Palermo, Lupara Bianca of '90: the limbo of the presumed dead
An unsolved crime and the request of family members
THE CASE
by Riccardo Lo Verso

PALERMO - Thirty-two years of silence. The declaration of presumed death, which the family members of Giovanni Paolo Garofalo ask the Court, will not mark the end of the limbo of pain, but - as the lawyer Giuseppe Di Stefano explains - “serves to close some bureaucratic tasks”.

The bureaucracy, with which we must also deal with a case of white shotgun. It was 1990 when Francesco Paolo Garofalo, considered a cigarette smuggler and drug trafficker, disappeared into thin air. His body was never found again.

About ten years ago, the Public Prosecutor of Palermo hypothesized that the perpetrator of the crime was Francesco Paolo Alfano, head of the Noce district and life prisoner. One that he already commanded in the eighties. Garofalo would have dared to spread the rumor that the boss had acted as a stake for a group of thieves who had stolen an apartment. An offense that Alfano would have washed with blood.

The accusation was based on some old statements of collaborators of justice. The necessary evidence was not found and Alfano was acquitted. The Garofalo crime has remained unsolved, and it will probably be like this forever.

In the meantime, the family members have asked the Court to pronounce the presumed death. If no one comes forward, reading this article too, death will be confirmed.