CAMERA SHY: Two mugshots of Provenzano taken in 1959 are the most recent photographs of the Mafia boss that can be reliably dated
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In January 1993, Riina was captured — some speculate that Provenzano tipped off the cops to his whereabouts — and remains behind bars. Provenzano rose to the top of the Mob hierarchy and, despite a third-grade education, transformed the organization into a less bloody, more efficient economic machine. He is credited with ironing out internal rivalries among local bosses to better divvy up the Mafia's illegal bidding for public-works contracts. It has earned him one more nickname: "the Accountant."
Provenzano manages Cosa Nostra by means of terse notes typed onto small, tightly folded pieces of paper, known as pizzini, which are hand-delivered. Some 50 such notes have so far been retrieved. Since sending his wife and two sons back to his native town of Corleone in 1992, his communication with them is also limited to pizzini. Investigators say that Provenzano's sons — one a university student, the other the proprietor of a Corleone dry cleaners — have recently grown disenchanted with their absent father's career choice. The elder Provenzano also has an apparent religious streak. In one late 2001 note, a photocopy of which was obtained by Time, Provenzano finalizes an underling's repayment of a small debt and then signs off with: "God bless and protect you!"
Since Provenzano disappeared 40 years ago, the trail has been thin indeed. Police have fingerprints dating back to the 1950s, photos from 1959 and a computer-generated composite image of what he might look like now. But law-enforcement officials have no personal belongings or telephone recordings. In April 2003, police seized a man in downtown Palermo they were sure was Provenzano, but he turned out to be a doorman who resembled the composite image. And in November, police uncovered a ring of moles, including the assistant to a leading anti-Mafia prosecutor, who were feeding vital information to Mafia bosses, who passed it on to Provenzano. The assistant is awaiting trial on charges of Mafia association, which he denies.
Good intelligence — and the fear the Mob evokes across Sicily through its code of silence, omertà — keeps Provenzano out of prison. There were reports that he checked into a clinic three years ago in the southern city of Agrigento for what some believe is a prostate illness. Aldo Piscopo, the medical director of the clinic, Clinica Sant'Anna, doesn't deny the possibility, but says: "How could we have known? We are busy here, and he obviously wouldn't walk in with an identity card with his name on it." Magistrate Prestipino knows that silence is the biggest obstacle to nabbing Provenzano. He also knows that his work won't end, even with the Tractor behind bars: "Cosa Nostra will live on even after Provenzano is gone. But it is intolerable for the state that he is still walking free."