PALERMO -- Corleone’s carabinieri paramilitary police have arrested 12 people Tuesday accused of association with mafia dealings, extortion and corruption, under the guidance of the district’s anti-mafia management.

 Eight business men from this hillside town near Palermo who knew about a mafia bribe affair got together and decided to denounce the Mafiosi to the authorities. Thus the wall of silence surrounding the Corleone Mafia crumbles in a novelty never before seen in the town -- victims themselves turning to judges.

 Amongst the 12 arrested in the traditional heartland of Cosa Nostra was the grandson, Carmelo Gariffo, of the infamous mafia boss, Bernardo Provenzano, himself also recently arrested after decades on the run.

 According to the investigators, Gariffo had tried to regroup the mafia clan that had been left without a boss due to the arrests of recent years.

 Provenzano’s grandson was one of the clan members who organized and carried secret messages from the Corleone boss while he was in hiding. Gariffo was arrested in 2006 and subsequently released from prison in 2014.

 Some of the others arrested were the local road inspector Francesco Scianni, the son of mafia boss Rosario Lo Bue, and farmers Leoluca and Pietro Vaccaro.

 The investigation is being conducted by the deputy Prosecutor, Leonardo Agueci and by the public prosecutors, Sergio Demontis, Caterina Malagli and Gaspare Spedale.

 nkd