Dissociation is not enough, Filippo Graviano remains in hard prison

The Court of Cassation has declared the boss's appeal inadmissible
the decision
by Riccardo Lo Verso
2 min read
November 21, 2024, 11:23 AM

PALERMO – Filippo Graviano remains in 41 bis. The Court of Cassation has declared inadmissible the appeal of the Brancaccio boss who asked to leave the harsh prison regime.

Sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Blessed Pino Puglisi and for the massacres of 1992 and 1993, he hoped that the judges would take into account his re-education process and dissociation from Cosa Nostra in the courtroom in 2021.

The dissociation of Filippo Graviano
Three years ago he signed a declaration of dissociation from the mafia, which was not followed by collaboration with justice. He simply admitted to having been part of the Brancaccio gang.

Filippo Graviano claimed that he no longer has contact with his brother Giuseppe, that he has dedicated himself to studying and that he has maintained regular prison conduct since he has been detained (since 1994).

The Surveillance Court of Rome rejected Graviano's appeal against the two-year extension - the renewal is periodic - of the prison regime reserved for mafia bosses. The Brancaccio boss, believing that the sentences of the European Court of Human Rights and the Constitutional Court have been violated, turned to the supreme judges.

What the boss says
In particular, the boss contested the violation of Article 3 of the Constitution ( “All citizens have equal social dignity and are equal before the law ”) and the failure to respect the “non-automatic nature of the denial of benefits.

Another point of the appeal is the "duty that even the differentiated prison regime does not frustrate the re-educational purpose of the sentence".

Appeal inadmissible
The Court of Cassation deemed the appeal “inadmissible”. The reasoning states that Filippo Graviano “opposes to the reconstruction of the appellant’s criminal history, carried out in the contested order on the basis of the conviction sentences, a different reconstruction based on the acquittal sentences, diminishing the relevance and scope of those with contrary content, and does not confront the contested order in the part in which it underlines the ascertained contacts with the clan to which he belongs, maintained through some family members”.

The “danger of reinstatement” of his criminal role is real. The ruling of the Court of Cassation is from October 14th, the reasons have been published now.