Falcone killer Brusca asks house arrest

(ANSA) - Rome, October 7 - Giovanni Brusca, the Sicilian mafia boss who set off the explosive that killed anti-Mafia prosecutor Giovanni Falcone in 1992, has asked to be released from jail to house arrest, the Corriere della Sera newspaper reported Monday.
    The supreme Court of Cassation held a hearing on the request on Monday morning. A verdict is expected Tuesday.
    Falcone's sister said Brusca did not deserve further benefits after "receiving over 80 permits" in exchange for supplying police with information on the Mob.
    She said he had never shown real evidence of having turned over a new leaf and repented for his crimes, which included strangling and dissolving in acid a 15-year-old boy, Giuseppe Di Matteo, who was the son of a mafia informant.
    "His criminal past, the ferocity and pitilessness of his behaviour and his controversial record as a state's witness, which has had light and shade, make him still an ambiguous figure, and not deserving of further benefits," she said. Former interior minister and nationalist League party leader Matteo Salvini said it would be "inhuman" if Brusca were released to house arrest.
    Brusca has already seen two previous pleas to leave jail turned down.
    Brusca was arrested in May 1996 and sentenced to life was over 100 murders including that of Falcone, his wife Francesca MOrvillo and three police escorts in May 1992.