Panorama, july 24, 2009.

Who really killed anti-mafia judges ?

Published on 24 July 2009 at 14:50
Panorama, july 24, 2009.

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On July 16, Caltanissetta's prosecutors reopened investigations into the killing of anti-mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino in 1992. The attacks were originally blamed on Corleone boss Totò Riina, arrested in 2000 after years of hiding, and put down to a broader mafia terror strategy aimed at revoking special laws against Cosa Nostra. However, new and unsettling details have since emerged.

According to some informants, in the months that preceeded the bombings, Corleone leaders met with people linked to Sisde (the Italian secret services), who were later seens on the crime scenes. In the early 90s, the Italian political system was collapsing under the impact of the corruption trials of the ruling parties, DC and PSI, and the unnerving threat of a political coup was constantly lingering. In addition, a few days ago Riina cryptically declared from his jail cell: "It was them that killed Falcone and Borsellino," referring to the secret service.

Panorama gained access to sensitive documents belonging to the son of the late Vito Ciancimino, former mayor of Palermo convicted for being a mafia member. The documents consist of letters and handwritten memos proving contact between Sisde general Mario Mori and mafia boss Bernardo Provenzano, whom Mori is said to have prevented from being arrested. "It's a disconcerting dossier, to be reviewed carefully," writes Panorama. Seventeen years on, the dust may have settled enough for the truth to emerge.

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