Anti-Mafia prosecutor Nino Di
Matteo said Thursday that the reason he is set to leave Palermo
after 18 years is that he was no longer able to do his job
properly in the Sicilian capital.
"Recently I was not put in a position to be able to work full
time on highly delicate investigations that require total
commitment," said Di Matteo, who is set to join the National
anti-Mafia Directorate (DNA) in Rome.
"My decision is not a surrender. I made a transfer request to
the National anti-Mafia Directorate to try to continue to make a
contribution to the fight against the mafia".
Di Matteo, 56, whose transfer becomes operational in two
months' time, may however remain the prosecutor in a trial into
alleged talks between the State and the Mafia to stop an early
1990s bombing campaign.
In that trial he has clashed with former president Giorgio
Napolitano over wiretaps of conversations with one of the
defendants, former Interior Minister Nicola Mancino.
The wiretaps were destroyed.
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