Anti-Mafia prosecutor Nino Di
Matteo on Wednesday said he believes the road ahead is long, but
eventually justice will triumph over organized crime in Italy.
Speaking at Palermo University law school on the third
annual University Anti-Mafia Day, the prosecutor also said those
who accuse magistrates of wanting to be media celebrities are
missing the crucial point: the fight against the mafia.
"People's attention is not on prosecutors, but on their
claim for truth and justice against those who would believe that
power perpetuates itself, and that mafia power is
inextinguishable", Di Matteo told assembled students and
faculty.
"I believe all this will change, even though it will take
years and generations of men and women willing to place courage
and dignity above their personal ambitions," said the
prosecutor, who is active in an ongoing Palermo trial
into alleged secret negotiations between the Italian State and
the Mafia two decades ago.
Di Matteo in January came directly into the mob's
crosshairs when jailed former Cosa Nostra boss of bosses Toto'
Riina was recorded indirectly ordering a hit on the prosecutor.
Riina is serving life sentences for his part in the
extremely violent 1992 murders of anti-Mafia crusading
magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino among others.
Those shocking slayings were among the crimes that
allegedly induced the State to enter into secret talks with Cosa
Nostra in a bid to stop attacks after a long campaign of
violence that included blowing judges and prosecutors up with
carbombs.
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