Coldiretti: "The hands of the mafia on grapes cause prices to triple"

ROME - "The grapes are underpaid to farmers on values ??that do not even cover production costs, but prices more than triple from field to table also due to the infiltration of the underworld which suffocates honest entrepreneurship and destroys competition and the free market". This is what Coldiretti says in reference to the operation carried out by the carabinieri, with the execution of 10 precautionary measures against a mafia organization active in mediation for the sale of grapes (the 'sensalie') in the Agrigento area.

“conditioned market”

“In doing so – underlines Coldiretti – the food marketing market is conditioned by establishing the prices of the crops, managing transport and sorting. Crime not only appropriates vast sectors of the agri-food sector and the resulting earnings, also taking advantage of the crisis caused by the pandemic and the energy crisis, but - underlines Coldiretti - compromises the quality and safety of products, with the effect indirectly to profoundly undermine the image of Italian products and the value of the Made in Italy brand.

"The agricultural mafia"

The mafias in the countryside, continues the confederation, "operate through the theft of agricultural equipment and vehicles, racketeering, livestock, extortion, or with the so-called protection money also in the form of imposition of labor or transport or guardianship services to farms, damaging of crops, assaults, usury, illegal slaughter, illegal hiring and fraud against the European Union up to the control of entire chains of supermarkets and restaurants with a criminal business estimated - concludes Coldiretti - at over 24.5 billion euros (from Agromafia Observatory)”.

The investigations, coordinated by the DDA of Palermo, made it possible to acquire an investigative compendium on the mafia structures in the territory of Favara (AG) and that of Palma di Montechiaro (AG), the latter characterized - as ascertained by definitive sentences - by the coexistence of the territorial articulation of Cosa Nostra and of criminal formations called "paracchi" on the model of the Stidda. In this context, the carabinieri gathered clues on the attempt by one of the suspects to expand his influence beyond the Palmese area, namely on Favara and the Moses Village of Agrigento; on the role of "guarantor" exercised by the top of the Palma di Montechiaro family in favor of a member of the Stidda, in the presence of the then regent of the district of Canicattì.

Serious indications have also been acquired against some of the suspects of the interference exercised by Cosa Nostra in the lucrative economic sector of transactions for the sale of grapes and the progressive interference in this sector by the Stidda. In this context, reports emerged from the top of the Palma di Montechiaro mafia family with the Calabrian 'Ndrina of the Barbaro di Platì. The investigation also brought to light the illicit control of a large part of the entrepreneurial sector of slot machines and gaming machines installed in commercial premises.

The Cartabia law strikes again: kidnapped and beaten by bosses, but they don’t sue. Request for the revocation of the precautionary measure for the mafia

They were kidnapped And beat yourself up by men of Cosa Nostra. The reason? They were accused of robbing a store without the permission of the mafia boss. In a similar context it is understandable, therefore, that the victims of this beating have no intention of sue bosses who have already beaten them once. In the absence of the complaint, however, the Palermo prosecutor’s office led by Maurice DeLucia had no choice but to request the revocation of the precautionary measure for the three men of Cosa Nostra. Yet another story linked to the harmful effects of the justice reform signed by Martha Cartabia risks giving impunity to three mafiosi of rank. At least as far as a full blown beating, carried out according to the most ferocious rules of the mafia. In this sense that of Palermo risks becoming a case study of how the new laws create gigantic damage to the justice.

In Palermo the case study of Cartabia – Again the point is that the lawsuit has become the condition of admissibility for certain crimes. Among these are also the kidnappings and the injuries. Precisely of these crimes, aggravated by the mafia methodare accused Joseph Calvarusoconsidered the regent of the mafia order Of Pagliarellihis right arm, John CarusoAnd Silvestre Blacksmith. On December 14, 2022, the three were convicted in the first instance with the abbreviated sentence for a series of crimes. High penalties given that Calvaruso, believed to be the head of the clan, were inflicted 16 years in prisonthirteen y Caruso (both were found guilty of mafia association) while Maniscalco got 5 years and 4 months.

the Cartabia law also abolished the limits on appeal discounts for mafia-type crimes, terrorism and human trafficking

Matteo Messina Denaro, a fugitive protected in a state-mafia

When we talk about Matteo Messina Denaro we are not referring only to the mafia boss of Castelvetrano, but to the top of Cosa Nostra.
A subject who is aware of the hidden and unspeakable secrets of the relationship between the state and the mafia.
A man who is terminal in the relationship between Cosa Nostra and the 'Ndrangheta, in the drug business and beyond. His connections reach as far as Canada and the United States, but presumably the Arab world as well.

