Mafia: murder of policeman Agostino, life sentence confirmed for boss Nino Madonia
By Editorial Staff |
05 October 2023
Palermo, 5 Oct. Life sentence confirmed for the mafia boss Nino Madonia for the murder of the policeman Nino Agostino and his wife Ida Castelluccio, who was pregnant, which occurred on 5 August 1989. The Assize Court of Appeal of Palermo reiterated, after almost five hours of deliberation, the first degree sentence. Even if in partial reform compared to the first instance sentence because the judges did not confirm the aggravating circumstances for the death of the policeman's wife. The defendant was also ordered to pay costs and civil claims. During the indictment, the magistrates of the General Prosecutor's Office had reiterated, citing the declarations of various repentants such as Vito Lo Forte, Gaspare Mutolo, Enzo Brusca, Giusto Di Natale, Francesco Di Carlo, Francesco Marino Mannoia, Giuseppe Marchese and Nino Giuffrè,

Another trial is underway on the matter, with the ordinary procedure, in which the boss Gaetano Scotto, accused of murder like Madonia, who chose the shortened one, and Francesco Paolo Rizzuto, friend of the victim, accused of aiding and abetting, are accused. This morning, shortly before the council chamber, the accused Madonia surprisingly made spontaneous statements. “I didn't kill them. I am innocent”, reiterated the boss. In the first instance sentence, the preliminary hearing judge Alfredo Montalto also spoke of "misdirection", also reporting that attempted "by one of the most well-known mafia exponents in prison, Giuseppe Graviano". According to the preliminary hearing judge, the massacre boss "on 14 July 2020 released from the Terni prison in which he was detained,

“According to the boss, the instigators of the Agostino murder should be sought among the men close to the boss Contorno”. “Moreover – wrote the investigating judge – Graviano adds that the motive for the double murder should be identified in the investigations that Agostino allegedly started into the management of his collaborator Contorno and in the involvement of Agostino himself in the failed attack in Addaura against Giovanni Falcone”. Today the appeal sentence confirms Madonia's life sentence.