo Teyo and Vladimiro Merino
But Toto Riina was not content to remain a simple local mafioso, he wanted to reach the highest levels of the organization.
The album addresses the rivalry with Palermo, the secret negotiations, the clan wars up to the maxi-trial which resulted in 360 convictions, in 1987, following the revelations of the repentant Tommaso Buscetta whose family was decimated by Toto Riina.
Relayed by the sublime charcoal graphics of Argentinian Facundo Pierco, the story of Toto Riina's life gains in intensity, highlighting the darkness of this predatory soul, of a wild beast driven by sinister instincts.
The Fauve of Corleone,
JD Morvan, Facundo Pierco, Facundo Teyo and Vladimiro Merino, Delcourt editions, 19.99 euros.