Article in Italian: https://www.antimafiaduemila.com/ru...titanza-protetta-in-uno-stato-mafia.html

Castelvetrano is a municipality in the Italian province of Trapani (region of Sicily ) with a population of 30,369 (31-12-2004). The area is 206.5 km², the population density is 147 inhabitants per km².

The following frazioni are part of the municipality: Triscina di Selinunte and Marinella di Selinunte.

The center of Castelvetrano consists of three connected squares and most of the sights are located within this area. Piazza Garribaldi, the main square, is home to the 16th-century Chiesa Madre, the city's main church. Near the church is the neoclassical Teatro Selinus from 1873.

Four kilometers west of Castelvetrano is the estate of the Santissima Trinità di Delia , an Arab-Norman style church .

Resident name: castelvetranesi

Massacre of Capaci, Scarpinato: "Stefano delle Chiaie is involved"
The former Palermo prosecutor recounted that a document from 1992 shows that the leader of the national avant-garde met mafia bosses.

"An official document drawn up in 1992 was also acquired in which several authorities were notified that Stefano delle Chiaie met with mafia bosses in the spring of 1992 and that he was involved in the Capaci massacre". The former attorney general of Palermo, Roberto Scarpinato , told Rainews24 , confirming what emerged in the investigation that Report dedicated to the Capaci massacre.

Massacre of Capaci, a document drawn up since 1992 refers to the role of delle Chiaie

For the first time Report , in the investigation "The black beast" by Paolo Mandani ( read the article ), spoke of the involvement of the leader of the National Avant-garde, Stefano delle Chiaie, in the Capaci attack and of an alleged black trail behind the murder of judge Giovanni Falcone . A case in which the program conducted by Sigfrido Ranucci will also return next Monday, at 21.30 on Rai 3."Already after the massacres, we investigated Stefano delle Chiaie, together with Licio Gelli, Salvatore Riina and other subjects, because in our opinion they were involved in a project to destabilize the state connected to the massacre strategy", Scarpinato explained to Rainews .

In 1992, the leader of the national avant-garde allegedly met some mafia bosses

"In May 2001 we were forced to file because we didn't have sufficient elements" added the former attorney general of Palermo. "Subsequently - Scarpinato said again - important procedural findings were acquired that we did not know and an official document drawn up since 1992 was also acquired in which it was communicated to several authorities that Stefano delle Chiaie in the spring of '92 met with the boss mafiosi and who was involved in the Capaci massacre. It is a document from 1992, it was only recently rediscovered”.

Totò Riina, 30 years ago the arrest. Captain Ultimo: "He was scared, defeated, he was shaking"

ROME «From that day I remember the carabinieri who were next to me, their looks, their humility, their courage, their simplicity. I remember time, which had a physical dimension, waiting. And then Riina's frightened gaze, like one who trembles, a defeated one. Finally the emptiness, when we started thinking about the other battles. What was that, after all, if not the beginning of a long battle?' Speaking to Adnkronos is Sergio De Caprio, the captain "Ultimo" who on 15 January 1993, at the head of the Crimor unit of the Carabinieri Ros, arrested the boss Toto Riina.

For Captain Ultimo, who tightened the handcuffs on the wrists of the bloodiest boss of the Cosa Nostra, 30 years later «the mafia is the same as always. Just read the precautionary custody order of the investigating judge Claudia Rosini of 2021 against Giuseppe and Carlo Guttadauro: the mafia is exactly the same - he says - and evolves by bloodline. Therefore, we need a different regulation from all the other structures and a different struggle.

Sickening how all of that was blamed on Riina when it was also the government. Funny how he's talking shit but his face is covered.

The story of the arrest of the boss has been questioned several times, Captain Ultimo has in fact been investigated himself but was by the Palermo court acquitted in 2006.

30 years already I'm getting old it was just amazing back then that they had caught the mighty Riina, but people were also disappointed to see a simple farmer instead of a glamorous, charismatic, well dressed mafia boss.

