Piersanti Mattarella
Encyclopedia
Piersanti Mattarella was an Italian politician
. He was assassinated by the Mafia
while he held the position of President of the Regional Government of Sicily
.
, in the province of Trapani
, Sicily
. He was the son of Bernardo Mattarella
, a member of Christian Democracy
(DC), and a leading political boss in Sicily in the 1950s. The power network his father had created benefited his initial political career.
He received a Catholic-oriented education by the Jesuits. In 1960 he became a national leader of the Azione Cattolica
, and subsequently became an important regional member of DC. Inspired by the politics of Giorgio La Pira
, he adhered to the more progressive approach of national leader Aldo Moro
. In 1967 he became deputy to the Regional Parliament of Sicily
, a position he held until 1978, when he was elected President of Sicily.
. Initially believed to be an act of neo-fascist
terrorism, his assassination was spurred by his strong commitment against the relationships of numerous Sicilian politicians (mostly members of DC itself) with the Mafia. While in office, Mattarella had decided to launch a moral renewal of the Sicilian Christan Democracy. He wanted to clean up the government’s public contracts racket that benefited Cosa Nostra, passing a law enforcing the same building standards used in the rest of Italy, thereby making the Mafia's building schemes illegal.
Soon, Mattarella became isolated. The inspector he had asked to conduct an investigation into the public contracts in Palermo, Raimondo Mignosi, recalled the air of intimidation at the time: “I told him to be careful because I ran the risk of ending up in a cement block, at which he replied, ‘That’s not true, I’ll end up in the cement.’ To break the tension, we jokingly agreed that we would both end up in cement blocks side by side.”
to complain to former prime minister Giulio Andreotti
about the behaviour of Mattarella, according to Mafia turncoat (pentito
) Francesco Marino Mannoia
. Andreotti contacted Mafia boss Stefano Bontade
to try to prevent the Mafia from killing Piersanti Mattarella. Bontade and other Mafiosi felt betrayed by Mattarella, who used to be responsive to their interests (his father Bernardo Mattarella
was rumoured to be associated with the Mafia).
Andreotti’s attempt failed. After the murder of Mattarella, Andreotti again contacted Bontade and Salvatore Inzerillo
to try to straighten things out. Andreotti and Lima allegedly arrived at the meeting in a bullet-proof Alfa Romeo
, belonging to the Salvo cousins. He had come to protest the killing. However, according to Marino Mannoia, Bontade told Andreotti: "We are in charge in Sicily and, unless you want the whole DC cancelled out, you do as we say." When Andreotti’s aide Franco Evangelisti asked Lima about what had happened, Lima replied: “When agreements are struck, they have to be kept”.
, while the principals were on the Sicilian Mafia Commission
, at the time – Bontade and Inzerillo, as well as Michele Greco
, Salvatore Riina
, Bernardo Provenzano
, Antonino Geraci
, Francesco Madonia
, Pippo Calò, Bernardo Brusca.
The Mattarella killing was also part of the trial against Andreotti for collusion with the Mafia. The court established that Andreotti had indeed had strong ties to the Mafia until 1980, and had used them to further his political career to such an extent as to be considered a component of the Mafia itself. The judges decided to uphold Andreotti's original acquittal on grounds of expiration of statutory terms because he had severed relations with the Mafia from 1980. It attributed the turnaround to Mattarella's murder.
, former mayor of Palermo for the DC and Antimafia activist, who had been a legal adviser to Mattarella, the rumours about his father and his party’s experiences with the Mafia were probably responsible for Piersanti’s aspiration to clean the Christian Democrat party of any such connections.
The Italian national Anti-mafia Prosecutor, Piero Grasso, said that Mattarella was killed because "he was trying to accomplish a new political and administrative project, a true revolution, which, through a deep change in the management of the Region, aimed at breaking well established relations between bureaucracy, politics, business and the mafia. His policy of radical moralization of public life, based on the idea that Sicily needed to present itself with 'the papers in order', had upset the system of public procurement, with stunning moves, never seen before in the Island". Judge Giancarlo Caselli, Chief Prosecutor in Palermo for many years, described Mattarella as "a honest and courageous Christian democrat, killed just because he was honest and courageous".
