At last we drive on to the motorway, towards Trapani, towards the Aeroporto Falcone e Borsellino: it’s still called that, for how long? On our right the Isola delle Femmine bathes in the morning light. ‘They have thrown our dreams in the sea, and their own as well.’
I think of Montalbano – Saverio Montalbano, whom I met on my first assignment, the policeman who was once responsible for tracking down fugitive mafiosi as part of the mobile task force, and who discovered the ‘pizza connection’. Recently I met up with him over coffee and biscuits. He looked unchanged, which may have had something to do with the fact that Montalbano, with his bald patch and his silver-grey fringe of hair, had never looked young. The only change was a thin-rimmed pair of reading glasses, over which he looked at me ironically. As always, he asked how I managed to live in a city that consisted only of water. As a respectable Sicilian, he said, he feared the sea.
Montalbano was on the point of retirement. His last job had been as head of the local police of Termini Imerese. Before that, he had been head of the administrative police of Ragusa; he had been kept as far as possible from Mafia investigations. One day he had received an anonymous letter. In it someone expressed his admiration for him: ‘I like the real Montalbano better than the one in the film.’ The letter was signed ‘Diabolik’.
Eventually he had decided no longer to address the subject of the Mafia, Montalbano said. ‘I fell out of love,’ he says. He stopped reading the reports about arrests. Now he read books about Indians.
Salvo carries my case to the check-in desk, where a long queue has formed as usual. He kisses me goodbye on both cheeks and expresses his regret at not being able to wait with me, but his ladies need to play their first game of the morning. But he hopes to see me again soon in Palermo. Then he hurries across the departure lounge. Before he steps outside he briefly waves to me again. When I turn around, the very same man who sat next to me on the outbound flight is standing right beside me.
‘I’ll talk to him now,’ I say to myself. But he’s ahead of me. He smiles at me. And says in an American accent: ‘Nice to see you again.’
Dramatis Personæ
Pietro Aglieri – Sicilian Mafia boss, member of the council of Cosa Nostra; serving a life sentence since 1997 for, among other things, his involvement in the murders of the public prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino.
Giulia Alvaro – Member of the Nirta-Strangio clan, the clan involved in the Duisburg massacre; arrested in 2007 for membership of the Mafia and involvement in the international drugs trade.
Giuliano Amato – Italian politician, former Socialist, several times prime minister, foreign minister and most recently minister of the interior in the second Prodi government (2006–08).
Giulio Andreotti – Italian Christian Democrat, seven times prime minister; indicted for favouring the Mafia and convicted in May 2003, his support for the Mafia judged to be proven until 1980 and spent thereafter – there was insufficient proof for further conviction.
Giovanna Atria – Mother of Rita Atria, the teenager who spoke out against the Mafia in her village.
Rita Atria – Daughter of a Sicilian Mafia boss, who decided, after the murder of her father and brother, to collaborate with the judicial system, was rejected by her mother and, after the murder of public prosecutor Paolo Borsellino in 1992, threw herself out of a window.
Gaetano ‘Don Tano’ Badalamenti – Mafia boss from the Sicilian Cinisi clan; built up the ‘pizza connection’, the heroin trade between Sicily and America; died of heart failure in 2004 in an American prison, at the age of eighty and without ever saying a word about the Mafia.
Antonietta ‘Ninetta’ Bagarella – Wife of the Sicilian Mafia boss Salvatore ‘Totò’ Riina, daughter of an old Corleone Mafia family; lived underground with her husband for almost twenty years, bearing him four children with whom she returned to Corleone after his arrest in 1993.
Leoluca Bagarella – Sicilian Mafia boss of the Corleone clan, hit man responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people, brother of Ninetta Bagarella and brother-in-law of the Mafia boss Totò Riina; in prison since 1995.
Agata Barresi – Sicilian mother of five sons murdered by the Mafia, famous for maintaining her silence.
Antonio Bassolino – Democratic Left regional president of Campania until 2010, who fell into disrepute for nepotism and his responsibility for the waste crisis.
