Mattarella voices 'gratitude' on Falcone anniversary

(ANSA) - Rome, May 23 - President Sergio Mattarella expressed his gratitude to all those who have never allowed themselves to become discouraged in the fight against organised crime in a message on the 24th anniversary of the murder of anti-mafia prosecutor Giovanni Falcone on Monday. "I want to express my proximity and gratitude to all of you present in the bunker courthouse (used for the maxi trial against the Sicilian mafia in Palermo in the mid 1980s), to those who have never become discouraged in the fight against mafia organisations, illegality and corruption, to those who have fought at the cost of personal sacrifice and to those who have understood the value of the culture of legality, which lives first and foremost in daily actions," Matterella said. "The mafia is not at all invincible," added the head of State, citing Falcone who was killed along with his wife Francesca Morvillo and police officers Rocco Dicillo, Antonio Montinaro and Vito Schifani in an explosion on May 23, 1992 as they sped along the motorway from Palermo airport to the city.
    The massacre marked the start of a "moral comeback" in Italy involving the institutions, young people, associations, educators and witnesses, Mattarella said.