Looks are definitely deceiving. When you're in hiding and orchestrating major assassinations, there isn't much time for fashion.

Palermo, 7 arrests: the written code of the mafia and the unsuspected

PALERMO – The new mafia has the face of old acquaintances and reserved men, hitherto unknown in the judicial news. All are inspired by the rules of the past. There is an ancient written code, which must be respected. A new investigation confirms its existence, which has already emerged in other investigations . It turns out the bosses wanted to kill an architect.

Badagliacca, a well-known surname
Seven arrests for mafia in Palermo and a surname, that of Badagliacca, which has its roots in the past when the bosses who were in charge were Bernardo Provenzano and Matteo Messina Denaro. Pietro, Gioacchino and Angelo Badagliacca, aged 78, 45 and 51, end up in prison; Marco Zappulla of 34, and Pasquale Saitta, 67 years old. House arrest for Michele Saitta, 70, and Antonino Anello, 82.

The family of Rocca Mezzomonreale

The investigation focuses on the mafia family of Rocca Mezzomonreale, which is part of the mandamento of Pagliarelli. There are familiar faces who have already been convicted and some "reserved men of honour", whose identity has been protected by a web of silence.

The Badagliaccas are part of the criminal history of Palermo. Suffice it to say that some family members participated in the organization of Bernardo Provenzano's trip to France to take care of himself while on the run. Others took part in a summit in which Messina Denaro would have been present.

The summit with Messina Denaro

Among those arrested are Pietro and Angelo Badagliacca, father and son. Pietro of the mafia family had been the boss. He had a special bond with Nino Rotolo, Pagliarelli's foreman and lifer. On September 3, 2005 Angelo Badagliacca was intercepted while he was saying to Rotolo: "In the meantime, I'll take the pizzini, many greetings from dad ... he says that he has already spoken to the one from Trapani". Rotolo's words left no room for doubt: "But to speak directly with Matteo?".

The written code of the mafia

In an interception, which the investigating judge defines as "extremely rare in judicial experience", reference is made to the existence of a "written mafia code", jealously guarded for decades and which still regulates the life of the Cosa Nostra in Palermo today.

The architect had to die

The investigation and arrest prevented an architect from being killed. During the summit his death sentence was decided. The Cosa Nostra court held him responsible for a series of errors in the amnesty practices that he was following and reproached him for having disrespected a detained boss.

Among the old and eternal rules is that of protection money, paid in cash or by imposing the companies desired by the bosses. To get a man to pay, they placed a doll on the gate of his house with a bullet in its forehead.

Interesting m2w Provenzano and Messina Denaro had a special bond I think.

15 cited for mafia COVID funding fraud
Monza probe into undue procurement of virus emergency cash

(ANSA) - ROME, JAN 24 - Italian police on Tuesday cited 15 businessmen and other linked to organized crime in a huge COVID-19 mafia funding fraud based in the northern city of Monza.
The suspected mafia-linked gang managed to unduly get its hands on large amounts of funds earmarked for COVID aid, police said.
The 15, all living in the Brianza area north of Milan, were reported by the Monza tax police for unduly receiving the virus emergency aid funds.
Among them, two were reported for unduly obtaining and using guaranteed bank loans.
One of them obtained the funds as legal representative of a business subject to an anti-mafia interdiction order and despite the presence, in the family of a majority partner, of a person convicted for mafia-type criminal association. (ANSA).

MAFIA MEZZOMONREALE-VILLA TASCA
Mafia, "democratic politics" and the "statute written by the founding fathers": here are the rules of the bosses
The existence of a code also emerges from the blitz against the Rocca Mezzomonreale clan, mentioned during a summit. Precisely by virtue of the rules Gioacchino Badagliacca would have wanted to oust the elderly Antonino Anello: "When he was young he wanted to be a driver for the magistrates"

