Ciccio Madonia was involved in several of the most bloody events in the 1980s. He actively cooperated in the elimination of the old Palermitan bosses of the Second Mafia War, such as
Stefano Bontade and
Salvatore Inzerillo. 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". Francesco Madonia was involved in the failed bomb attack against Antimafia judge
Giovanni Falcone at
Addaura in 1989 (which is in the Resuttana mandamento) and the killings of Falcone and his colleague
Paolo Borsellino in 1992. He was arrested in 1987 together with his son Giuseppe Madonia. However, despite his life sentence at the
Maxi Trial, 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). The director of the hospital was Giuseppe Lima, the brother of
Salvo Lima, a member of parliament suspected of mafia ties. In 1989, the police discovered the hideout of Francesco's son Nino Madonia which contained an account book of the family's extortion business which listed some 150 businessmen. The ledger included the names of car dealers, drugstores, restaurants, and small factories that were lined up next to the amounts of their pizzo – from about US$150 to US$7,000 a month. None of the more than 150 businessmen on the list would help identify the extortionists. 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. Grassi's business was in the area that is controlled by the Madonia clan. His son Salvatore
Salvino Madonia was the killer. In 2002, Madonia was sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the murder of judge
Rocco Chinnici. ==Death==