Alex Henderson

Palermo, Sicily in 2008. Photo by Alex Henderson

The Political Zone

The Murder of Giovanni Falcone: 20 Years Later

By Alex Henderson
RealmNoir, May 24, 2012

May 23, 2012 marked the 20th anniversary of the murder of Sicilian anti-mafia prosecutor Giovanni Falcone, who was killed when members of the Corleonesi crime family detonated a roadside bomb that blew up the car in which he was traveling on the way from Palermo’s airport to the center of Palermo; Falcone’s wife Francesca Morvillo and three bodyguards were also killed in the explosion. And only two months later, on July 19, 1992, members of la mafia siciliana used a car bomb to murder another prominent anti-mafia prosecutor: Paolo Borsellino. In Philadelphia, Falcone’s death was commemorated with a May 23 event at the University of Pennsylvania’s Houston Hall that included a lecture by journalist Alexander Stille (a professor at Columbia University in New York City and author of the book Excellent Cadavers: The Mafia and the Death of the First Italian Republic) and a live discussion, via webcam, with members of the Sicily-based Addio Pizzo.

During his lecture, Stille said that 20 years after the murders of Falcone and Borsellino, the mafia still maintains a considerable amount of power in Southern Italy—and that includes not only Sicily’s la Cosa Nostra, but also, the ‘Ndrangheta (the mafia of Calabria) and the Camorra (the mafia of Naples and the Campania region). Stille noted that at this point, the ’Ndrangheta is actually larger and more powerful than la Cosa Nostra. And because organized crime wields so power in Southern Italy, Stille told the Penn audience, businesses still refuse to invest in that part of the country. “The mafia is a huge drain, effectively condemning one-third of the country to underdevelopment,” Stille asserted.

Italy is presently the third largest economy in Europe, with much of the Italian economy dominated by the northern part of the country (Milan is the fashion capitol of the world). Stille also stressed that while the mafia doesn’t have as much power in Northern Italy as it does in Sicily, Calabria or Campania, he fears that Palermo and Naples’ problems could become Milan, Rome and Bologna’s problems in the future. “This problem is extremely exportable,” said Stille, who went on to add, “If these communities don’t wake up, they will find themselves with similar problems.”

Stille also spoke about the life of Giovanni Falcone, who was responsible for hundreds of anti-mafia prosecutions in the 1980s. One American prosecutor Falcone collaborated with was Rudy Giuliani, who led operations against the Gambino and Inzerillo crime families in New York City (Salvatore “Totò” Riina, the Corleonesi family boss who ordered the assassinations of Falcone and Borsellino, was also responsible for the slaying of rival mafioso Salvatore “Tocuccio” Inzerillo in Palermo in 1981). Giuliani went on to serve two terms as mayor of New York City.

Stille’s lecture was preceded by a discussion, via webcam from Catania, Sicily, with several members of Addio Pizzo Catania, the Catania branch of Addio Pizzo (addiopizzo.org). Addio Pizzo (Italian for Goodbye, Pizzo) was founded in Palermo in 2004, when five friends wanted to open a pub in Sicily’s largest city but feared they would be asked to pay pizzo (in Sicilian slang, the term pizzo refers to the money that la Cosa Nostra extorts from businesses). Addio Pizzo is comprised of Sicilians who refuse to pay pizzo; more than 700 businesses in Sicily have taken the organization’s anti-pizzo pledge, and over 10,000 Sicilian consumers have pledged to only patronize businesses that are on Addio Pizzo’s “no-pizzo list.” Addio Pizzo’s slogan is “un intero popolo che paga il pizzo è un popolo senza dignità,” which is Italian for, “A whole people who pay the pizzo is a whole people without dignity.”

  Alex Henderson is a veteran journalist whose work has appeared in The L.A. Weekly, AlterNet, Billboard, Spin, XBIZ, Creem, The Pasadena Weekly and a long list of other well-known publications.  He can be followed on Twitter @alexvhenderson. 

Sicilian anti-mafia prosecutor Giovanni Falcone (above) was murdered by members of the Corleonesi faction of la Cosa Nostra on May 23, 1992.