Former Neapolitan Camorra mafia death squad leader Giuseppe Setola said Monday late pope John Paul II had appeared to him in a dream and told him to repent and turn State's evidence.
Setola, serving several life terms for leading an execution team for the notorious Casalesi clan that murdered 18 people including six West African immigrants in 2008, told a trial into the murder of businessman Domenico Noviello: "I dreamed of Pope Wojtyla who told me 'repent'".
Setola said he had decided to collaborate with investigators to "turn over a new leaf for myself and my family.
The former execution-team chief said last week he was ready to cooperate with anti-mafia prosecutors. A member of the Casalesi clan whose death threats have forced anti-mafia writer Roberto Saviano into hiding, Setola was arrested after a manhunt on January 14, 2009 and is now under a tough prison regime usually reserved for mafia bosses.
The mobster, formerly one of Italy's most wanted criminals, had previously eluded capture twice, on one occasion crawling through a long tunnel built under his house where police found sawn-off shotguns, pistols and medication for a fake eye condition.
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