The heirs-apparent of Mafia superboss Bernardo Provenzano won't wage war over his succession, partly because they haven't got the men to do it, investigators said Wednesday.
Italian police have found several messages from Palermo rackets king Salvatore Lo Piccolo and charismatic Trapani up-and-comer Matteo Messina Denaro among the 'pizzini' (notes) sent to Provenzano in the last few months.
"They show great deference for the old 'capo di tutti i capi' and a great stability within Cosa Nostra," a leading prosecutor said.
"But the two underbosses also complain that they can't seem to get enough new blood into the organisation".
"They say there is a very small pool of trustworthy candidates to choose from, largely because of the sustained police pressure exerted in efforts to catch Provenzano".
Some 450 mafiosi were arrested in the two years before Provenzano's capture on April 10, and millions of euro seized from the Mob.
The two lieutenants, Lo Piccolo and Messina Denaro, are separated by their ages - 63 and 43 - but bound by a common life on the run: the older boss for 23 years and the younger one for 13.
Lo Piccolo, from Palermo's Mafia-ridden San Lorenzo district, commands the respect of the older generation of bosses who were reined in under Provenzano, while Matteo Messina Denaro, from the southern Sicilian city of Trapani, is a model figure for younger mobsters, police say.
But they are likely to work together to continue their mentor's policy of forging political ties, claiming public contracts and shielding Mafia business from scrutiny. Lo Piccolo was Provenzano's right-hand man in Palermo rackets and his experience may eventually help him get the nod over the younger man.
Alternatively, police say, they may work in tandem - rather like Provenzano did with his more blood-thirsty fellow Corleonese, Toto' 'the Beast' Riina. Denaro, a former Porsche-driving playboy who looks in his last photo like a trim, slickly cropped manager on the make, enjoys a semi-mythical status among newer initiates.
He sealed a reputation for brutality by murderinga rival Trapani boss and strangling his three-months pregnant girlfriend.
"We'll be investigating how things pan out and trying to understand the new dynamics," anti-Mafia chief Piero Grasso said.
"I don't think Cosa Nostra has a new leader".
Provenzano's arrest had caused "a moment of stasis and crisis" for the Mafia, he went on.
Speaking at a news conference with the foreign press, Grasso said he "didn't expect anything" to emerge when he questions Provenzano at a high-security jail in central Italy on Thursday.
"I don't think anything will come out of it - although I hope I'm wrong," the prosecutor said.
He also appealed to Italy's incoming centre-left government to make the trials system faster.