The kiss between Gioacchino Badagliacca and Michele Saitta

"There is the statute written by the founding fathers". Boss Pietro Badagliacca was certainly not referring to the Constitution, but to the Cosa Nostra code. And it is to this document (which brings to mind the sheet with the mafia rules found almost 16 years ago in the hideout of the "baron" of San Lorenzo, Salvatore Lo Piccolo, at the time of his arrest) and to the fundamental "principles" of the organization which was invoked during a heated summit in which the ouster of another arrested by the carabinieri, the old "Ninì", or Antonino Anello, would also be discussed. The result was almost a discourse of mafia politics, in which the younger Gioacchino Badagliacca claimed the "democratic" regime in force in the organization and its alleged "solidarity" ends:

The boss who wanted to be a driver for the magistrates
A background of the blitz carried out yesterday by the carabinieri against the Rocca Mezzomonreale clan, which mixes good and bad and, in fact, overturns all values. So much so that one of the "faults" accused of the elderly Ninì Anello was that of having hypothesized in his youth - today he is 82 years old, therefore at least sixty years ago - of participating in a competition for judicial chauffeurs: "He must participate in the competition to bring the car to the magistrate - said Gioacchino Badagliacca, staunch supporter of the need to oust the mafioso - should he jump or not? Can you imagine our friend the driver to the magistrate?".

"I have been an affiliate since May 22, 2017"
From the order of the investigating judge Lirio Conti, who accepted the arguments of the deputy prosecutor Paolo Guido and of the deputies Dario Scaletta, Federica La Chioma and Bruno Brucoli, who coordinate the investigation, the date of affiliation to the Cosa nostra of Gioacchino Badagliacca also emerges. because he himself, during the meeting, said it: 22 May 2017 (the date on which, moreover, the boss Giuseppe Dainotti was killed in via D'Ossuna), while his uncle Pietro boasted of having been the representative of the clan since 11 October 1982. The ease with which the suspects spoke shows that they had no idea of ??being wiretapped.

The bosses against Totò Riina: "He consumed all things"
"I didn't send him away because he might repent"
Gioacchino Badagliacca was pursuing his cause to dismiss Anello, also recalling another fault of his: "My parrinu has stolen their belongings... We all went crazy because they brought vans full of things... He didn't give them the keys to brother ra n'ammurata?". It is also serious that "Ninì" had been present at his combination: "Ninì - Badagliacca said again - was present at my combination, this is a serious thing, because you shouldn't have allowed it", he reproached his uncle Pietro. Who in turn replied: "You can't put him out, he must always be kept at a distance ... They met him first at the Pagliarelli at all bans, I didn't introduce him to anyone ... He was present at your combination because you took me there to him and rightly whoever picked me up when you sent me to pick me up was at Ninì's house... It was a restricted affair because we can't move, we were in a hut ", thus justifying the fact of not having invited even Pasquale and Michele Saitta, the unsuspected entrepreneurs who would have been - according to the prosecutor's office - confidential affiliates. And then he added: "He says: 'But why did you keep it? If it hadn't been your business (of the Saittas,ed ), because I don't want to scandalize him, who knows this will come out crazy (he repents, ed )."

The "democratic" line of Cosa Nostra and the statute
But Pietro Badagliacca in turn reproached his nephew Gioacchino, underlining the hierarchies: "To begin with, lower your voice, I have to raise my voice" and the other defended instead the alleged "democratic" line of Cosa nostra: "You owe me say that you alone have to raise your voice, that's how they taught me: we are the same thing!", but my uncle commented: "The same thing like this, there is a principal!". And it is precisely at this point that Pietro Badagliacca referred to the "statute" of Cosa nostra, "a written document in which - the investigators explain - the 'founding fathers of Cosa nostra' would have noted the principles and cardinal rules of the organization, which have evidently remained unchanged over the years". The suspect said in fact: "There

The bosses were preparing the murder of an architect
The code found in Salvatore Lo Piccolo's hideout
The investigators believe it is the sheet found in Salvatore Lo Piccolo's hideout when he was arrested in November 2007. A "typewritten sheet which - according to the court - is the constitutional charter of Cosa Nostra, a few dozen lines are enough to sanction a project of continuity with the association of the 70s and 80s described by Tommaso Buscetta and crystallized in the sentence that concluded the first Maxiprocesso against the Sicilian mafia", noting that "that sheet is only one face, the one that repeats itself over time, the The other changes expression according to the moment".

