Former Mafia boss of bosses Totò
Riina followed a Florence hearing for a trial into the 'Train
904 bombing' in 1984 via video link from a bed in Parma jail on
Wednesday.
The supreme court this week said the ailing mobster has the
right to a dignified death, causing a controversy and
indignation from victims.
Riina is accused of ordering the attack on a Naples-Milan
train that caused 16 deaths and injured 260 in December 1984.
"He's very ill, no one can deny that," said the lawyer of the
former Cosa Nosta head, nicknamed 'The Beast' because of his
ferocity.
The Cassation Court ordered a detention review court to
re-assess Riina's detention in a prison hospital, where he is
seriously ill.
Relatives of victims including anti-mafia magistrates
Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, 25 years ago, and Palermo
prefect Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa, have said he should not get
a dignified death since their loved ones did not get one from
him.
Italy's anti-mafia and anti-terror chief prosecutor, Franco
Roberti, has said Riina should not be moved from detention even
if he is terminally ill because he is "still the head of Cosa
Nostra".
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