At the beginning of the 1960s, Santapaola was introduced by his cousin Francesco Ferrera into the largest Mafia family of Catania, at the time under the command of Giuseppe Calderone.

While Giuseppe Calderone was elevated to the Regional Commission of Cosa Nostra in 1975, his underboss Santapaola took over the illicit business in Catania for the Mafia family and became the capo famiglia of the clan.

Riina decided to support Santapaola's faction to replace Calderone, an ally of Stefano Bontade from Palermo and Giuseppe Di Cristina from Caltanissetta.

Dalla Chiesa had just been appointed prefect of Palermo to end the violence that was the result of a war between rival Mafia families.

Dalla Chiesa had noticed that four mighty real estate developers that dominated the construction industry on Sicily were building in Palermo with the consent of the Mafia.

Falcone encouraged Colonel Elio Pizzuti of the Italian Financial/Customs Police (Guardia di Finanza) to look into their financial records.

Pizzuto also discovered a massive tax fraud by the Knights through phoney receipts and a list of payoffs to politicians and magistrates.

Rendo discussed the investigations of Pizzuti with his boss, Treasury minister Rino Formica of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI).

Later, photographs turned up showing the mayor and members of the Catania city council with Santapaola, while a clan war bloodied the streets at the time.

One picture showed Santapaola in a friendly embrace with Salvatore Lo Turco, a member of the Sicilian parliament's Antimafia Commission.

The police released Santapaola after only a few routine questions when his bulletproof car had been found at the scene of a vicious shoot-out in which several people had been killed.

Iamonte and his ally Paolo De Stefano secured arms and drug transports when the harbour of Catania was controlled too strictly.

Fava, founder and editor-in-chief of the magazine I Siciliani, exposed the links between the Catania Mafia and the world of business and politics.