Letizia Battaglia – Internationally award-winning Sicilian photographer and publisher, city councillor for quality of life under Leoluca Orlando in Palermo; later, member of the anti-Mafia party La Rete in the Sicilian parliament.
Piersilvio Berlusconi – Son of Silvio Berlusconi, now director of his father’s private broadcasting group, Mediaset.
Silvio Berlusconi – Three times Italian prime minister, the wealthiest businessman in Italy, founder of the Forza Italia party, now known as Popolo della Libertà (People of Freedom); variously indicted for tax avoidance, false accounting, collaboration with a Mafia association, bribery of judges, complicity in assassination attempts – accusations that ended in acquittal, cases dropped because of the statute of limitations or lack of evidence, or convictions that were later subject to an amnesty.
Salvatore Boemi – Leading senior public prosecutor in the anti-Mafia investigative authority of Reggio Calabria.
Stefano Bontade – Mafia boss from Corleone, known as the ‘Prince of Villagrazia’, known to have had connections with notable Italian politicians including Silvio Berlusconi; murdered in 1981.
Paolo Borsellino – Legendary anti-Mafia public prosecutor in the Palermo Anti-Mafia Pool; murdered by the Mafia in 1992.
Tommaso Buscetta – Sicilian Mafia boss and the first significant turncoat in the history of Cosa Nostra, an important witness in the maxi-trials against the Mafia under Giovanni Falcone; died in New York in 2000.
Giuseppe ‘Pippo’ Calò – Sicilian Mafia boss, also known as the ‘Mafia’s cashier’, thought to have murdered the banker Roberto Calvi but acquitted of the charge in 2007; serving a life sentence.
Roberto Calvi – Italian bank employee, involved not only in money laundering for the Mafia but also in secret financial operations by the Vatican, which won him the nickname ‘God’s banker’; found murdered in London in 1982.
Diego Cammarata – Mayor of Palermo until 2012, Forza Italia (Popolo della Libertà) MP.
Francesco Campanella – Turncoat Sicilian mafioso, who had as groomsmen at his wedding the former Sicilian prime minister Salvatore ‘Totò’ Cuffaro and the former Italian justice minister Clemente Mastella – and whose statements seriously incriminated Cuffaro.
Salvatore Cancemi – Turncoat Sicilian Mafia boss; because of his statements, Marcello Dell’Utri and Silvio Berlusconi were accused of complicity in the assassinations of public prosecutors Falcone and Borsellino – the charges were dropped in 2002.
Mario Carabetta – President of Pro Loco (consortium of local tourist offices) in the Calabrian town of San Giovanni di Gerace.
Michele Carabetta – ’Ndranghetista from San Luca, member of the Pelle-Vottari clan, arrested after investigations into the Duisburg massacre.
Sonia Carabetta – Sister of the ’Ndranghetista Michele Carabetta.
Antonio ‘Ninni’ Cassarà – Deputy leader of the mobile task force of the Palermo police, a close colleague of the public prosecutor Giovanni Falcone; murdered by the Mafia in 1985.
Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa – Chief of police in Palermo; he and his wife were murdered by the Mafia in 1982.
Vito Ciancimino – Mafia boss, Christian Democrat and former mayor of Palermo; sentenced to thirteen years’ imprisonment for assistance to the Mafia; died in 2002.
Gaetano Cinà – Businessman from Palermo, mafioso from the Malaspina family, co-defendant in the trial against Marcello Dell’Utri; according to the indictment, a bagman between the Mafia and Berlusconi; died 2006.
Bruno Contrada – Formerly the third most senior member of the Italian domestic i
ntelligence agency; arrested in 1992 on suspicion of having passed on to the Mafia the information needed to assassinate the public prosecutor Giovanni Falcone; in jail since 2007.
Don Agostino Coppola – Parish priest from Carini in Sicily, accused of supporting the Mafia; died while under house arrest.
Renato Cortese – Leader of the mobile task force of Reggio Calabria, previously in the mobile task force of Palermo; arrested the boss Bernardo Provenzano in 2006.
Gaetano Costa – Leading public prosecutor of Palermo; murdered by the Mafia in 1980.
Rita Costa – Widow of the murdered public prosecutor Gaetano Costa.