His younger brother, Sergio Mattarella
, is also a politician.
Politics of Italy
The politics of Italy is conducted through a parliamentary, democratic republic with a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised collectively by the Council of Ministers, which is led by the President of the Council of Ministers, referred to as "Presidente del Consiglio" in Italian...
. He was assassinated by the Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
while he held the position of President of the Regional Government of Sicily
Politics of Sicily
The Politics of Sicily, Italy takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democracy, whereby the President of Regional Government is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the Regional Government...
.
Background and early career
Mattarella was born in Castellammare del GolfoCastellammare del Golfo
Castellammare del Golfo is a town and comune in the Trapani Province of Sicily. The name is roughly translated "Sea- Fortress of the Gulf", deriving from the medieval fortress in the harbor...
, in the province of Trapani
Province of Trapani
Trapani is a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily in Italy. Its capital is the city of Trapani.It has an area of 2,460 km², and a total population of 425,121...
, Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
. He was the son of Bernardo Mattarella
Bernardo Mattarella
Bernardo Mattarella was an Italian politician for the Christian Democrat party . He has been Minister of Italy several times...
, a member of Christian Democracy
Christian Democracy (Italy)
Christian Democracy was a Christian democratic party in Italy. It was founded in 1943 as the ideological successor of the historical Italian People's Party, which had the same symbol, a crossed shield ....
(DC), and a leading political boss in Sicily in the 1950s. The power network his father had created benefited his initial political career.
He received a Catholic-oriented education by the Jesuits. In 1960 he became a national leader of the Azione Cattolica
Azione Cattolica
The Azione Cattolica Italiana, or Azione Cattolica for short, is a widespread lay Roman Catholic association in Italy.-History:...
, and subsequently became an important regional member of DC. Inspired by the politics of Giorgio La Pira
Giorgio La Pira
Giorgio La Pira was an Italian politician who served as mayor of Florence twice . He also served as deputy of the Christian Democratic Party and participated in the assembly that wrote the Constitution of Italy after World War II...
, he adhered to the more progressive approach of national leader Aldo Moro
Aldo Moro
Aldo Moro was an Italian politician and the 39th Prime Minister of Italy, from 1963 to 1968, and then from 1974 to 1976. He was one of Italy's longest-serving post-war Prime Ministers, holding power for a combined total of more than six years....
. In 1967 he became deputy to the Regional Parliament of Sicily
Politics of Sicily
The Politics of Sicily, Italy takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democracy, whereby the President of Regional Government is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the Regional Government...
, a position he held until 1978, when he was elected President of Sicily.
Killed by the Mafia
Two years later, on January 6, 1980, he was killed by the Mafia in PalermoPalermo
Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
. Initially believed to be an act of neo-fascist
Neo-Fascism
Neo-fascism is a post–World War II ideology that includes significant elements of fascism. The term neo-fascist may apply to groups that express a specific admiration for Benito Mussolini and Italian Fascism or any other fascist leader/state...
terrorism, his assassination was spurred by his strong commitment against the relationships of numerous Sicilian politicians (mostly members of DC itself) with the Mafia. While in office, Mattarella had decided to launch a moral renewal of the Sicilian Christan Democracy. He wanted to clean up the government’s public contracts racket that benefited Cosa Nostra, passing a law enforcing the same building standards used in the rest of Italy, thereby making the Mafia's building schemes illegal.
Soon, Mattarella became isolated. The inspector he had asked to conduct an investigation into the public contracts in Palermo, Raimondo Mignosi, recalled the air of intimidation at the time: “I told him to be careful because I ran the risk of ending up in a cement block, at which he replied, ‘That’s not true, I’ll end up in the cement.’ To break the tension, we jokingly agreed that we would both end up in cement blocks side by side.”
