One of the Sicilian mafia’s most notorious killers, believed to have murdered more than 100 people, has been released from prison after 25 years.
Giovanni Brusca, 64, nicknamed “the swine” or u scannacristiani (“the people slayer”), who set off the explosive that the killed anti-mafia prosecutor Giovanni Falcone in 1992, is a now a free man. He also ordered the strangling of an 11-year-old boy, whose body was dissolved in acid.
The news on Monday sparked a row in Italy, even though the release of the former Cosa Nostra killer was expected and required by law. In 2000, Brusca decided to collaborate with prosecutors and was given a reduced sentence as a result.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Brusca was the right-hand man of the so-called “super boss” Toto Riina, who died in prison in 2017. Brusca was arrested in May 1996 and sentenced to life for more than 100 murders.
After he turned informant, he told prosecutors: “I’m an animal. I worked all my life for the Cosa Nostra. I have killed more than 150 people. I can’t even remember all their names.”
One of the most grisly killings was that of 11-year-old Giuseppe di Matteo, the son of a mafia turncoat, who was kidnapped in 1993 in retaliation for his father collaborating with authorities.
After being held in a house for more than two years in squalid conditions, the boy was strangled and his body thrown into acid, in what police have called “one of the most heinous crimes in the history of the Cosa Nostra.”
He also detonated the bomb that in 1992 killed Giovanni Falcone, Italy’s legendary prosecuting magistrate who dedicated his career to overthrowing the mafia.
Falcone’s wife and three bodyguards were also killed in the attack after their vehicle drove over a section of highway outside Palermo packed with 400kg of explosives, detonated by Brusca nearby.
His release has caused distress among relatives of the victims of the Cosa Nostra and politicians who say that Brusca has never shown real evidence of having repented for his atrocities, citing his controversial record as a state’s witness.
The wife of one of the bodyguards killed, Tina Montinaro, told La Repubblica that she was “indignant” at Brusca’s release.
“The state is against us — after 29 years, we still don’t know the truth about the massacre, and Giovanni Brusca, the man who destroyed my family, is free,” Montinaro said.
Maria Falcone, the sister of Giovanni Falcone, told ANSA news agency: “On a human level, this is news that pains me, but the law on the reduction of sentences for the collaboration of mafiosi is a law my brother wanted, and therefore it must be respected. I only hope the judiciary and police will be vigilant, with extreme attention, to avert the risk that he might commit crimes again.”
Brusca’s revelations led to the arrest of killers and numerous Cosa Nostra bosses, but the public, and especially the relatives of the victims, struggled to forgive him for his atrocities.
He was arrested in a villa in the province of Agrigento in 1996, by a police officer named Luciano Traina. Traina is the brother of a fellow officer who was also killed by the Cosa Nostra.
“I will never forget the look on his face when we arrested him,” Traina said. “I will never forgive him, because I do not believe Brusca has ever told the whole truth.”
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