Maurizio Costanzo – Italian journalist and talk-show host; subject to an assassination attempt in 1993 for his commitment against the Mafia.
Carla Cottone – Wife of Aldo Madonia, youngest son of the notorious Madonia Mafia clan.
Bettino Craxi – Former head of the Italian Socialist Party and former Italian prime minister, known as the ‘Lord of Bribes’; sentenced to twenty years’ imprisonment for deception, corruption and illegal party financing, which he escaped by fleeing to Tunisia where he died in 2000.
Salvatore ‘Totò’ Cuffaro – Christian Democrat and former Sicilian regional president; sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for favouring the Mafia; then a senator, in jail since 2011.
Antonio D’Ali – Forza Italia (Popolo della Libertà) senator and current president of the senate environment commission, Sicilian businessman and owner of the Sicula Bank, former president of the Sicilian province of Trapani and temporary employer of the Mafia bosses Francesco and Matteo Messina Denaro.
Marcello Dell’Utri – Forza Italia (Popolo della Libertà) senator and former MEP, Berlusconi’s right-hand man; sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment in December 2004 for supporting the Mafia.
Richard Dewes – Former Thuringian interior minister.
Rocco Dicillo – Bodyguard of Giovanni Falcone; murdered by the Mafia in 1992 along with Falcone.
Emanuele Di Filippo – Turncoat Sicilian mafioso.
Pasquale Di Filippo – Brother of Emanuele Di Filippo, also a turncoat.
Rosalba Di Gregorio – Mafia lawyer in Palermo, defender of many Cosa Nostra bosses including Vittorio Mangano, Silvio Berlusconi’s so-called ‘stable-keeper’.
Baldassare Di Maggio – Turncoat Sicilian Mafia boss, incriminating witness in the Andreotti trial, testified to the kiss between Andreotti and the boss Totò Riina.
Giovanni Falcone – Legendary Sicilian anti-Mafia public prosecutor, led the maxi-trials against Cosa Nostra; murdered by the Mafia in 1992.
Nino Fasullo – Anti-Mafia priest, Redemptorist padre and editor of the journal Segno.
Giuseppe Fava – Younger brother of the turncoat Sicilian mafioso Marcello Fava.
Marcello Fava – Turncoat Sicilian mafioso, formerly a member of the Porta Nuova clan in Palermo.
Joseph Focoso – Sicilian mafioso and multiple hit man; arrested in Saarland and handed over to Italy in 2005.
Francesco Fortugno – Calabrian regional politician; murdered by the ’Ndrangheta in Locri in 2005.
Padre Mario Frittitta – Carmelite monk from Palermo, temporarily arrested for favouring the Mafia, then released again.
Calogero Ganci – Turncoat Sicilian mafioso, multiple hit man and murderer of his own father-in-law.
Madame Gennet – Real name Ganat Tewelde Barhe, Eritrean people-trafficker.
Elisa Giorgi – Sister of Francesco Giorgi, the youngest victim of the Duisburg massacre, daughter of Don Pino Strangio’s cousin.
Francesco Giorgi – Youngest victim of the Duisburg massacre.
Antonino Giuffrè – Turncoat Sicilian mafioso; until his arrest in 2002, seen as the number two in Cosa Nostra, after the godfather Bernardo Provenzano.
Boris Giuliano – Leader of the mobile task force of the Palermo police, discovered the heroin trade between Sicily and America; murdered by the Mafia in 1979.
Libero Grassi – Sicilian businessman who publicly refused to pay protection money; murdered by the Mafia in 1991.
Nicola Gratteri – Leading public prosecutor of the Anti-Mafia investigation unit in Reggio Calabria, in charge of the investigations surrounding the Duisburg massacre.
Filippo and Giuseppe Graviano – Arrested Sicilian Mafia bosses from Palermo’s suburb of Brancaccio, ordered the murder of the anti-Mafia priest Padre Puglisi.
Michele Greco – Sicilian Mafia boss, known as ‘the Pope’ because of his important role as a mediator between the individual clans of Cosa Nostra; died in prison in 2008.
Salvatore Grigoli – Sicilian mafioso; shot the anti-Mafia priest Padre Puglisi in 1993.
