Sicilian judge Antonino Di Matteo is one of the most threatened - and protected - men in Italy. As the chief prosecutor in Italy's "trial of the century", he has more than 20 bodyguards, ensuring his safety around the clock. On trial are 10 men who stand accused of being part of a conspiracy between the mafia and the state. Five of the defendants are mafia bosses and five are members of the political establishment. Read More
Sicily
Taking on the Mafia: AL Jazeera documentary about Palermo
September 1, 2016
Sicilian judge Antonino Di Matteo is one of the most threatened - and protected - men in Italy. As the chief prosecutor in Italy's "trial of the century", he has more than 20 bodyguards, ensuring his safety around the clock. On trial are 10 men who stand accused of being part of a conspiracy between the mafia and the state. Five of the defendants are mafia bosses and five are members of the political establishment. Read More
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Mafia boss Bernardo provenzano is dead
July 14, 2016
From The Guardian:
Bernardo Provenzano, who has died aged 83 in a secure hospital, was the former boss of the Corleone clan, once the most vicious and voracious of the Sicilian mafia families. He had been imprisoned in solitary confinement since 2006, serving a number of life sentences for murder.
Provenzano was credited with rescuing Cosa Read More
Bernardo Provenzano, who has died aged 83 in a secure hospital, was the former boss of the Corleone clan, once the most vicious and voracious of the Sicilian mafia families. He had been imprisoned in solitary confinement since 2006, serving a number of life sentences for murder.
Provenzano was credited with rescuing Cosa Read More
A thousand candles in his memory at Chiesa di San Domenico
May 23, 2016
Thousands of students from all over Italy converged on Palermo to commemorate the death, by murder, of anti Mafia Judge Giovanni Falcone who gave his life in the fight against the Mafia. He was killed in Capaci on the road from the airport, with his wife and police escort, by a bomb planted on Read More
Tomorrow is the 24th anniversary of the murder of Giovanni Falcone
May 22, 2016
Giovanni Falcone gave his life fighting the Mafia.
Rest in Peace.
Tough job
April 29, 2016
From this morning's La Repubblica.
Residents of La Kalsa, the ancient Arab-founded neighborhood of old Palermo and several businessmen helped a burglar pursued by police to escape. The police were encircled by the crowd and the thief got away with 10,000 euros he and three others had just robbed from a market Read More
Residents of La Kalsa, the ancient Arab-founded neighborhood of old Palermo and several businessmen helped a burglar pursued by police to escape. The police were encircled by the crowd and the thief got away with 10,000 euros he and three others had just robbed from a market Read More
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Palermo's solidarity with wounded immigrant; mayor at head of protest march
April 9, 2016
A young man from Gambia was peacefully talking on a street corner with friends from his native Gambia when a mafioso-type jerk from the neighborhood came up to them and started insulting them. Usually, the immigrants will turn and run. But Yusupha Susso, a 21-year-old Gambian stuck up for himself and for his friends. Read More
Volunteers to fix apt confiscated from Mafia
April 6, 2016
The city has given two apartments confiscated from the Mafia to needy, homeless families. But the apartments needed lot of work. So volunteers from the anti-Mafia association Addio Pizzo ( Goodbye, Protection money) and the mission of Santa Chiara put on a fund-raising dinner that brought together unemployed construction workers, architects, tradesmen and donors. A woman immigrant who had been helped by the mission volunteered to cook a dinner from her own country. Together they will fix up the apartments in a hurry before squatters can move in. Read More
Italian Judge breaks up families to save children from the mafia
February 26, 2016
And that's not easy because the family as the basic unit of Italian society is built into the Italian constitution. This judge says it is abusive to bring a child to mafia meetings, indoctrinate him for entry into criminal organizations, and reduce his life's horizons. That it is just as much a crime as giving a child a syringe or a kalishnokov rifle. Read the story in English in The Guardian by clicking on the caption. Read More
Mattarella today unveils copy of Caravaggio's Nativity, stolen in 1969
December 12, 2015
The theft of Caravaggio’s Nativity with St Francis and St Lawrence from an oratory in Palermo in 1969 is still considered one of the worst art crimes in history.
The 17th-century masterpiece – a depiction of the newborn Christ on a bed of straw, painted in the chiaroscuro technique – was thought to have been painted by Caravaggio in Rome and later moved to Sicily, where it hung for centuries before being cut from its frame by two thieves in the night, never to be seen again. Read More
The 17th-century masterpiece – a depiction of the newborn Christ on a bed of straw, painted in the chiaroscuro technique – was thought to have been painted by Caravaggio in Rome and later moved to Sicily, where it hung for centuries before being cut from its frame by two thieves in the night, never to be seen again. Read More
6 major mafia arrests this morning
December 11, 2015
Chilling headlines in La Repubblica today.
Through spy cameras and microphones hidden all over the city, Sicilian police learned that the oldest mafia clan in Palermo, of Santa Maria del Gesu` on the city's east side, had just elected a new boss. The brief, intense election season was a sign to police that the Read More
Through spy cameras and microphones hidden all over the city, Sicilian police learned that the oldest mafia clan in Palermo, of Santa Maria del Gesu` on the city's east side, had just elected a new boss. The brief, intense election season was a sign to police that the Read More