Provenzano became a teenage assassin for the Mafia in the 1950s and rose swiftly through the ranks. His reputation for violence was so prolific that he became known as "The Tractor" because, as an informant put it, "he mowed people down".

By 1995 he was reportedly head of the organisation. The Mafia became almost invisible as the high profile murders of the investigating magistrates stopped. But by slipping below the public radar the Mafia turned itself into an organisation which made millions through white collar crime.

This World tells the story of Provenzano's reign, how he managed to escape capture for 43 years, and how the authorities were eventually able to arrest him in a tumbledown farm building, just outside his home town of Corleone, the village made famous by the Godfather films.