“My life is mapped out: it is my destiny to
take a bullet by the Mafia some day. The only thing I don’t know is when… He who is silent and bows his head dies
every time he does so. He who speaks aloud and walks with his head held high
dies only once… The Mafia is a human phenomenon and thus, like all human phenomena, it has had
a beginning and an evolution, and will also have an end” (Giovanni Falcone).
“They will kill me,
but it will not be a mafia’s revenge; mafia do not use murder to get revenge. Maybe
mafia will physically kill me, but he/she who will actually order my murder
will be “others”…The fight against mafia, which is the first problem to solve
in our unfortunate and beautiful land, must be not only a cold repressive
action, but a moral and cultural
movement, involving everyone, especially younger generations, the most fit
to feel the beauty of the fresh taste of
freedom that sweeps away the foulness of moral compromise, of indifference, of
contiguity and, hence, of complicity” (Paolo Borsellino).
A bombkilled a teenage girl and wounded 10 other people in the southern Italian town of
Brindisi. The attack on the Francesca Morvillo Falcone School, a vocational
training institute named after the wife of a famed anti-mafia judge, horrified
Italy and sparked speculation it was the work of southern Italy’s organized
crime gangs. We do not know if the attack was organized by organized crime. Few days later an Italian man who lost job kills histwo young children.
Italy is facing a huge crisis. Italy’s President Giogio Napolitano warns that Mafia
may take advantage of economic uncertainty and get back on the front stage. Cosa Nostra’s
strategy, after the “season of massacres”, made the strategical choice to
operate silently, in the backstage of Italian, European and American social,
political and economical life. The
economical (political, civic, cultural and moral) crisis might also promote the
return of terrorism: “They consider the crisis a goodopportunity to relaunch the fight” said Piccirillo, Italy’s AISI intelligence agency
chief.
Italian people will be able to recover from
this situation? The oldest ruling class in Europe that is responsible for the
condition of our country, will be able to lead us out of this dangerous zone?
The new major of Palermo (the capital of Sicily), is Leoluca Orlando, he was
in charge 20 years ago. Try to imagine Rudolph Giuliani again as the major of New
York in 2021. We can — at least — interpret this as a manifest difficulty to
renew the ruling class of a country.
Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino — the two “protagonists” of the documentary In un altro paese (translated in English
as Excellent
Cadavers) see the
film review by A.O.Scott Excellent Cadavers, an Italian Documentary, Dissects the Mafia, New York Times, July 12, 2006 — can be considered two heroes. Probably the only
example of a “hero” that Italian people can think-feel about. Last week was the
anniversary of their death.
Giovanni Falcone, the Palermo-born anti-Mafia
judge rose from urban poverty to iconic status during a career that ended on
May 23, 1992, when he, along with his wife and three bodyguards, was blown up
by a bomb hidden on the highway between Palermo and the city airport. Most
evidence suggests that Corleone boss Toto Riina gave the orders for his death.
One of the highlights of his career was convincing Tommaso Buscetta to return
to Sicily from Brazil to testify at the Palermo Maxi Trial (and later at the
Pizza Connection Trial in the United States). Buscetta's testimony led to the
convictions of 340 mafiosi and associates. Falcone recognized that the success
of the trial had sealed his demise, publicly stating he knew he would now have
a price on his head for his victory. Despite the success of the trials, over
the ensuing years political chicanery at the highest levels of government
resulted in most of the convictions being overturned. Falcone's murder, and
that of his fellow magistrate Paolo Borsellino two months later, led to the
creation of the Direzione Investigativa Anti-Mafia (DIA) and
the passage of a witness protection law, which was an overwhelming success as
hundreds of pentiti (informers) came forth to testify against
the Mafia. Crime Fighters (2010), in Contemporary World Issues: Global Organized
Crime: A Reference Handbook.
“Analyzing the stories of local heroes can
provide a wealth of information about the societies to which they belong.
Heroes are the “embodiment of our ideals” (not including the American comic
book hero “Captain Underpants”), and their heroic stories are displays of the
values most celebrated by the society of origin. The stories of local heroes
also reveal societal issues which the local hero must address. In the case of
the Italian magistrates Paolo Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone in the 1980s and
1990s, the local concern was the Sicilian Mafia. At present, Borsellino and
Falcone are Italy’s most recognizable, contemporary heroes” (Kelsey Gifford). Here The Legends of Borsellino and Falcone: a Discussion of Italian Values, by Kelsey Gifford (Sociology of Italian Culture,
Gonzaga in Florence, Fall 2010).
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