143
Sicilian police inspect the aftermath
of the car bomb attack that killed
Judge Paulo Borsellino and his police
guards near the judge’s mother’s house
in Palermo, Sicily, on 20 July 1992.Caponnetto, a career magistrate
who was planning to retire, to
step in as Chinnici’s replacement.
Caponnetto developed a team of
anti-Mafia magistrates. Going on
the offensive, he announced
that the authorities were now
working with ex-Mafia informant
Tommaso Buscetta, who wasORGANIZED CRIME
providing information that would
finally prove the Cosa Nostra was
a single unified organization.
Caponnetto declared that the entire
Mafia, rather than individual
members or groups, was going on
trial. Caponnetto’s team went on to
issue 366 arrest warrants on the
strength of Buscetta’s testimony.
When further witnesses came
forward, more arrests were made.Fierce response
Rather than toning down their
violence, the Corleonesi-controlled
Mafia escalated it. As Italy had yet
to develop an effective witness
protection programme, the Cosa
Nostra gunned down informant
Leonardo Vitale, Tomasso
Buscetta’s brother-in-law. Flying
squad officer Beppe Montana,
responsible for tracking down Mafia
fugitives, was killed in July 1985.
The next month, another flyingsquad member, Antonino Cassarà,
was riddled with 200 bullets while
his wife looked on in horror.
The sheer scale of the violence
triggered what was known as the
“Palermo Spring”. Students held
anti-Mafia demonstrations in
Palermo, an influential clergyman
spoke openly of the “Mafia” for the
first time and shamed the national
government for not addressing the
problem, as did the mayor of
Palermo. Meanwhile, the anti-Mafia
magistrates had accrued enough
evidence to open a maxi-trial on
10 February 1986, in which 474
mafiosi and their allies were to face
charges. On 16 December 1987, ❯❯I obeyed orders, and I knew
that by strangling a little boy I
would make a career for
myself. I was walking on air.
Salvatore Cancemi138-145_Sicilian_Mafia.indd 143 02/12/2016 14:43