In the “papello” affair, concerning the serious negotiations between the Mafia and the State – there is also Gioacchino Genchi, super-expert and professional state man for more than ten years, who fell in disgrace because of the “conservation” of phone call printouts.

During an interview with Rai, Gioacchino Genchi confirmed that between the State and the Mafia there was a long negotiation that came before the Palermo slaughters that killed Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino. According to Genchi, the previous year the businessman from Palermo Benny D’Agostino and the son of Palermo’s former mayor Vito Ciancimino, Massimo, talked about the issue. An e-mail, and other documents, also prove that there were constant phone calls between Ciancimino and the Home Office, the Economy Minister and the Justice Minister. What Genchi said is clear: not only the carabinieri spoke with Ciancimino, but also politicians and important magistrates.

Probably for many their memory has returned, but not everyone. What does that mean? That maybe somebody knows more, and his contribution could represent a turning point. Key protagonists like the former Justice Minister Claudio Martelli, the former director of criminal affairs of the Justice Minister, Ferraro, former Home Secretary Mancino, have talked, but also carabinieri officials involved in the negotiations. Together with Genchi’s statements there are also the ones of Massimo Ciancimino, who agrees with what Mori said during the trial in which he is a defendant in the Provenzano case, i.e. that in reality, there were no negotiations between the State and the Mafia, but between pieces of the State and the Mafia.

Translated by Chiara Nunnari from John Milton Institute