Facebook apologises to Riina family (4)

(ANSA) - Rome, November 22 - 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