Christmas 1992, the year of the Falcone and Borsellino slaughters, Totò Riina announced in a meeting with most of his reliable bosses, the “State has taken the first step” as far as the negotiations were concerned: “I received a message – said the boss – it came from Mancino”. Mafia informant Giovanni Brusca talks once again of the vice president of the Superior Council of Judiciary and at the time Home Secretary, during the questioning in Florence by

the magistrate Gabriele Chelazzi, published in a article titled “Between the Mafia and the State”, in the magazine L’Espresso.

 

Brusca says that he was welcomed in that meeting by Riina, who said with a big smile: “Ah! They are finally scared. I have written a papello....” holding a large sheet of paper in his hands. That was the first time Brusca heard Riina pronouncing the name of Mancino, who knew him through Ciancimino. According to Brusca, even other bosses knew Mancino. For example Salvatore Biondino (in prison since Riina) who at Christmas 1992, talking about mafia informant Gaspare Mutolo, said: “See, when a liar says the truth, no one believes him”. He referred to the fact that – wrote the Espresso – amongst the many stupid things said, Mutolo recalled the meeting between Mancino and Borsellino in Rome, saying that the magistrate was very nervous, so much so that he smoked two cigarettes at the same time.

 

Translated by Chiara Nunnari from John Milton Institute