by Alex Perry
3. Santo Della Volpe, ‘Le Donne e La Lotta di Liberazione dale Mafie’, Libera, 2012: www.libera.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT/IDPagina/6462
4. The eleven-minute recording of Concetta’s ‘retraction’ is on the StopNdrangheta website: http://www.stopndrangheta.it/stopndr/art.aspx?id=1419,La+ritrattazione+estorta+alla+Cacciola
5. Clare Longrigg, ‘Mafia witness “forced to drink acid”’, Mafiology, 2 February 2014: mafiologytest.wordpress.com/tag/alessandra-cerreti/
XVIII
1. This chapter is based on evidence and transcripts presented in official judicial documents relating to the trial of Michele Cacciola, Anna Lazzaro and Giuseppe Cacciola, and the subsequent trial of the two lawyers, Vittorio Pisani and Gregorio Cacciola. This material is supplemented by the author’s interviews with Alessandra Cerreti, Giovanni Musarò and Giuseppe Creazzo.
2. Interview with the author, May 2016, Milan.
3. Interview with the author, May 2016, Rome.
4. ‘Orsola Fallara in condizioni disperate al Riuniti di Reggio dopo un tentativo di suicidio’, 16 December 2010: www.cn24tv.it/news/16616/orsola-fallara-in-condizioni-disperate-al-riuniti-di-reggio-dopo-un-tentativo-di-suicidio.html
5. Carlo Macri, ‘Il suicidio della testimone anti clan’, Il Corriere, 23 August 2011: www.corriere.it/cronache/11_agosto_23/il-suicidio-della-testimone-anti-clan-carlo-macri_7e7fbc74-cd49-11e0-8914-d32bd7027ea8.shtml
6. The full letter can be found here: www.sdisonorate.it/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Le-testimoni-di-giustizia-calabresi.pdf
7. Ibid. Calabria Ora’s front page can be seen a few pages further on.
XIX
1. This chapter is based on official transcriptions of Denise Cosco’s statements on 25 November 2009 and 5 March 2010, and of her testimony in court on 20 September and 13 October 2011, as well as judicial documents from the murder trial that followed.
2. Milka Kahn and Anne Véron, Women of Honour, Hurst, 2017, p. 118.
3. Marika Demaria, La Scelta di Lea (Milan: Melampo Publisher, 2013), p. 26. I am indebted to Ms Demaria, the only reporter to stay in court throughout the nine months of the trial, whose persistence allowed for a complete, public account to be given.
XX
1. This section is based on trial documents relating to Operation All Inside, the prosecution of the Pesce clan, and statements made by Giuseppina Pesce to Alessandra Cerreti and during the subsequent trial.
2. Much of the Pesce correspondence is also reprinted in full in Caterina Scaffidi Domianello’s invaluable articles in ‘Donne contro la ’ndrangheta’, Narcomafie, July/August 2013: www.liberanet.org/narcomafie/2013_07.pdf. Excerpts from Giuseppina’s letter of 23 August 2011 are also reprinted here: www.strill.it/citta/2011/09/le-lettere-di-giuseppina-pesce-collaboro-per-dare-un-futuro-ai-miei-figli/
3. Caterina Scaffidi Domianello, ‘Donne contro la ’ndrangheta’, Narcomafie, July/August 2013: www.liberanet.org/narcomafie/2013_07.pdf
4. Gaeta Piero, ‘Condannati a 20 anni Vincenzo e Ciccio Pesce’, Gazetta del Sud, 21 September 2011: http://www.calabrianotizie.it/condannati-anni-vincenzo-ciccio-pesce-sentenza-esemplare-del-gup-roberto-carrelli-palombi-che-ieri-sera-condannato-undici-imputati-ordinato-maxi-risarcimento/
5. Paul Toscano, ‘Giuseppina Pesce si è pentita di nuovo’, Gazetta del Sud, 22 September 2011: www.calabrianotizie.it/giuseppina-pesce-pentita-nuovo-dopo-avere-interrotto-collaborazione-con-magistrati-della-dda-reggina-figlia-del-boss-salvatore-ripreso-riferire-vicende-della-cosca-figli/
