In 1987, at the Maxi Trial, he was sentenced to life for murder, but he went on running the Family from prison; first through his sons Antonino, Giuseppe and Salvatore Salvino Madonia, all three jailed, after that through his brother Diego, the reputed acting boss.

He has also been involved in the murders of Piersanti Mattarella, the Christian Democrat president of the autonomous region of Sicily in 1980; general Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa, the prefect of Palermo in 1982; police chief Ninni Cassarà in 1985; and Libero Grassi, the Palermitan businessman who was killed by the Mafia after refusing to pay extortion money, known as "pizzo".

However, despite his life sentence at the Maxi Trial,[2] the most important Mafia bosses of the Commission spent months at a time not at Ucciardone prison, but in hotel-like conditions of Palermo’s Ospedale Civico (Civic Hospital).

[3] In 1989, the police discovered the hideout of Francesco’s son Nino Madonia that contained an account book of the family’s extortion business which listed some 150 businessmen.

[5][6] Francesco Madonia has been convicted for ordering the killing of Libero Grassi in 1991, the Palermo businessman who refused to pay protection money (the so-called pizzo) and went on national television to denounce the practice.