"I am ready to die for my dignity"
Hence the outburst of Gioacchino Badagliacca and the exposition of his vision: "Someone says;: 'No, it's a principle!', for me it is always an interest. Everyone then sees things at their own... Here everyone of the rest of us have dignity, there are even Christians to say that they combine to say, for me the figure of a man of honor is a man of honor! A person of integrity inside, I have never believed in Cosa nostra for the purpose of profit, I have always thought of noble principles, for me this is what Cosa Nostra is, I have always believed in it from the bottom of my heart and I did 10 years in prison, each of us has a dignity, the honor he can lose it because a sister goes crazy, a mother goes crazy, a wife goes crazy, I say one can fix it but a stain always remains, but no one can remove dignity,whoever doesn't have it can't take it away from anyone, I'm ready to die for my dignity".

https://www.palermotoday.it/cronaca/mafia/arresti-rocca-mezzomonreale-intercettazioni-statuto.html

MAFIA MEZZOMONREALE-VILLA TASCA
The bosses against Totò Riina: "One without honour, with bombs he killed innocents and consumed all things"
In the conversations between Gioacchino Badagliacca and the old Antonino Anello, arrested in the blitz against the Rocca Mezzomonreale clan, the harsh criticisms of the Corleonese and massacre management of Cosa nostra, which weakened it. Previously "the State smoothed out and didn't touch, they only thought about filling their wallets..."

"The bombs out there, killing innocent people, all these judges... but these nasty things are not the stuff of someone with honor." The bosses of the Rocca Mezzomonreale clan were angry with Totò Riina, the "boss of bosses" who governed Cosa Nostra for decades, also resorting to the strategy of massacre and frontal attack on the state, resulting in the weakening of the organization (" all things are finished"). Also because previously, according to Gioacchino Badagliacca and the old Antonino Anello - arrested this morning in a blitz by the carabinieri - "there were good relations with the organs of the state, they didn't touch, they smoothed out...".

The conversations between the two on the subject were captured between spring and last summer and perhaps never so openly did members of the clans indulge in such heavy criticisms, undoubtedly facilitated by the fact that Riina died at 41 bis in November of 2017, now almost six years ago. Badagliacca and Anello, mystifying, essentially recalled what, in their opinion, Cosa Nostra would have been before the Corleonese management, as if it had been a "better" mafia. And they believed that the boss had "used up all things". It is one of the background of the investigation coordinated by the deputy prosecutor Paolo Guido and by the deputies Dario Scaletta, Federica La Chioma and Bruno Brucoli.

The names of the arrested
Badagliacca argued, as stated in the order issued by the investigating judge Lirio Conti: "But I hear you say when you get in touch with the cops, what do you want to do? That is, he really had become... It's not in the DNA of this thing. The bombs out there, killing innocent people... To say: 'Okay, let's kill an innocent man', but why do you die, does your daughter die, would you like that? Who is innocent. On the contrary, someone says: 'Look, kill an innocent one and then leave him alive, when it's possible it's done... It's not that one wants to justify why one makes one's choice in life and must carry it forward until one's death, but it has brought people to the point of no longer believing in what he does". And this would have also led many affiliates to decide to repent and collaborate with justice, further damaging the

Anello then stated that the historic Mafia boss of Pagliarelli, Nino Rotolo, "is alive because he was arrested, because they were already ready, I swear on my daughter's grave". But he also spoke of Tommaso Buscetta: "They went to see Buscetta - Ring said - and your grandfather told me that he was a Christian with seven pairs of balls" and then added: "But because what does Buscetta have to do with it that before even repenting , he (Riina again, ed ) killed the whole family, if he trusts her, he had to kill him".

Badagliacca shared saying that "these bad things are not that they are things of good Christians or of one who has honor, they are infamous things, but why all these bombs, all these judges... but what are they". And Anello replied: "He consumed all things because Provenzano wasn't like that... To that little boy (referring to little Giuseppe Di Matteo, ed .)..." and then he also took it out on Giovanni Brusca: "Shit this Brusca as soon as he comes out a blow in the horns they should give him... These are people who only thought about filling their wallets and that's it". Badagliacca agreed : "It's not that they loved the thing... because someone who loves it, does things so as not to destroy it, to keep it... All things are finished, because there were good relations with the organs of the State... Not they touched each other, they smoothed each other, no touching them... If, for example, there was someone cuckolded, if they succeeded, they would see to making it disappear... but why do you do more damage".

