Michele 'The Pope' Greco, the one-time chairman of Cosa Nostra's 'commission', died on Tuesday at the age of 83.
Greco, who was serving several life sentences at Rome's Rebibbia hospital, had been hospitalised for several weeks.
Known for his ability to mediate between the various families in the Sicilian Mafia, for which he earned his nickname, Greco rose to the top of the 'commission' in 1978 after the previous chairman Gaetano Badalamenti was banished.
However, it was later discovered Greco was in reality only Cosa Nostra's titular leader, acting as a front for the bloody rise to power of the Corleone clan headed by Salvatore (Toto) Riina and Bernardo Provenzano.
Thanks to Greco's protection, the Corleonese were able to not only ostracise Badalamenti but also to wipe out their rivals including the Bontade and Inzerillo families, which controlled the heroin business in the United States.
As head of the 'commission', Greco Gave the green light to the 1979 murder of Palermo Anti-Mafia magistrate Cesare TerranovA and the 1982 ambush of Prefect General Alberto Dalla Chiesa, gunned down on the streets of Palermo along with his wife just 100 days after he was sent by then premier-Giulio Andreotti to Sicily to combat the Mafia after successfully defeating the Red brigades.
Greco was give life sentences for both murders.
The one-time Cosa Nostra chief was later linked to Andreotti in a trial against the seven-time Christian Democrat premier who stood accused of collusion with Cosa Nostra.
According to a state's witness at the trial, Greco and Andreotti would watch pre-release copies of major films in a secret movie-house.
The evidence was never confirmed and Andreotti was later acquitted after a legal battle which lasted years.
Greco was finally arrested in 1986 and became one of the hundreds of defendants in the so-called 'maxi-trial' against organised crime, accused of ordering the murders of 78 people including that of anti-Mafia magistrate Rocco Chinnici in 1983.
He was found guilty on all charges and sentenced in 1987 to life. However, Greco was released in 1991 on appeal only to be re-arrested and sent definitively back to jail in 1991 when the appeal was overturned.
