Lo Piccolo rose through the ranks of the Palermo mafia throughout the 1980s and became the capomandamento of the San Lorenzo district in 1993, replacing Salvatore Biondino, who was sent to prison.

With the capture of Bernardo Provenzano on 11 April 2006, Lo Piccolo had been cementing his power and rise to the top of the Palermo Mafia until his own arrest on 5 November 2007.

Lo Piccolo's fortune came from the international cocaine trafficking, the extortion of businesses, and the theft of money allocated for public works projects.

Lo Piccolo long supported Provenzano's policy of not directing violence toward the state and preferred arbitration as means to settle conflict between rival mafia factions.

He forced the residents of the low-income housing projects in the ZEN area of Palermo to pay him to keep the building corridors lit.

[9] After the arrest of Bernardo Provenzano on 11 April 2006, Salvatore Lo Piccolo and Matteo Messina Denaro were thought to be the new leaders of Cosa Nostra.

In a message referring to an important decision for Cosa Nostra, Provenzano told Rotolo: "It's up to you, me and Lo Piccolo to decide this thing.

"[11] Anti-Mafia prosecutor Antonio Ingroia of the Direzione distrettuale antimafia (DDA) of Palermo said that it was unlikely that there would be an all-out war over who would fill Provenzano's shoes.

[12] A 'pax mafiosa' initially had settled in after Provenzano's arrest because neither Lo Piccolo nor Matteo Messina Denaro appeared to have sufficient forces to seek control of Cosa Nostra, according to the Italian news agency ANSA.

These bosses had been reined in by Provenzano when he put an end to the Riina-driven war against the state that claimed the lives of Mafia crusaders Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino in 1992.

"[14] The ensuing power struggle, following Provenzano's arrest, led not only to increased violence in Sicily but also to likely renewed cooperation between the Sicilian mafia and the US-based Gambino crime family.

Among the arrestees were Antonio Rotolo and his right-hand men Antonino Cinà (who had been the personal physician of Salvatore Riina and Provenzano) and the builder Francesco Bonura, as well as Gerlando Alberti, the ageing pioneer of heroin refineries.

Rotolo had passed a death sentence on Lo Piccolo and his son, Sandro, even before Provenzano's arrest – and had procured the barrels of acid that are used to dissolve the bodies of slain rivals.

[15] According to some observers, the arrest of the loyal Corleonesi triumvirate Rotolo, Cinà and Bonura, has given Lo Piccolo a free rein in Palermo.

[1] On 5 November 2007, Lo Piccolo and his son Sandro, as well as two other top mafiosi, Gaspare Pulizzi and Andrea Adamo, were arrested in a villa in Giardinello, between Cinisi and Terrasini.

The operation was made possible by information provided by Francesco Franzese, who was arrested on 2 August 2007, who masterminded the Lo Piccolo clan's protection racket.

Other activities apparently beyond the pale for Mafiosi are being friends with the police, being late for appointments and "appropriating money if it belongs to other Mafia members or to other families".