News from Italy
The massacre of knights: Falcone and Borsellino
by Andira Vitale
Just a few minutes until 18 May 23, 1992, when, on the highway connecting Punta Raisi airport to Palermo, a charge of TNT explodes: it is the Capaci massacre.
On 19 July 1992, after having lunch in Villagrazia with his wife Agnese and their children, the judge, together with his escort, goes via D’Amelio, where his mother lives; 100 kg of explosives are placed in a car which kills Borsellino in the explosion and five agents of the escort: it is the Via d’Amelio massacre.
Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino are two modern heroes who fought the mafia and organised crime with all their strength, with little means at their disposal and without ever giving up. Two men with strong values such as honesty, righteousness, transparency, courage and love for their country. Their story made up of constant commitment in defence of the law and the Italian people, of great ideals and true friendship, can become a valuable lesson for the younger generations. So let’s rewind the movie and start.
The calendars showed May 23, 1992…
In the afternoon, Giovanni Falcone and his wife, Francesca Morvillo, landed at Palermo’s Punta Raisi airport. Not far away, a car was stationed to monitor their movements. When the procession of armoured vehicles left the airport, a phone call confirmed that the judge targeted by the Mafia had arrived. The three escort agents Antonio Montinaro, Vito Schifani and Rocco Dicillo, were travelling in the first car, a brown Croma; on the second, a white Croma, Judge Falcone, whom he had wanted to drive, his wife sitting next to it, and the judicial chauffeur Giuseppe Costanza in the back seat. In the last car of the short, a blue Croma, sat the agents Paolo Capuzza, Gaspare Cervello and Angelo Corbo. Then, at 17.58, as cars passed on the motorway near Capaci, a bomb exploded consisting of about a thousand kilos of TNT was placed inside a tunnel under the highway. The explosion hit the first car in full, killing the three officers inside it instantly, while the second car crashed into the wall of debris that suddenly rose.
The agents on the third car, who remained unharmed, got out and lined up to protect the white Croma. Shortly afterwards, the area’s inhabitants intervened, helping the police officers extract the three components of the second car from the metal sheets, all still alive. But for Falcone and his wife, there was nothing they could do: they both died that same day. The decision on the killing of the anti-Mafia judge was the regional and provincial “Commissions” of Cosa Nostra, chaired by the boss Salvatore Riina who, after the sentence of the Cassation, which confirmed the life sentences of the Maxiprocess, ordered the attacks to begin. In April 1992, the group designated for the killing of Falcone started preparations for the massacre: the functioning of the electrical devices, which would have served to trigger the bomb, was tested, and speed tests were carried out on the motorway section to calculate the exact moment to press the command button. On 23 May, only for one case was the car driven by Falcone not hit by the explosion: a few moments earlier, the judge had suddenly slowed down. The days before the massacre, the branches of the trees that blocked the view of the highway were cut, and the TNT was transported into the tunnel under the road section. Everything was ready for the killing of Giovanni Falcone, the judge who had challenged the Cosa Nostra.
The calendars showed July 19, 1992…
Borsellino was warned as early as 1991 by Vincenzo Calcara, a pentito of Cosa Nostra, that the plans for his killing were already ready. For this reason, the judge chooses to renounce excessive protection lest the mafia decides to turn its attention towards a member of his family. He also learns of possible links between the mafia and politics, so he tries to keep the investigations and news from the interrogations secret.
Borsellino gives interviews and participates in numerous conferences to denounce the isolation of the judges and the absence of the state and politics in the fight against crime.
On 19 July 1992, after having lunch in Villagrazia with his wife Agnese and their children, the judge, together with his escort, goes via D’Amelio, where his mother lives; 100 kg of explosives are placed in a car which kills Borsellino in the explosion and five officers of the escort. The day before, he was told he would be the new Super Attorney.
Falcone and Borsellino: Story of Friendship and Courage
In 1992, two historic magistrates who fought against the mafia lost their lives: Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino. They died about two months apart in two terrible mafia attacks: the Capaci massacre and the Via d’Amelio massacre, respectively, on May 23 and July 19, 1992.
John Falcone
Giovanni Falcone was born in Palermo in 1939. He attended classical high school, enrolled in the Naval Academy of Livorno and then enrolled in law. After graduating, he won the judiciary competition, and in the same year, he married his first wife, Rita Bonnici, from whom he divorced 14 years later. His first assignment is that of praetor in Lentini. In 1978 he got a job in the education office under the guidance of Chinnici, flanked by Paolo Borsellino. In 180, he was entrusted with the investigations against Rosario Spatola, thanks to which he discovered the framework of the criminal organisation Cosa Nostra.