The boss Alessandro D'Ambrogio also wants to see the matches at 41 bis: no from the Cassation
Since 2019, the Porta Nuova mafioso had filed a complaint with the surveillance magistrate to be able to watch sports channels on TV. A request definitively rejected. The judges also sentenced the prisoner to pay 3,000 euros to the fines fund

41 bis detainees have the right to watch television, but only the channels provided for by a specific ministerial circular. Among them there are no sports ones. D'Ambrogio, perhaps taken by the desire to watch the matches, then presented a complaint to the Novara surveillance magistrate, who had rejected his request on 12 March 2019; the boss - who graduated in Law behind bars - had insisted and challenged the decision before the Surveillance Court of Turin, which had confirmed the negative verdict on May 27, 2020. The seventh section of the Cassation, chaired by Vincenzo Siani, a few months ago he finally definitively rejected the prisoner's request.

Messina Denaro’s arrest saps strength of the Sicilian mafia

https://www.ft.com/content/b810bc5b-4cbb-4605-966d-73b1146baa02

operation "Slot Machine" in Catania, police arrested 21 people close to the Cappello-Bonaccorsi clan on charges of mafia-type association, drug trafficking and money laundering; in the operation 435 kilos of drugs, 11.000 plants of marijuana and assets worth millions have been seized.

Women killed in the Catania area, the killer was a prisoner on leave
The man suspected of the double homicide committed suicide in front of a police station
Posted on: 11/02/2023 – 17:39

Salvatore "Turi" La Motta, the man suspected of killing two women in Riposto, in the Catania area, committed suicide with a firearm near a police station. According to what has been learned he was having an extramarital affair with the first victim, the woman murdered in a car on the Pantano seafront. The man committed suicide in front of the police station in Riposto. Investigators believe it is probable that he did it with the same weapon with which he allegedly killed the two women. The 63-year-old was a lifer on premium leave. He had been convicted of mafia association and of a murder committed before 2000. He was detained under semi-freedom: he worked during the day and returned to prison in the evening. Today was the last day of a one-week bonus leave

There is also a Palermitan, Giuseppe Vernengo, 68, known as "the uncle", among the 21 arrested in the "Slot machine" operation.

It's a well known family name, At the end of 1977 Nino Vernengo became the first to set up a heroin refinery in Sicily.

Death of Attilio Manca, “it was a mafia murder”

The death of Attilio Manca, the urologist of Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto found dead in 2004 in his home in Viterbo, is “attributable to a mafia homicide and that the mafia association that took part in it (it is not clear whether in the role of instigator or organizer or executor)” is “to be identified as that belonging to the Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto family”. This is what the Parliamentary Commission underlines Antimafia in the report on ‘New elements emerging regarding the death of Attilio Manca’, approved at the end of the last legislature and now made public. he never believed in the thesis of the overdose or that of suicide.

https://www.italianpost.news/death-of-attilio-manca-it-was-a-mafia-murder/

Maxi anti-drug operation in the Agrigento area between Licata, Campobello di Licata, Canicattì and also in the provinces of Catania and Caltanissetta. The Agrigento mobile team, led by the deputy commissioner Giovanni Minardi, arrested 25 people: 14 are from Licata, one from Canicattì, 6 from Gela and 2 originally from Campania.

Palermo: construction company seized from Giuseppe Sansone, a loyalist of Riina

Seizure of assets for one million euros from the 62-year-old building contractor Giuseppe Sansone , a loyalist of Totò Riina , carried out by the state police, on a proposal from the prosecutor and the police commissioner of Palermo. The provision involved a construction company owned by a relative, located in Palermo, in the Uditore area, as well as various financial relationships in the name of Sansone and his family members.
The man, currently detained, a leading member of the Uditore mafia family, included in the mafia district of Passo di Rigano-Boccadifalco, was definitively convicted of mafia-type association. He was trusted by the boss Salvatore Riina for which he also made himself available during his fugitive as a driver.
Following the arrest of the Corleonese godfather, which took place in 1993, during the search carried out in the house where he had spent his last period on the run, handwritten notes were found with references also to other members of the Sansone family. His entrepreneurial influence exercised continuously from the 80s/90s up to today.
In particular, the seized company, set up in 2006 by Giuseppe Sansone and his spouse, was transferred to a relative in 2008, despite not having sufficient income to make the investment required to purchase the shares in the company.

