Facebook on Wednesday apologised
to the family of Totò Riina for having removed some condolences
after the Mafia boss of bosses died on Friday.
A Facebook spokesperson told the Associated Press that the
posts were eliminated "by mistake" and have now been
republished.
The posts were removed after a number of users complained
they were against Facebook's rules, the spokesperson said.
Facebook guidelines bar content backing criminal groups,
terrorists or people involved in organised crime, including
their leaders.
After Riina's death the profiles of his daughter Maria
Concetta Riina and her uncle Antonino Tony Ciavarello were
inundated with messages of condolence saying things like "Bon
voyage Uncle Totò", but also by attacks on his for the many
crimes he committed in a bloody career.
Riina, who turned 87 the day before he died in the prison
wing of Parma hospital, was buried earlier on Wednesday in a
private service in Corleone.
The Italian church had ruled out a public funeral for Riina,
pointing out that the pope has excommunicated mafiosi.
He was still considered head of Cosa Nostra despite spending
24 years under the 41 bis tough jail regime.
He had been in a coma since the second of two recent
operations and had been badly ill for a long time.
Nicknamed The Beast for his ferocity, he was serving life for
a slew of crimes including the assassinations of anti-Mafia
magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino 25 years ago.
Other infamous assassinations were those of Carabinieri
General Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa, who had recently been
appointed prefect of Palermo, in 1982; and of Sicilian Governor
Piersanti Mattarella, the brother of Italian President Sergio
Mattarella, in 1980.
photo: the eldest of Riina's four daughters, Maria Concetta
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