6. Ibid.
7. ‘Giuseppina Pesce domani al processo di Palmi’, CN24TV, 22 September 2011: www.cn24tv.it/news/32497/ndrangheta-giuseppina-pesce-domani-al-processo-di-palmi.html; ‘Clan pesce, Palaia scrive alla moglie pentita: “stai rovinando te stessa ed i tuoi figli”, CN24TV, 23 November 2011: www.cn24tv.it/news/32639/clan-pesce-palaia-scrive-alla-moglie-pentita-stai-rovinando-te-stessa-ed-i-tuoi-figli.html
8. ‘Operazione “All clean 2”: I dettagli’, CN24TV, 13 October 2011: www.cn24tv.it/news/33781/operazione-all-clean-2-i-dettagli.html
9. ‘Processo al clan Pesce, la testimone di giustizia sarà sentita da un luogo segreto’, CN24TV, 21 October 2011: www.cn24tv.it/news/34338/processo-al-clan-pesce-la-testimone-di-giustizia-sara-sentita-da-un-luogo-segreto.html
10. Nick Pisa, ‘Judge hands 1,000-year prison sentence to 110 Mafia mobsters in massive show trial’, Daily Mail, 22 November 2011: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2063932/Judge-hands-1-000-year-prison-sentence-110-Mafia-mobsters-massive-trial.html
11. Author interview with Alessandra Cerreti. Also see the account in Francesca Chirico, ‘Rosarno, donne e ’ndrangheta: il processo del contrappasso’, Stop’Ndrangheta, 25 November 2011: www.stopndrangheta.it/stopndr/art.aspx?id=1215,Rosarno%2c+donne+e+%27ndrangheta%3a+il+processo+del+contrappasso
XXI
1. This section is based on two interviews with Roberto di Bella at his offices in Reggio Calabria in July 2015 and May 2016, as well as a visit to the hostel housing ’Ndrangheta children in Messina and interviews with the staff there.
2. Riccardo Francesco Cordì, ‘Voglio una Vita Normale’, Corriere della Sera, 8 May 2014: www.corriere.it/cronache/14_maggio_08/voglio-vita-normale-6f0f1dc2-d672-11e3-b1c6-d3130b63f531.shtml
XXII
1. Translation from the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, Review of implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, Italy, p. 4: www.unodc.org/documents/treaties/UNCAC/WorkingGroups/ImplementationReviewGroup/26-27November2013/V1387842e.pdf
2. Il Quotidiano della Calabria’s front page for 10 February 2012 can be seen here: www.stopndrangheta.it/file/stopndrangheta_1381.pdf. The page includes the start of Matteo Cosenza’s editorial, as well as stories on Maria Concetta Cacciola, Giuseppina Pesce and Lea Garofalo, perhaps the first time that the three women and their stories had been reported collectively. The full editorial is here: 19luglio1992.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&catid=2%3Aeditoriali&id=5213%3Ail-simbolo-dell8-marzo-tre-donne-coraggiose&Itemid=33
3. For example, see Giuseppe Baldessaro, ‘Lea, Concetta, Giuseppina è l’8 marzo della Calabria’, La Repubblica, 2 March 2012: www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2012/03/02/news/donne_ndrangheta_8_marzo-30721686/
4. Ilaria Calabro, ‘Dagli studenti una lettera alla Pesce, “nel tuo riscatto è possibile il riscatto di tutti”,’ strettoweb.com, 8 March 2012: www.strettoweb.com/2012/03/reggio-8-marzo-dagli-studenti-una-lettera-alla-pesce-nel-tuo-riscatto-e-possibile-il-riscatto-di-tutti/25999/#07DWLhJEL6JRX3w0.99
5. Matteo Cosenza, ‘Vicini a Denise che ha scelto la verità e la giustizia’, Il Quotidiano, 8 March 2012: www.stopndrangheta.it/file/stopndrangheta_1485.pdf
