Benedetto Capizzi is a boss of the Sicilian Mafia, from the Villagrazia area 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...

. He was nominated to be the head of the Sicilian Mafia Commission

Sicilian Mafia Commission

The Sicilian Mafia Commission, known as Commissione or Cupola, is a body of leading Mafia members to decide on important questions concerning the actions of, and settling disputes within the Sicilian Mafia or Cosa Nostra...

Arrest

On December 16, 2008, Capizzi was among 94 Mafiosi arrested in "Operation Perseus" (Perseo in Italian; after the Greek mythological hero Perseus

Perseus

Perseus ,Perseos and Perseas are not used in English. the legendary founder of Mycenae and of the Perseid dynasty of Danaans there, was the first of the mythic heroes of Greek mythology whose exploits in defeating various archaic monsters provided the founding myths of the Twelve Olympians...

 who beheaded Medusa

Medusa

In Greek mythology Medusa , " guardian, protectress") was a Gorgon, a chthonic monster, and a daughter of Phorcys and Ceto. The author Hyginus, interposes a generation and gives Medusa another chthonic pair as parents. Gazing directly upon her would turn onlookers to stone...

). The operation foiled an attempt to reconstitute a new Mafia Commission after the arrests of Mafia bosses 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. The object, as one tapped Mafioso put it, was to "re-establish Cosa Nostra" in the old style, with a single all-powerful boss, a "capo di capi".

Capizzi had been nominated as the possible head of the Commission. Among the other members were other historical Cosa Nostra bosses, such as Gerlando Alberti

Gerlando Alberti

Gerlando Alberti , also known as "U Paccarè" is a member of the Sicilian Mafia. He belongs to the Porta Nuova family in Palermo headed by Giuseppe Calò...

, Gregorio Agrigento from San Giuseppe Jato

San Giuseppe Jato

San Giuseppe Jato is a village in the Province of Palermo in Sicily, southern Italy.The village sits in a hilly region of Palermo's hinterland, 31 km from the Sicilian capital.-History:...

, Giovanni Lipari, Gaetano Fidanzati

Gaetano Fidanzati

Gaetano Fidanzati is a historical boss of the Sicilian Mafia. He is the boss of the Resuttana mandamento in Palermo. He was on the "most wanted list" of the Italian Ministry of the Interior since 2008, until his arrest on December 5, 2009....

, Giuseppe Scaduto from Bagheria

Bagheria

Bagheria is a town and comune in the Province of Palermo in Sicily, Italy.-Etymology:According to some sources, the name Bagheria originates from the Phoenician term Bayharia meaning "land that descends toward the sea." Other sources claim that it derives from the Arabic Bāb al-Gerib, or "windy...

 and Salvatore Lombardo, the 87-year old boss from Montelepre

Montelepre

Montelepre is a town and comune in the province of Palermo, Sicily, Italy. It is known for having been the native city of Sicilian bandit Salvatore Giuliano.-Main sights:*The Church of Maria Santissima del Rosario...

. Many of those arrested had recently been released from prison on health grounds, and were serving out their sentences under house arrest.

Disagreement

When told of the decision to appoint Capizzi, another boss, Gaetano Lo Presti, appointed boss of Porta Nuova area of Palermo in 2007 by Lo Piccolo, challenged the decision, demanding: "Who authorised this?" The implication was that he believed Lo Presti had more claim to the top job than Capizzi. There was also the suggestion of a new round of "Mafia wars" on the streets of Sicily. It was this fear that led police to bring their assault forward and launch an operation that resulted in the 94 arrests. Lo Presti, whose indiscretions on the telephone prompted Italian police to launch the operation, hanged himself in his prison cell, hours after being arrested.