'Ndrangheta Super Boss Released: He Used to Cut Off Heads for Shooting
https://www.msn.com/it-it/notizie/i...r-il-tiro-a-segno/ar-AA1xUXG4#fullscreenAt home. Ernesto Fazzalari, 54, released from prison, for twenty years the most wanted and ruthless fugitive after Matteo Messina Denaro. Arrested in 2016, Fazzalari was sentenced to life in prison for an endless series of murders, only to obtain a reduction of sentence on appeal to 30 years.
Terminally ill, the Court of Bologna first, then that of L'Aquila, rejected his request for house arrest three times. Until the Court of Cassation, accepting the appeals of his lawyer, Antonio Napoli, annulled them following his transfer to the diagnostic and therapeutic center of the prison of Parma. Devoured by a pancreatic adenocarcinoma, for the ermines the detention of the boss is not compatible with the prison regime. Even more so with the "hard" prison, namely 41 bis where he has been detained for nine years. It is the Surveillance Court of Bologna that signs the release order.
Fazzalari spent more than a third of his life as a ghost, hiding in Aspromonte to escape capture. Which happened on the night of June 26, 2016, when the Carabinieri of Reggio Calabria raided a farmhouse in Molochio, near his home, where he had taken refuge with his woman. Fazzalari will be remembered above all as the undisputed protagonist of the Taurianova feud, 32 people killed in 4 years, a war between the most powerful and ferocious 'ndrine ever to exist in Calabria. In 1991, at just 22 years old, together with Marcello Viola and Pasquale Zagari he killed the heads of an enemy family, Giovanni and Giuseppe Grimaldi of the Asciutto-Neri clan. They killed them with gunshots and then decapitated the latter with a machete and used his head for clay pigeon shooting, in the square, regardless of the presence of about twenty people. But it's not enough for Fazzalari to demonstrate to everyone his power and that of the family to which he is affiliated and enlisted as a killer. A few days pass and, disguising himself as a carabiniere, he sneaks in among the grieving relatives and kills 24-year-old Roberto Grimaldi, wounding his 14-year-old sister Rosita. A bloodbath that went down in history as the Good Friday massacre of 1991. A mafia peace decided by the leaders of the 'ndrangheta in the Palmi super-prison follows. In 1996 he definitively becomes a woodsman, accused of numerous murders, drug trafficking, mafia-style criminal association, robbery, weapons. With his brother Domenico and his cousin Salvatore, the boss remains one of the top exponents of the Avignone-Zagari-Viola clan.
The case of Ernesto Fazzalari
Ernesto Fazzalari, known as one of the most ruthless killers of the Taurianova feud, has been placed under house arrest due to a serious illness. Arrested in June 2016, Fazzalari was the most wanted fugitive after Matteo Messina Denaro. His story is emblematic of the way the Italian justice system deals with organized crime cases, especially when they are intertwined with health and human rights issues.
The judicial process
The decision of the Bologna Court of Surveillance came after the Court of Cassation had accepted the appeals of lawyer Antonino Napoli and annulled three orders of dismissal concerning the suspension of the sentence. Fazzalari, sentenced to life imprisonment and then to 30 years in the "Taurus" trial, spent nine years in a heavy prison. His conviction is related to serious crimes, including murders and attempted murders, which made him a feared figure in the Avignone-Zagari-Viola gang.
The Taurianova Feud
In the 1980s and 1990s, Taurianova was the scene of one of the 'Ndrangheta's bloodiest feuds. Fazzalari, then twenty years old, was already a feared executioner, described as a man who "shot like a madman". His criminal career was marked by unprecedented violence, with killings that left an indelible mark on the community. His arrest, which came after more than two decades on the run, represented a pivotal moment in the fight against organised crime in Calabria.
The prisoner's right to health and dignity
The granting of house arrest to Fazzalari raised questions about the balance between justice and human rights. Lawyer Napoli stressed that the court’s decision is an application of the principle of judicial courtesy, stressing the importance of the right to health as a guarantee of the prisoner’s dignity. This case rekindles the debate on the way the Italian penal system deals with prisoners suffering from serious pathologies, and highlights the need for a humane approach, also towards those who have committed heinous crimes.