Paolo Borsellino
Paolo Borsellino was born in 1940 in Palermo. Like Falcone, he attended classical high school and enrolled in the university front of National Action. He graduated in 1962 but only practised once his sister, a pharmacist, managed his father’s pharmacy.
In 1963 he participated in the competition to enter the judiciary, thus becoming the youngest magistrate in Italy. His first assignment is at the court of Enna in the civil section. In 1967 he was appointed magistrate, and it was at this time that he began to learn about the mafia. On 23 December 1968, he married Agnese Piraino Leto. In 1975 he was transferred to Palermo, where he entered the criminal affairs instructions office under the guidance of Chinnici.
Anti-mafia pool
In February 1980, Borsellino arrested the first six mafiosi: Giulio Di Carlo and Andrea Di Carlo. On May 4, 1980, Emanuele Basile was assassinated, and it was decided to assign an escort to the Borsellino family. The so-called “anti-mafia pool” is founded, a team of magistrates against organised crime, composed of Falcone, Borsellino and the judges Lello and Guarnotta.
The pool also arises from the need to unite the institution made up of judges who fight against the mafia, but they do it individually. In the collection, we act together. On 29 July 1983, Chinnici was killed with his escort, and Antonino Caponnetto replaced him. All the pool members insist that the state intervene and offer its support, but this does not happen. The arrest of Tommaso Buscetta gives an epochal turning point to the fight against the mafia because he decides to become a collaborator of Justice and describes in detail the structure of the mafia. His interrogation begins in Rome in July 1984 and helps a lot in the investigation against the Cosa Nostra.
The investigations initiated by Chinnici and continued by the investigations of Falcone and the entire pool led to the establishment of the first significant trial against the mafia.
The reaction of Cosa Nostra in the summer of 1985 is to kill Giuseppe Montana and Ninni Cassarà, close collaborators of Falcone and Borsellino, to the point that we begin to fear for them too, who are sent to stay for some time with their families. Then, at the Asinara prison, complete the paperwork for the maxi trial, which will lead to the arrest of 475 defendants.
The end of the anti-mafia pool
In 1987 Caponetto decided to retire for health reasons. In December 1986, Borsellino also requested and obtained the appointment as Public Prosecutor in Marsala. In place of Caponnetto, Antonino Meli was appointed, preferred to Judge Falcone.
This triggers bitter controversy and is interpreted as a possible rupture of the investigative action. Not only that: the choice makes Falcone a much easier target for the mafia.
Borsellino also opposes the choice, with doubts and perplexities that make him risk disciplinary action. However, Cossiga, President of the Republic, listens to him and starts the investigation at the courthouse in Palermo.
On 14 September, Antonino Meli was appointed head of the pool; Borsellino returns to Marsala, where he resumes working hard with young magistrates, some of the first appointments like Diego Cavaliero. The debate for the establishment of a super prosecutor is starting these days. Falcone goes to Rome as director of criminal affairs and presses to establish the Superprocura. Borsellino decided to return to Palermo in 1991, becoming an assistant prosecutor.
In some situations, Meli does not prove up to the task, and the judges’ Di Lello and Conte, resign in protest. Finally, in the autumn of 1988, the pool was dissolved.
June 21, 1989
On 21 June 1989, the mafia tried to kill Falcone by placing a bag with TNT in the middle of the Addaura rocks, a few meters from the villa rented by the judge. The attack is thwarted, but later many direct witnesses die under suspicious circumstances. Among these also the mafioso Luigi Ilardo, an informant of the colonel of the carabinieri who trusts to know that:
In Palermo, an agent did strange things and was always in strange places. He had a monster face. We learned he was also near Villagrazia when they killed the policeman Agostino.
Ilardo was assassinated on May 10, 1996, a few days before his confessions were recorded. A week after the attack, the Superior Council appointed Falcone as an assistant prosecutor at the Palermo Public Prosecutor’s Office.
From 1991 until his death, Falcone was increasingly active in the investigation but was not supported by the political world. Meanwhile, the super prosecutor’s office is finally established in Rome, which opens the candidacies. Borsellino and Falcone realise that the incredible power of attorney could be dangerous for their safety.
And today in history: The Massacre of Capaci
In May 1992, Falcone reached the numbers necessary to win the election as a super prosecutor. But on May 23, 1992, while returning from Rome to Palermo, where Borsellino was waiting for him to celebrate his new role as super-prosecutor, he was killed in a mafia attack. TNT charges are placed on the highway, and Giovanni Brusca triggers the explosion by activating a remote control. Along with Falcone and his wife, three escort men died: Schifani, Montinaro and Dicillo. The massacre is called the Massacre of Capaci, and later the instigator is identified in Totò Riina.
The fact that the bombers know the time of Falcone’s arrival and departure shows that someone “close” to him is probably involved in the Cosa Nostra, as feared by some Pentiti.