Does someone has the full list of the 24??

MAFIA'S `BOSS OF BOSSES' AND 23 TOP LIEUTENANTS SENTENCED
By From Tribune News Services
Chicago Tribune
•
Sep 27, 1997 at 12:00 am
ROME, ITALY — A court in Sicily convicted and sentenced Salvatore Riina, the chieftain of the Sicilian Mafia, and 23 top lieutenants to life sentences Friday for their role in the killing of Giovanni Falcone, the prosecutor whose work and dramatic death in 1992 made him the hero and martyr of Italy's war against organized crime.

All but two of the 24 men sentenced Friday by the seven-judge panel are already in jail, many serving multiple sentences for other crimes.

Riina, the "boss of bosses" who was the mastermind behind the Sicilian Mafia's violent campaign against the Italian state, was arrested in 1993 and is in a maximum-security jail, serving 11 consecutive life sentences. Italy has no death penalty.

The court in Caltanisetta gave more lenient sentences to six other mafiosi--including Giovanni Brusca, a top boss arrested in the last year--who had collaborated with the state during the Falcone case, and found another nine defendants not guilty.

Of those convicted, only Bernardo Provenzano, a onetime member of the Sicilian Mafia's top council, and another mafioso, Benedetto Spera, are still at large.

Falcone's slaying was part of a campaign ordered by Riina to warn Italian authorities to cease investigations and prosecutions.

Di Matteo: ''The hypothesis that the State has negotiated with Provenzano is unacceptable''
February 22, 2023
Speech by the magistrate at the event "Mafias, neo-fascism, deviant state apparatuses and massacres"
The search for the truth about massacres and mysteries; the participation of so-called subjects external to Cosa Nostra who may not only have ordered, but also had a direct role in the material execution of heinous crimes; the value of memory, the need for politics not to fear dealing with certain topics, the commitment that passes from the younger generations.

Then, answering a question about Matteo Messina Denaro 's inaction , he added:"When someone raises doubts about some aspects, some define this reasoning as the usual conspiratorial way. But the problem is that we have had a sentence which affirmed that those defendants deliberately protected Provenzano in a period where he was a fugitive and they did so to a misunderstood 'reason of state'. That is, because they believed that at that moment free Provenzano was more useful in countering the other wing of Cosa Nostra. In a complete democracy, in a free and democratic state, if the state intends to assert a reason of State must declare it with an act of political responsibility that it did not take place, because otherwise endorsing the recognition of these reasons of political expediency against the law is dangerous for our democracy".

And finally he concluded:"A debate should have been sparked with respect to that sentence. How can we accept the hypothesis that a modern state deals with Provenzano, because at that moment he is defined as belonging to a moderate mafia, when at that moment Provenzano had been the instigator of other murders? Today we are all silent,

TV talk-show host Maurizio Costanzo dies
Legendary interviewer was 84, survived Mafia bomb attack

https://www.ansa.it/english/news/20...02acca8-c38c-4ee3-b2b0-786f8bb7fc3b.html

The head of Porta Nuova family Giuseppe Di Giacomo was shot dead in 2014.
Investigated, as instigator of the crime is the boss Tommaso Lo Presti known as "il Gabibbo" or "the fool", who had taken the place of regent. Key evidence are the statements of the repentant Alessio Puccio, who in 2021 reported that he had learned from Fabio Pispicia, Lo Presti's brother-in-law and brother of Salvatore Pispicia, a leading exponent of Porta Nuova, whom he had met in prison, that the murder it had been decided by Tommaso Lo Presti and executed by Onofrio Lipari.
Fabio Pispicia himself had been found a few days later in a car in Piazza Lolli with weapons . It was thought that they had been used for the murder of Di Giacomo, but the thesis was refuted. Puccio had explained that the crime had been decided because in the last period Giuseppe Di Giacomo (who had assumed the regency of the mandate) had become "too absolute", i.e. too authoritarian and during an argument he had even slapped Lo Presti .
Onofrio "Tony" Lipari, who returned free a few days ago after a final 12-year sentence for the mafia has been arrested again.