39 years ago, on the 10th February 1986, the Maxiprocesso kicked off in Palermo Sicily with 475 members of the Mafia brought to trial with an indictment that was 8,000 pages long. 338 were convicted with 19 top Mafia bosses condemned to life in prison. Two of the Magistrates leading the trial were Paolo Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone. The Maxiprocesso was the biggest blow to organised crime in Sicily up until that time.
Prosecuting Magistrates Paolo Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone also investigated politicians who had ties to the Mafia such as the Sicilian stalwart Salvatore Lima, which angered the political class to the point of retaliating against the Magistrates.
What’s happening in Malta today reminded me of this clip below when Salvatore Cuffaro, the Democrazia Cristiana regional boss of Sicily, launched a tirade against prosecuting magistrate Giovanni Falcone on national television. The accusations and attacks are very familiar to us. Salvatore Cuffaro told Magistrate Falcone that “the journalism of the mafia” is much more damaging than the Mafia itself. Magistrate Falcone was attacked for investigating politicians and was accused of smearing Sicily’s name and defaming its best politicians. Eventually, Salvatore Cuffaro was imprisoned for his association with the Mafia.
These are the same attacks the Labour Party is making today against journalists, activists and the Judiciary.
Magistrate Falcone was killed by a roadside bomb on the 23 May 1992. His colleague, Magistrate Borsellino was killed a couple of months later, also by a roadside bomb on July 19th.
When we insist on not wanting to become like Sicily, it’s because we’ve already seen how it played out.
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