Political involvement in murder
The Mafia used its contacts with forthcoming Sicilian DC-politicians such as Salvo Lima and the Salvo cousinsAntonio Salvo
Antonio Nino Salvo and his cousin Ignazio Salvo were two wealthy businessmen from the town of Salemi in the province of Trapani. They had strong political connections with the Christian Democrat party , in particular with the former mayor of Palermo, Salvo Lima, and Giulio Andreotti...
to complain to former prime minister Giulio Andreotti
Giulio Andreotti
Giulio Andreotti is an Italian politician of the now dissolved centrist Christian Democracy party. He served as the 42nd Prime Minister of Italy from 1972 to 1973, from 1976 to 1979 and from 1989 to 1992. He also served as Minister of the Interior , Defense Minister and Foreign Minister and he...
about the behaviour of Mattarella, according to Mafia turncoat (pentito
Pentito
Pentito designates people in Italy who, formerly part of criminal or terrorist organizations, following their arrests decide to "repent" and collaborate with the judicial system to help investigations...
) Francesco Marino Mannoia
Francesco Marino Mannoia
Francesco Marino Mannoia is a former member of the Sicilian Mafia who became a pentito in 1989. His nickname was Mozzarella. He is considered to be one of the most reliable government witnesses against the Mafia...
. Andreotti contacted Mafia boss Stefano Bontade
Stefano Bontade
Stefano Bontade was a powerful member of the Sicilian Mafia. Some sources spell his surname Bontate. He was the capomafia of the Santa Maria di Gesù Family in Palermo...
to try to prevent the Mafia from killing Piersanti Mattarella. Bontade and other Mafiosi felt betrayed by Mattarella, who used to be responsive to their interests (his father Bernardo Mattarella
Bernardo Mattarella
Bernardo Mattarella was an Italian politician for the Christian Democrat party . He has been Minister of Italy several times...
was rumoured to be associated with the Mafia).
Andreotti’s attempt failed. After the murder of Mattarella, Andreotti again contacted Bontade and Salvatore Inzerillo
Salvatore Inzerillo
Salvatore Inzerillo was an Italian criminal, a member of the Sicilian Mafia, also known as Totuccio . He rose to be a powerful boss of Palermo's Passo di Rigano family...
to try to straighten things out. Andreotti and Lima allegedly arrived at the meeting in a bullet-proof Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of cars. Founded as A.L.F.A. on June 24, 1910, in Milan, the company has been involved in car racing since 1911, and has a reputation for building expensive sports cars...
, belonging to the Salvo cousins. He had come to protest the killing. However, according to Marino Mannoia, Bontade told Andreotti: "We are in charge in Sicily and, unless you want the whole DC cancelled out, you do as we say." When Andreotti’s aide Franco Evangelisti asked Lima about what had happened, Lima replied: “When agreements are struck, they have to be kept”.
Trials
According to Marino Mannoia the killers of Mattarella were Salvatore Federico, Francesco Davì, Santo Inzerillo and Antonio RotoloAntonio Rotolo
Antonio "Nino" Rotolo is an Italian Mafia boss from the Pagliarelli area in Palermo that traditionally was under the control of the Motisi Mafia family. Rotolo was the underboss of Matteo Motisi, but according to some pentiti he was the de facto leader representing the mandamento on the Sicilian...
, while the principals were on the Sicilian Mafia Commission
Sicilian Mafia Commission
The Sicilian Mafia Commission, known as Commissione or Cupola, is a body of leading Mafia members to decide on important questions concerning the actions of, and settling disputes within the Sicilian Mafia or Cosa Nostra...
, at the time – Bontade and Inzerillo, as well as Michele Greco
Michele Greco
Michele Greco was a member of the Sicilian Mafia, previously incarcerated for multiple murders. His nickname was "il Papa" because of his ability to mediate between different Mafia families...
, Salvatore Riina
Salvatore Riina
Salvatore "Totò" Riina is a member of the Sicilian Mafia who became the most powerful member of the criminal organization in the early 1980s. Fellow mobsters nicknamed him The Beast due to his violent nature, or sometimes The Short One due to his diminutive stature...
