Paolo Borsellinoborn in Palermo in 1940 and killed in 1992, was a magistrate symbol of the Fight against organized crime, engaged at the forefront of investigations on Cosa Nostra Entering very young in the judiciary, he began to deal with organized crime in the 80s and was part of the anti -mafia pool Together, among other colleagues, to Giovanni Falcone with which he also wrote the order of indictment of the judgment of the maxi-process. Although involved in some controversies, both in the press and with other magistrates, he never hesitated to express his ideas and carried out investigations also on ties between mafia and politics. July 19, 1992 was assassinated by a self -bombingless than two months after Falcone’s killing, in the so -called massacre of via d’Amelioof which it is suspected that the mafia acted on impulse of “external principals”.
Paolo Borsellino’s youth
Paolo Borsellino was born in Palermo, in Kalsa districton January 19, 1940 by a wealthy family. As a teenager, attending the football fields of the CONOO district Giovanni Falconewho in the future will be his colleague and friend.
Finished the schools, Borsellino enrolled in the Faculty of Law of the University of Palermo and filed for a few years in the “University of National Action” (Fuan), the right -wing student association. He graduated in 1962 and the following year, despite the economic limits in which the family had found himself for the death of his father, he succeeded in overcome the competition in the judiciary: at just 23 years old, he became The youngest magistrate of Italy.
The first experiences of magistrate and marriage
After finishing the internship, Borsellino began his career to the civil section of the Court of Ennawhere he remained from 1965 to 1967. Later, he was appointed Praetor of Mazara del Vallo (Trapani). In 1968 He married to a wedding with Agnese Pirano Letofrom whom he will have three children; The following year he was appointed praetor of Monreale (Palermo) and began to collaborate with the Captain Emanuele Basilecommander of the local Carabinieri station. In 1975 he was transferred to Court of Palermo to the Education Office (the office in charge of “instructing” the processes, no longer existing after the entry into force of the 1989 criminal procedure code).
Borsellino against the mafia: from Basile’s death to the maxiprocess against Cosa Nostra
Borsellino began to deal with the mafia in 1980, working on the investigations started by the commissioner Boris Giulianokilled in 1979. On May 4, 1980 Cosa Nostra He also assassinated Captain Basilewith which Borsellino had continued to collaborate. The magistrate was in charge of investigations on the murder and obtained the assignment of the escort for the first time. In the same period he tied himself to Rocco Chinnicihead of the education office, which in 1983 promoted the foundation of anti -mafia poolconstituting a team of judges who only dealt with Cosa Nostra: Borsellino, Falcone and Giuseppe Di Lello, to which will be added Leonardo Guarnotta. Chinnici was killed shortly after and the driving of the pool passed to Antonino Caponnetto.
The mafia, at that time, was in a phase of strong expansion: in 1981 the “Corleonese” faction, led by Totò Riina and Bernardo Provenzanohad unleashed and won a war against the “Palermo” gangs, causing hundreds of victims. Cosa Nostra had become more powerful, but found herself in difficulty because some members of the defeat, including Tommaso Buscetta, decided to collaborate with justice: Thanks to the revelations of the repentant, the law enforcement officers carried out numerous arrests and in 1986 the maxiprocessin which more than 400 mafia were charged. Borsellino wrote the ordinance-nentance of indictment together with Falcone, moving for a period in a protected location, the Asinara.
The transfer to Marsala and the “season of poisons”
The maxiprocess, finished with numerous sentences, marked a turning point in the fight against the mafia. The magistrates who had made him possible became popular figures, but also attracted themselves Criticism and hostility. In 1986 Borsellino became prosecutor of Marsala and in the following January he suffered a journalistic attack from Leonardo Sciasciaaccording to which the mafia processes served magistrates to make a career (the two men will reconcile after a few months).
After the lack of appointment of Falcone at the head of theEducation officein favor of Antonino Caponnetto, Borsellino did not hesitate to openly criticize the Superior Council of the judiciary And some colleagues, attracting new controversies on himself. Despite the tensions, Falcone continued to investigate the Cosa Nostra, also deepening the links between the mafia and politics.
The “hidden interview” and Falcone’s death
In March 1992 Borsellino was transferred again to the Court of Palermo as an additional prosecutor. On May 21 he released an interview to Two journalists from the French network Canal+speaking of the links between Sicilian crime and the industrialists of Northern Italy. He said the mafia Vittorio Manganoformer stable of Silvio Berlusconi in Arcore, was a “bridge head” of Cosa Nostra in northern Italy, but declared that he did not mean anything about the entrepreneur because he personally did not follow the investigations. The interview, despite numerous requests for airing, was not never broadcast by Rai in full version.
On May 23, the mafia cared about the life of Falcone who, injured in the explosion of Capaci, died in the hospital while Borsellino was next to him.
Borsellino’s death: the massacre of via d’Aamelio
After Falcone’s death, Borsellino continued his workproposing to investigate the Capaci massacre also. However, he was aware, also thanks to information received by the collaborators of justice, that the mafia intended to eliminate it. The attack took place the July 19th 1992only 57 days after Falcone’s death: A carboard exploded in Palermo in via Mariano D’Ameliowhere the judge’s mother lived, killing Borsellino and five escort agents on the blow.
After the massacre, the magistrate’s family members and some journalists advanced the suspicion, never ascertained, that the attack had been covered, If not wanted, by state apparatusesbecause Borsellino had become aware of the State-mafia negotiation (i.e. the attempt to agreement with the Cosa Nostra carried out by State sectors to end the massacres in exchange for benefits from the mafia). Among other things, in via D’Amelio theredon which the magistrate took important notes for his investigations, and whoever took it has never been ascertained.