XXIII
1. This section is based on official transcripts of the court proceedings held in Palmi, 21–26 May 2012.
XXIV
1. Marika Demaria, ‘Processo Lea Garofalo, riprendono le udienze’, Narcomafie.it, 2 December 2012: www.acmos.net/processo-lea-garofalo-riprendono-le-udienze
2. ‘Sei ergastoli per l’omicidio di Lea Garofalo’, Il Fatto Quotidiano, 30 March 2012: www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2012/03/30/milano-ergastoli-lomicidio-garofalo-testimone-sciolta-nellacido/201316/. See also Tom Kington, ‘Italian mobster condemned by daughter’s evidence’, The Observer, 1 April 2012: www.theguardian.com/world/2012/apr/01/italian-mobster-jailed-by-daughters-evidence
3. Simona Ravizza, Cesare Giuzzi e Redazione Milano online, ‘Viale Montello 6, sgomberato dopo 40 anni il “fortino delle cosche”’, 21 June 2012, Corriere della Sera: www.milano.corriere.it/milano/notizie/cronaca/12_giugno_21/viale-montello-fortino-cosche-sgombero-polizia-cosco-lea-garofalo-201694845491.shtml. Corriere della Sera also has pictures of No. 6 Viale Montello as it was when Carlo ruled it and how it might be renovated here: Elisabetta Andreis, ‘Una “corte” moderna nell’ex fortino della mafia’, 29 August 2016: www.milano.corriere.it/notizie/cronaca/16_agosto_29/viale-montello-fortino-mafia-stabile-abbandonato-progetto-demolizione-41cb3f10-6d58
-11e6-baa8-f780dada92e5.shtml
4. Michele Brambilla, ‘The Tragedy and Courage of a Mobster’s Daughter’, La Stampa in English, 17 April 2014: www.lastampa.it/2014/04/17/esteri/lastampa-in-english/the-tragedy-and-courage-of-a-mobsters-daughter-lrpU6aQB445if2M PCiJM9I/pagina.html
5. This account of Carmine Venturino’s confession is based on official court documents. There are also numerous press reports of Carmine Venturino’s letter. See for instance Sandro De Riccardis, ‘Il verbale dell’orrore sulla pentita Garofalo: “Bruciai il suo corpo finché rimase cenere”’, La Repubblica, 20 March 2013: www.milano.repubblica.it/cronaca/2013/03/20/news/il_verbale_dell_orrore_sulla_pentita_garofalo_bruciai_il_suo_corpo_finch_rimase_cenere-54945861/?ref=search; Alessandra Coppola and Cesare Giuzzi, ‘Uccisi Lea Garofalo, il coraggio di Denise mi ha spinto a collaborare’, Corriere della Sera, 4 December 2012: www.senzatarga.wordpress.com/2012/12/04/lea/; Demaria, La Scelta di Lea.
6. This section relies chiefly on official records provided by prosecutor Marcello Tatangelo of his interrogation of Carmine Venturino on 3 and 11 October 2012, as well as later transcripts of Carmine’s questioning by Tatangelo in court. Once again, I am also indebted to Marika Demaria of Narcomafie, who doggedly followed the case and published intermittent reports as well as her book, La Scelta di Lea. Also useful were various other press reports, as indicated.
XXV
1. ‘All Inside, il dispositivo della sentenza (I grado)’, Narcomafie, 3 May 2013: www.stopndrangheta.it/stopndr/art.aspx?id=1709,All+Inside%2c+il+dispositivo+della+sentenza+(I+grado)
2. When the final sentences were delivered four years later, on 29 March 2017, sentences were confirmed against thirty-four accused: ‘’Ndrangheta, diventano definitive le condanne inflitte al clan Pesce di Rosarno’, Zoom 24, 29 March 2017: http://www.zoom24.it/2017/03/29/ndrangheta-pesce-condanne-rosarno-45842/
3. Giuseppe Baldessarro, ‘’Ndrangheta: nessuno demolisce la casa del boss, accetta solo l’imprenditore sotto scorta’, La Repubblica, September 2014: www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2014/09/16/news/calabria_ndrangheta_boss-95872877/