, Bernardo Provenzano
Bernardo Provenzano
Bernardo Provenzano is a member of the Sicilian Mafia and is suspected of having been the head of the Corleonesi, a Mafia faction that originated in the village of Corleone, and de facto capo di tutti capi of the entire Sicilian Mafia until his arrest in 2006.His nickname is Binnu u tratturi...
, Antonino Geraci
Nenè Geraci
Antonio Geraci , better known as Nenè or il vecchio , is the historical boss of the Mafia in Partinico, in the province of Palermo. Geraci sat on the Sicilian Mafia Commission since the mid 1970s and belonged to the hard line faction allied with the Corleonesi of Totò Riina and Bernardo Provenzano...
, Francesco Madonia
Francesco Madonia
Francesco Ciccio Madonia was the Mafia boss of the San Lorenzo-Pallavicino area in Palermo. In 1978 he became a member of the Sicilian Mafia Commission....
, Pippo Calò, Bernardo Brusca.
The Mattarella killing was also part of the trial against Andreotti for collusion with the Mafia. The court established that Andreotti had indeed had strong ties to the Mafia until 1980, and had used them to further his political career to such an extent as to be considered a component of the Mafia itself. The judges decided to uphold Andreotti's original acquittal on grounds of expiration of statutory terms because he had severed relations with the Mafia from 1980. It attributed the turnaround to Mattarella's murder.
Legacy
According to Leoluca OrlandoLeoluca Orlando
Leoluca Orlando , is an Italian politician, who was mayor of Palermo in 1985-1990 and 1993-2000. He is best known for his strong opposition to the Sicilian Mafia.-Biography:Orlando was born in Palermo...
, former mayor of Palermo for the DC and Antimafia activist, who had been a legal adviser to Mattarella, the rumours about his father and his party’s experiences with the Mafia were probably responsible for Piersanti’s aspiration to clean the Christian Democrat party of any such connections.
The Italian national Anti-mafia Prosecutor, Piero Grasso, said that Mattarella was killed because "he was trying to accomplish a new political and administrative project, a true revolution, which, through a deep change in the management of the Region, aimed at breaking well established relations between bureaucracy, politics, business and the mafia. His policy of radical moralization of public life, based on the idea that Sicily needed to present itself with 'the papers in order', had upset the system of public procurement, with stunning moves, never seen before in the Island". Judge Giancarlo Caselli, Chief Prosecutor in Palermo for many years, described Mattarella as "a honest and courageous Christian democrat, killed just because he was honest and courageous".
His younger brother, Sergio Mattarella
Sergio Mattarella
Sergio Mattarella is an Italian politician.-Life:Mattarella was born in Palermo . He is son of Bernardo Mattarella and brother of Piersanti Mattarella, both politician into Democrazia Cristiana....
, is also a politician.
Sources
- Dickie, John (2004). Cosa Nostra. A history of the Sicilian Mafia, London: Coronet, ISBN 0-340-82435-2
- Ginsborg, Paul (2003). Italy and Its Discontents, London: Palgrave Macmillan ISBN 1-4039-6152-2 (Review Institute of Historical Research | Review New York Times)
- Grasso, Piero (2009). Per non morire di mafia, Sperling & Kupfer, ISBN
- Orlando, Leoluca (2003). Fighting the Mafia and Renewing Sicilian Culture, New York: Encounter Books, ISBN 1-893554-81-3
- Schneider, Jane T. & Peter T. Schneider (2003). Reversible Destiny: Mafia, Antimafia, and the Struggle for Palermo, Berkeley: University of California Press ISBN 0-520-23609-2
- Stille, AlexanderAlexander StilleAlexander Stille is an American author and journalist. He is the son of Ugo Stille, a well-known Italian journalist and a former editor of Italy's Milan-based Corriere della Sera newspaper. Alexander Stille graduated from Yale and later the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism...
(1995). Excellent Cadavers. The Mafia and the Death of the First Italian Republic, New York: Vintage ISBN 0-09-959491-9