Giuseppe Guttadauro – Surgeon and mafioso from Palermo, who has excellent contacts with Sicilian politicians and businessmen, one of the ‘new’ faces of Cosa Nostra.
Rosa Russo Iervolino – Mayor of Naples, notable for introducing a smoking ban in the city’s parks.
Enrico Incognito – Mafioso from Bronte, near Catania, who was shot by his brother Marcello to prevent him becoming a turncoat.
Marcello Incognito – Mafioso and murderer of his brother Enrico.
Antonio Ingroia – Leading senior public prosecutor with the anti-Mafia investigating authority in Palermo, amongst other things presided over the trial of Marcello Dell’Utri.
Mario Lavorato – Calabrian pizza-chef in Stuttgart, known as a friend of the former Minister-President Oettinger, accused of being a member of the ’Ndranghetista; since acquitted due to insufficient evidence.
Monsignore Liggio – Parish priest in Corleone, cousin of the legendary Mafia boss Luciano Liggio.
Luciano Liggio – Mafia boss and multiple hit man from Corleone, until his arrest in 1974 head of the Corleone clan; began a painting career in prison and died there in 1993.
Salvo Lima – Christian Democrat and Giulio Andreotti’s ‘proconsul’ in Sicily; murdered by the Mafia in 1992.
Guido Lo Forte – Leading senior public prosecutor with the anti-Mafia investigation unit in Palermo, prosecutor in the Andreotti trial.
Salvatore Lo Piccolo – Sicilian Mafia boss; until his arrest in late 2007, seen as the successor to Bernardo Provenzano.
Pietro Lunardi – Former minister for infrastructure and transport (2001–06).
Aldo Madonia – Youngest son of the Madonia Mafia clan.
Francesco Madonia – Father of Aldo Madonia, boss of Palermo’s Madonia Mafia clan, member of the council of Cosa Nostra.
Nino Mandalà – Sicilian Mafia boss from Villabate, well known for his good contacts with businessmen and politicians, the face of Sicily’s ‘new’ Mafia.
Giuseppina Manganaro – Wife of a Sicilian turncoat mafioso.
Cinzia Mangano – Middle daughter of the Mafia boss Vittorio Mangano.
Loredana Mangano – Eldest daughter of the Mafia boss Vittorio Mangano.
Marina Mangano – Youngest daughter of the Mafia boss Vittorio Mangano.
Vittorio Mangano – Sicilian Mafia boss, known as ‘Berlusconi’s stable-keeper’, who lived in the businessman’s villa; died in prison in 2000.
Francesco Marino Mannoia – Turncoat Sicilian mafioso of the Santa Maria di Gesù clan, state witness in the Andreotti trial.
Franco Marasà-Di Gregorio – Mafia lawyer in Palermo, husband of Rosalba Di Gregorio, defender of the Mafia boss Bernardo Provenzano.
Vincenzina Marchese – Sister-in-law of the Mafia boss Totò Riina and wife of the boss Leoluca Bagarella.
Marco Marmo – ’Ndranghetista, victim of the Duisburg massacre and killer of Maria Strangio, wife of the ’Ndranghetista Giovanni Nirta.
Clemente Mastella – Justice minister in the second Prodi government (until 2006).
Piersanti Mattarella – Christian Democrat and regional present of Sicily; murdered in 1980 because of his fight against the Mafia.
Leonardo Messina – Turncoat Sicilian mafioso, worked closely with the public prosecutor Paolo Borsellino.
&nb
sp; Francesco Messina Denaro – Mafia boss from Castelvetrano, member of the council of Cosa Nostra, father of the fugitive boss Matteo Messina Denaro; died in hiding in 1998.
Matteo Messina Denaro – Mafia boss of the province of Trapani, son of the godfather Francesco Messina Denaro and probable successor to the Mafia boss Provenzano; in hiding since 1993.
Salvatore Messina Denaro – Brother of the Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, son of Francesco Messina Denaro.
Gianfranco Miccichè – Former Forza Italia (Popolo della Libertà) MP and former president of the Sicilian regional assembly.
Honoured Society, The Page 23