4. Barbara Conforti, Mafia, la trahison des femmes, Canal+, 2 March 2014.
5. ‘Omicidio Lea Garofalo, in appello confermati 4 ergastoli’, Il Fatto Quotidiano, 29 May 2013: www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2013/05/29/omicidio-lea-garofalo-in-appello-confermati-4-ergastoli-assolto/610120/
6. Vincenzo Ruggiero, ‘17 arresti a Crotone e in altre 4 regioni. Decisive le dichiarazioni di Lea Garofalo’, CN24TV, 29 October 2013: www.cn24tv.it/news/77515/omicidi-di-ndrangheta-17-arresti-a-crotone-e-in-altre-4-regioni-decisive-le-dichiarazioni-di-lea-garofalo.html
XXVI
1. Kahn and Véron, Women of Honour, p. 127.
2. There are several videos of Lea’s funeral online which include Denise’s short speech. See www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oR9kFYFVcs or www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9jxIMRQlT8
Picture Section
Lea Garofalo. The picture is undated but seems to capture Lea in her early twenties, just after she became a mother. The image became iconic. (http://www.wikimafia.it)
Lea, on the left, and Denise captured by CCTV in Milan in their last minutes together on the evening of 24 November 2009. (Milan Carabinieri)
Alessandra Cerreti, pictured in her office in Reggio Calabria. (FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP/Getty Images)
Reggio Calabria, as seen from the hills to the south-east of the city, looking north-west across the Straits to Messina. (Anna Quaglia/Alamy Stock Photo)
San Luca. For decades, the ’Ndrangheta have convened an annual meeting on 2 September in this Aspromonte hill village, using a religious festival as cover. (ROPI/Alamy Stock Photo)
Carlo Cosco in a police mugshot taken after his arrest in February 2010. (Lanese /Epa/REX/Shutterstock)
Giuseppina Pesce the day after her arrest in April 2010. (ANSA)
Domenico Oppedisano being driven through the streets after his arrest in Rosarno in July 2010. (Franco Cufari/Epa/REX/Shutterstock)
Giuseppina Pesce in her mugshot after her arrest. (ANSA)
Maria Concetta Cacciola. Confined to the family home for weeks at a time, only one other picture of her has ever surfaced. (ANSA)
The gate of the warehouse in San Fruttuoso, Monza, where Lea’s remains were discovered in October 2012, three years after her death. (Fabrizio Radaelli/Epa/REX/Shutterstock)
Breaking a lifetime of omertà, Carlo speaks in court on 9 April 2013. (Corriere TV)
Giuseppina’s mother Angela Ferraro and sister Marina Pesce. (ANSA)
Concetta’s mother Anna Rosalba Lazzaro and father Michele Cacciola. (ANSA)
Lea’s funeral on 19 October 2013. (Marco Aprile/NurPhoto)
Thousands from all over Italy turned out for a woman who, four years after her death, united the nation against the mafia under the slogan ‘I see, I feel, I speak’. (Corbis via Getty Images)
Index
The page numbers in this index relate to the printed version of this book; they do not match the pages of your ebook. You can use your ebook reader’s search tool to find a specific word or passage.
Addiopizzo movement 33
Alcuri, Francesco 116
Alfano, Angelino 135
Anti-Mafia Directorate, Calabria 178
Aprilia 147, 165, 167
Ascoli Piceno 88
Barbaros clan 72–3
Bella, Roberto di 205, 233; arranges for Giuseppina’s and Concetta’s children to be removed from their grandparents 215–16; character and description 213; experience of child offenders 212–15; proposes deprogramming of ’Ndrangheta children 218–19; success of his ideas 219, 220–1, 272–3; understands mafia family dynamics 216–18; wishes to change the system 215
Bellocco clan 57–8, 107, 109, 139, 158, 162, 211, 265–6, 273–4
Bellocco, Francesca 272
Bellocco, Gregorio 158
Bellocco, Umberto 158
Benedict XVI, Pope 107
Bergamo 4, 82, 83, 90, 93, 128, 276
Berlusconi, Silvio 244
Boiano 94, 95, 96, 276
Bolzano 162, 180, 186–7
Bonarrigo, Giuseppa 153, 209, 239, 259, 260
Borsellino, Paolo 30, 31, 32, 33, 71, 82, 136, 228
