Provenzano participated in the Viale Lazio massacre on 10 December 1969: the killing of Michele Cavataio for his role in the First Mafia War. The attack nearly went wrong, as Cavataio was able to shoot to death Calogero Bagarella, before Provenzano killed him with a Beretta 38/A submachine gun and earned himself a reputation as a Mafia killer with the attack. However, according to Gaetano Grado, one of the participants who turned government witness later, it was Provenzano who botched the attack, shooting too early. Leggio was captured by police in 1974, and Salvatore Riina was effectively left in charge. Provenzano became the second in command of the Corleonesi, Riina's right-hand man. Fugitive and later years In 1981, Provenzano and Riina unleashed the so-called Second Mafia War, with which they eliminated rival bosses and established a new "Commission", composed only of capomandamenti; during the meetings of the "Commission", Provenzano participated in the decisions and the organization of numerous murders as an influential exponent of the district of Corleone and repeatedly protected, with intimidation, the political career of Vito Ciancimino, the main political referent of the Corleonesi. In 1993 after Riina’s arrest, in a meeting at Villabate it was decided that both Bernardo Provenzano and Leoluca Bagarella are in charge of holding Corleone’s mandate together. But after the Bagarella's arrest, Provenzano took the reins of the Corleonesi and all of Cosa Nostra, however 3 were already sentenced to life in absentia in 1987 at the Maxi Trial and for the prosecutors Falcone and Borsellino's massacres. Evasion and capture Provenzano frowned upon the use of telephones and issued orders and communications (even to his family) through small, hand-delivered notes called pizzini. Many of the notes from Provenzano that police have intercepted sign off with religious blessings, such as one that concluded "May the Lord bless and protect you." According to mob godmother-turned-informant Giuseppina Vitale, Provenzano had appeared at a 1992 Cosa Nostra summit meeting dressed in the purple robes of a Catholic bishop. Religious behaviour and language progressively became the prominent features of Provenzano's figure. For example, Provenzano systematically underlined verses from the Bible and took notes of relevant passages to be threaded in his pizzini through otherwise routine instructions regarding daily business matters. He also recurrently thanked 'Our Lord Jesus Christ', and referred to 'The Divine Providence' and 'Our beloved Lord', expressing the hope that 'He might help us to do