Pietro Tagliavia is a member of the Sicilian

Sicily

Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...

 Mafia

Mafia

The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...

. Despite his young age, he is considered to be one of the upcoming leading Mafiosi of Cosa Nostra in Palermo

Palermo

Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...

.

Mafia heritage

Pietro Tagliavia is a scion from a historical Mafia family in Palermo. His father Francesco Tagliavia (Palermo, 1954) – also known as "Ciccio Taglia" – and his grandfather and namesake Pietro Tagliavia were leading Mafiosi in the Corso dei Mille neighbourhood. The Tagliavia family owns two fish shops in the Corso dei Mille and the Piazza Sant'Erasmo in Palermo. They were involved in cigarette smuggling and drug trafficking.

His father was one of the members of a hit squad with Giuseppe Lucchese

Giuseppe Lucchese

Giuseppe Lucchese is a member of the Sicilian Mafia from the Brancaccio neighbourhood in Palermo. He was one of the favourite hitmen of the Corleonesi, headed by Totò Riina, during the Second Mafia War in 1981-83....

, Giovanni Drago, Filippo La Rosa, Giuseppe Graviano

Giuseppe Graviano

Giuseppe Graviano is an Italian mafioso from the Brancaccio quarter in Palermo. He is currently serving several life sentences....

 and Agostino Marino Mannoia that committed several murders, among others on relatives of Salvatore Contorno

Salvatore Contorno

Salvatore "Totuccio" Contorno is a former member of the Sicilian Mafia who turned into a state witness against Cosa Nostra in October 1984, following the example of Tommaso Buscetta. He gave detailed accounts of the inner-workings of the Sicilian Mafia...

, a mafioso turned pentito

Pentito

Pentito designates people in Italy who, formerly part of criminal or terrorist organizations, following their arrests decide to "repent" and collaborate with the judicial system to help investigations...

 (state witness). As an expert in explosives, Francesco Tagliavia was also involved in the bomb attack that killed Antimafia judge Paolo Borsellino

Paolo Borsellino

Paolo Borsellino was an Italian anti-Mafia magistrate who was killed by a Mafia car bomb in Palermo, less than two months after his fellow anti-Mafia magistrate Giovanni Falcone had been assassinated....

 on July 19, 1992. He was arrested on May 23, 1993. He received several life sentences and was submitted to the harsh Article 41-bis prison regime

Article 41-bis prison regime

In Italian law, Article 41-bis of the Prison Administration Act is a provision that allows the Minister of Justice or the Minister of the Interior to suspend certain prison regulations...

.

Mother aiding and abetting Cosa Nostra

His mother, Giuseppa Sansone, was the first woman to be charged with aiding and abetting Cosa Nostra in July 1997. After the arrest of her husband, she continued the family business with her son, collecting the pizzo

Pizzo

Pizzo may refer to:* Pizzo, Calabria, a seaport in Calabria, Italy * Pizzo , imposed by a protection racket, a fee periodically collected by the Mafia from businesses...

 (extortion money) and instructing drug runners. She acted as an intermediary between her husband in jail and the Graviano brothers

Giuseppe Graviano

Giuseppe Graviano is an Italian mafioso from the Brancaccio quarter in Palermo. He is currently serving several life sentences....

, the Mafia bosses of Brancaccio

Brancaccio

Brancaccio is a neighbourhood of Palermo, Sicily. It is a semi-traditional area of the working class. It was important in the history of the Cosa Nostra....

, the mandamento

Mandamento

Historically a mandamento was the part of Italian territory under the jurisdiction of a "pretore" which is a kind of magistrate. These divisions were abolished in 1923....

 of the Corso dei Mille Mafia family.

While she visited her husband in prison four times a month, he passed messages in the so-called "baccagghiu", the typical slang of the mafia. They were caught on tape and hidden cameras. Pietro and his grandfather were arrested on July 1, 1997, while his mother was arrested on July 19, 1997. On June 7, 2000, Giuseppa Sansone was sentenced to seven years in prison and her son Pietro and his grandfather were sentenced as well. She was later absolved.

Arrest

Pietro Tagliavia was arrested again on February 22, 2005, in Rome together with the reigning Mafia boss of Brancaccio, Benedetto Graviano, Cesare Lupo, and Tagliavia’s uncle Ludovico Sansone. Police described Tagliavia as one of the colonels of Graviano in charge with running protection rackets, drug dealing and public contracts in Palermo, while Graviano stayed in Rome to avoid police surveillance. Tagliavia was convicted for extortion and the sentence was confirmed in appeal to 8 years imprisonment on January 23, 2008.

After the arrest of an older generation bosses of Cosa Nostra – such as Bernardo Provenzano

Bernardo Provenzano

Bernardo Provenzano is a member of the Sicilian Mafia and is suspected of having been the head of the Corleonesi, a Mafia faction that originated in the village of Corleone, and de facto capo di tutti capi of the entire Sicilian Mafia until his arrest in 2006.His nickname is Binnu u tratturi...

, Antonio Rotolo

Antonio Rotolo

Antonio "Nino" Rotolo is an Italian Mafia boss from the Pagliarelli area in Palermo that traditionally was under the control of the Motisi Mafia family. Rotolo was the underboss of Matteo Motisi, but according to some pentiti he was the de facto leader representing the mandamento on the Sicilian...

 and Salvatore Lo Piccolo

Salvatore Lo Piccolo

Salvatore Lo Piccolo , also known as the Baron , 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 capo-mandamento of the San Lorenzo district in the early 1990s, replacing...

 – in 2006 and 2007, Pietro Tagliavia, Gianni Nicchi

Gianni Nicchi

Giovanni "Gianni" Nicchi is a member of the Sicilian Mafia. Despite his young age – his nickname is U picciutteddu – he is considered to be one of the leading mafiosi of Cosa Nostra in Palermo...

 and Salvo Riina – the second-born son of boss of bosses Totò Riina – were considered to be the upcoming young Mafia bosses. Their fate depends on the decisions of the older bosses, most of whom are in jail. According to Antonio Ingroia, one of the prosecutors of the Direzione Distrittuale Antimafia (DDA) of Palermo, the main leading figures in Cosa Nostra at the moment, Matteo Messina Denaro

Matteo Messina Denaro

Matteo Messina Denaro , also known as Diabolik, is a Sicilian mafioso. He got his nickname from the Italian comic book character of the same name. He is considered to be one of the new leaders of Cosa Nostra after the arrest of Bernardo Provenzano on April 11, 2006...

, Giovanni Riina, Domenico Raccuglia

Domenico Raccuglia

Domenico Raccuglia , also known as Mimmo, is a member of the Mafia in Sicily. His nickname is " 'U vitirinariu"...

, Tagliavia and Nicchi, are still to young to be recognized as leading bosses of the organisation.