Buccafusca, Tita 197
cacciatori 43
Cacciola, Antonio 274
Cacciola clan 109–10, 117, 198–9, 204–5, 222–30
Cacciola, Domenico 272
Cacciola, Giuseppe 111, 155, 157, 264–5, 266
Cacciola, Gregorio 184, 187, 265
Cacciola, Maria Concetta: accused of having an affair 155; asks to be re-admitted into witness protection 188–90; character and description 110; children removed from their grandparents 215–16; death of 116, 190–1, 195–9, 222–4; effect of her escape on her family 162–4; effect of media support for her bravery 224–7, 229, 230–1; enters witness protection 158, 159–62, 171; explores the world through the internet 117–18; flees to Genoa 116; friendship with Giuseppina 109–12; Giuseppina’s evidence in trial concerning 264–5; interviewed by the carabinieri 156–9, 161–2; leaves letters for her family 159–60; male treatment of 111–12, 117, 155, 156, 157; marriage and children 111–12; online relationships 118, 155, 156–7; partial closure in her case 264–6; secretly records statement at Cacciola family lawyer’s office 185–8, 204; succombs to pressure from her family 180–5; tries to help Stefania 273–4
Cacciola, Michele 155, 163–4, 180, 181, 183, 190, 196, 224, 265, 266
Cacucci, Maira 202
Calabria Ora 149–52, 173, 199, 200, 208
Camorra 46, 50, 68, 71, 135, 273
Campobasso 94, 96, 97, 120, 121, 122, 244, 249, 262
carabinieri: accused of disgraceful conduct by Cacciola family 198–9; acquire further evidence against Carlo 121–2; arrest Carlo for attack on Lea 120; arrest Concetta’s parents 224; cacciatori squad 43; help to recapture/rescue Giuseppina 166–8; interview Concetta 156–9; interview Denise 37–8, 125; investigate death of Concetta 196–8; keep an
eye on Venturino 119–20; keep mafia under surveillance 43–5, 57–8, 70, 71–3, 78, 79, 119, 166, 228; large-scale arrests of ’Ndrangheta 128–32; listen-in to Cacciola family conversations 180–5; move in on the Pesce empire 128–9; reunite Giuseppina and her children 144; unable to rescue Concetta from her family 188–90
Carcagnosso 49, 51
Carli, Carlo 156–7
Caselli, Gian Carlo 33
Catanzaro city 84, 123
Catanzaro jail 82–3
Ceraudo, Francesco 37
Ceraudo, Thomas 78, 79
Cerreti, Alessandra: accused of taking advantage of Concetta’s mental state 198; arrival in Reggio Calabria 16, 35–6; at trials of ’Ndrangheta 208–11, 227, 230; attitude towards deception and facts 27–8, 29–30; becomes involved in Concetta’s case 157–9, 161, 162–3, 164, 189, 190, 222–4; believes she can change Giuseppina’s mind 152–4, 165; birth, childhood and education 24, 27, 28–9; character and description 21, 30–1; cold-blooded detachment of 132, 133–4; comment on ’Ndrangheta’s bigotry 23; continues to arrest members of the Pesce clan 146, 148; gives Elisea a teddy bear 235–6; investigations against west coast ’Ndrangheta 131; as lead anti-mafia prosecutor 59–60; leads Giuseppina through her testimony 238–43; as liability to judiciary 152; listens to Giuseppina’s evidence 136–41; marriage 29; media attacks on 149–52; meets Giuseppina and confirms her continued collaboration 172–3; moves Giuseppina to Paliano prison 233–4; organises re-capture/rescue of Giuseppina 165–8; prepares Giuseppina to give evidence at trial 236–7; reaction to death of Concetta 195–6; reads Giuseppina’s correspondence 168–71; realises importance of sentiment, empathy, emotion 225–7; realises importance of women to ’Ndrangheta 108–9; receives a gift from Giuseppina 237–8; receives letter from Giuseppina 205–8; reflections on Calabria 18, 19; reflects on destruction of the Pesces and ’Ndrangheta 261; relationship with Giuseppina 237–8, 242–3, 269, 274; researches the ’Ndrangheta 45–58; resumes collaboration with Giuseppina 234–6; tells story of Giuseppina Multari 274–5; theory concerning the undoing of the ’Ndrangheta 57–8, 86, 108–9, 148; understanding of patriarchy and female emancipation 21–2
