Riina buried at Corleone. Relatives protected by police cordon
The body of former Mafia boss of bosses Totò Riina was buried on Wednesday in the cemetery of the Sicilian town of Corleone, near Palermo.
Riina's relatives, protected by a police cordon, left the cemetery ignoring reporters' questions. The body arrived in Sicily via a ferry from Napoli early on Wednesday.
The hearse entered the cemetery via a side entrance to avoid the attention of journalists and photographers.
The mobster died on Friday, a day after he turned 87, in section for inmates of Parma hospital. The Italian church had ruled out a public funeral for Riina, pointing out that the pope has excommunicated mafiosi.
It was late pope John Paul II who first issued the anathema against unrepentant mafiosi receiving the sacraments 24 years ago.
A private prayer session was held in the cemetery, where some of Riina's Corleonesi allies like Bernardo Provenzano, as well as several of his victims, are buried. Riin'as son-in-law Tony Ciavarello thanked police for keeping the media scrum away from the family. "A heartfelt thank you to the police for the stewarding, thanks!" he wrote. "As usual we were assaulted by 'reporters' at the cemetery exit," wrote Ciavarello, husband of Riina's fourth and eldest daughter Maria Concetta.
Riina was still considered head of Cosa Nostra despite spending 24 years under the 41 bis tough jail regime. He had been in a coma since the second of two recent operations and had been badly ill for a long time. Nicknamed The Beast for his ferocity, he was serving life for a slew of crimes including the assassinations of anti-Mafia magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino 25 years ago.
Other infamous assassinations were those of Carabinieri General Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa, who had recently been appointed prefect of Palermo, in 1982; and of Sicilian Governor Piersanti Mattarella, the brother of Italian President Sergio Mattarella, in 1980.
