President Sergio Mattarella on Monday
led Italy's commemorations for the 30th anniversary of the
murder of anti-mafia prosecutor Giovanni Falcone, his wife and
three of his bodyguards, by Cosa Nostra in the 1992 Capaci bomb
attack.
"Thirty years have passed since that terrible May 23 when the
history of our Republic seemed to stop, as if annihilated by
pain and fear," Mattarella said during a commemoration ceremony
in Palermo.
"The deafening silence after a boom, the likes of which had
never been heard before, effectively portrays the disorientation
the country when faced with that unprecedented attack".
The huge bomb attack on the A29 Trapani-Palermo highway also
killed Falcone's wife Francesca Morvillo and three members of
his security detail, Vito Schifani, Rocco Dicillo and Antonio
Montinaro.
Falcone's friend and colleague Paolo Borsellino was killed two
months later by another huge Cosa Nostra bomb.
Falcone led the investigation that culminated in the so-called
Maxi Trial in which over 300 people were convicted, in the
process proving that the Sicilian Mafia actually did exist,
something that was not universally accepted at the time.
Falcone and Borsellino were killed in a bombing campaign
launched by Cosa Nostra after the supreme court upheld the Maxi
Trial convictions, making them definitive.
Mattarella admitted on Monday that many of Falcone's colleagues
were among those who were hostile towards him.
"Falcone's cutting-edge, clearly prophetic vision was not always
understood," Mattarella said.
"On the contrary, in some cases, it was opposed by attitudes
that were widespread within the judiciary itself.
"Over time the judiciary has overcome its mistakes and been able
to take on board and make the most of that vision".
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