Paolo Borsellino

32nd anniversary of Paolo Borsellino assassination

History of Italy News

Italy remembers the 32nd anniversary of the assassination of anti-mafia judge Paolo Borsellino. The Cosa Nostra murdered him in Palermo on 19th July, 1992.

Borsellino was targeted by a devastating car bomb on Via d’Amelio while visiting his mother. The bomb also killed five police officers: Agostino Catalano, Walter Cosina, Emanuela Loi, Vincenzo Li Muli, and Claudio Traina.

His murder came just 57 days after the killing of his close friend and fellow anti-mafia magistrate Giovanni Falcone. He died alongside his wife Francesca Morvillo and three police officers – Vito Schifani, Rocco Dicillo, and Antonio Montinaro. The bomb which killed them was detonated in Capaci near Palermo airport.

Throughout their careers, Borsellino and Falcone were dedicated to dismantling the Sicilian mafia’s power.

Borsellino’s family opted out of a state funeral, with his widow Agnese criticizing the government for failing to protect him. Instead, they held a private ceremony, specifically excluding politicians. At the funeral for the five police officers, public outrage erupted, leading to security services evacuating President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, Prime Minister Giuliano Amato, and police chief Vincenzo Parisi from Palermo’s cathedral.

The tragic deaths of Falcone and Borsellino spurred a significant crackdown on mafia activities, culminating in the 1993 capture of notorious Cosa Nostra leader Totò Riina, who passed away in prison in 2017.

Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, who died last year following his arrest after 30 years on the run, was sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia in 2002 for numerous murders, including those of Paolo Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone.

To honour the 30th anniversary of the murders of Falcone and Borsellino, Italy issued a special €2 coin in 2022.

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