Giovanni Falcone (18 May 1939 – 23 May 1992) was an Sicilian/Italian prosecuting magistrate born in Palermo, Sicily. From his office in the Palace of Justice in Palermo, he spent most of his professional life trying to overthrow the power of the Mafia in Sicily. After a long and distinguished career, culminating in the famous Maxi Trial, he was killed by the Corleonesi Mafia in May 1992, on the motorway near the town of Capaci.[1]
His life parallels that of his closest friend Paolo Borsellino. Both men spent their early years in the same poor neighbourhood in Palermo. And though many of their childhood friends grew up to be Mafia figures, both men fought on the other side of the war as prosecuting magistrates. They were both assassinated with the use of car bombs within months of each other.[1] In recognition of their tireless effort and sacrifice during the anti-mafia trials, they were both awarded the Italian "Medaglia d'oro al valore civile" (Gold medal for civil valor) in 1992. They were also named as heroes of the last 60 years in the 13 November 2006, issue of Time Magazine.[2]
Contents |
Giovanni Falcone spent part of his youth in the Magione district in his native city Palermo, which suffered extensive destruction by aerial attacks during the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943. He was the son of Arturo Falcone, director of a provincial chemical laboratory, and Luisa Bentivegna. After a classical education, Giovanni studied law following a brief period of study at Livorno's naval academy. Graduating in 1961, he began to practice law before being appointed a judge in 1964. Falcone eventually gravitated toward penal law after serving as a district magistrate.[3]
Shortly after the murder of Judge Cesare Terranova, Falcone started to work for the investigative branch of the Prosecution Office (Ufficio istruzione) in Palermo. In May 1980, the chief of the office Rocco Chinnici appointed Falcone to investigate a major heroin-trafficking network headed by Rosario Spatola and Salvatore Inzerillo. From Sicily heroin was moved to the Gambino crime family in New York, who were related to the Inzerillos. The prosecuting Judge Gaetano Costa, who had signed the 53 arrest warrants against the heroin-trafficking network of the Spatola-Inzerillo-Gambino clan in May 1980, was murdered on 6 August 1980, on the orders of Inzerillo.
Falcone was plagued by a chronic lack of resources in his capacity as magistrate. In May 1982, the Italian government sent Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa, a general of the Italian carabinieri, to Sicily with orders to crush the Mafia. However, not long after arriving, on 3 September 1982, the General was gunned down in the city centre, his young wife by his side. Sicilians rose up in outrage. Outside the church, the politicians who attended were jeered and spat on, and blamed by Sicilians for tolerating the Mafia for so long. In response, the Italian government finally offered Falcone the backing he needed.[1]
Falcone's responsibilities as a magistrate put tremendous strain on his personal life. When he married his fiancée, Francesca Morvillo, Falcone had Mayor Leoluca Orlando himself conduct the ceremony. It was held in total secrecy late on a Saturday evening to the astonishment of Orlando's secretary. Neither family members nor friends were present, no photos were taken.[1]
Falcone introduced an innovative investigative technique, following "the money trail", to build his case. Subsequently, he became part of Palermo's Anti-Mafia Pool, created by Judge Rocco Chinnici. This was a group of investigating magistrates who closely worked together sharing information. Other than Falcone, the group included Paolo Borsellino, Giuseppe Di Lello and Leonardo Guarnotta.[4]
The Antimafia pool laid the groundwork for the Maxi Trial against the Sicilian Mafia at the preliminary investigative phase. After Chinnici’s murder in July 1983, his successor Antonino Caponnetto headed the pool. Falcone led the prosecution for the trial, which began 10 February 1986, and ended on 16 December 1987. Of the 474 Mafiosi members originally charged, 360 were convicted of serious crimes, including 119 in absentia.
One of the most important factors in the trial was the testimony of Tommaso Buscetta, one of the first ever Sicilian Mafiosi to become an informant (pentito). He was on the witness stand for an entire week. It was Falcone to whom Buscetta preferred to speak when revealing the secrets of the Mafia, and Buscetta later claimed that whilst other magistrates and detectives patronized him, Falcone treated him with respect.
During 1988 Falcone collaborated with Rudolph Giuliani, at the time U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, in operations against the Gambino and Inzerillo families.
After Falcone's successes in the Maxi Trial, the seriousness of Tommaso Buscetta's warnings that the Mafia would stop at nothing to end the magistrate's life, became clear. Despite the care he took with his safety, in June 1989 as Falcone relaxed outside his beach house, a security guard noticed an abandoned sports bag at the water's edge. It contained 58 sticks of plastic explosives, primed to explode if picked up. The bomb did not go off. After the incident, he was heard to remark the following to Liliana Ferraro, a long-term colleague and friend: "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."[1]
On 23 May 1992 on the orders of Salvatore "Toto" Riina, a half-ton bomb was placed under the motorway between Palermo International Airport and the city of Palermo (). Riina's men hid in a building above the road and remotely detonated the device. Giovanni Falcone, his wife Francesca Morvillo and body guards Rocco Dicillo, Antonio Montinaro and Vito Schifani were killed in the blast. The explosion was so powerful that it registered on local earthquake monitors. Thousands gathered at the Basilica of San Domenico for their funeral. The funeral was broadcast live on national TV and all regular television programs were suspended. Parliament declared a day of mourning.[1]
The murder was organized by Salvatore Riina as revenge for Falcone's conviction of dozens of mobsters in the Maxi Trials. Riina reportedly threw a party, toasting Falcone's death with champagne. In the major crackdown against the Mafia following Falcone and Borsellino's deaths, Riina was arrested and is now serving a life sentence for sanctioning the murders of both magistrates as well as many other crimes.[5] Another Mafioso convicted of the murder of Falcone is Giovanni Brusca, also known as lo scannacristiani (the people slaughterer). He was one of Riina's associates who admitted to being the one who 'detonated the explosives.[6]
Palermo International Airport has been named Falcone-Borsellino Airport in honor of Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino. A memorial of the pair by the local sculptor Tommaso Geraci can be found there. Falcone was posthumously awarded the Train Foundation's Civil Courage Prize, which recognizes "extraordinary heroes of conscience".[7]
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.—Giovanni Falcone
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
This is our office, these are our tools, this is our model of efficiency. If you think you can work here, then fair enough.[1]—Giovanni Falcone
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.[1]—Giovanni Falcone
|
||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||