The news dealt with the trails against Silvio Berlusconi, which were opened again after the failing of the Alfano bill by the Constitutional Court. Silvio Berlusconi, in reality, did not seem worried. “Even if I am sentenced , I won’t resigned”.

The investigations that are taking place in Caltanissetta, Florence and Palermo regarding the 1992 and 1993 slaughters are

If the cases Mills and Mediaset have just a judicial meaning, the investigations of the Prosecutor’s offices also have political implications, despite the reliability of Mafia informants. But in order to better understand what happened, we should concentrate on the negotiations between the State and the Mafia, thanks to the revelations of Palermo’s former mayor’s son Massimo Ciancimino.

Vito Ciancimino is not a new character in the history of the Mafia, he was the mediator between the Mafia and politics. A difficult match, because the refined don Vito had to fight with the uncultured Totò Riina on one hand, and on the other the reluctance of those who knew don Vito was available, which meant a politicization of the “relationship”.

A reluctance that turned into adversity and irritation by the two key-characters of the incident, Giovanni  Falcone and Paolo Borsellino. They would have not accepted negotiations, never. The presence of Falcone in Rome was the incontrovertible evidence that things were serious for Mafia bosses. So someone had to pay because all this had not been avoided. Was that person Salvo Lima, the right hand man of Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti?

So there was only Giovanni Falcone left. And once reached the objective, to do the same thing with Borsellino, who was Falcone natural substitute, and had also understood what was happening between the Mafia and the State.

So Falcone and Vito Ciancimino are the key characters of that season: the former because he politicized his role of “confidant”, the latter because he politicized the role of magistrates. A short circuit was inevitable. The Mafia terrorism could have been caused by this short circuit.

But the bosses and their protectors still continued their “political” way. The fact that they were looking for interlocutors, it must be specified, does not mean that they have found them. But it’s undeniable that the State is present in Sicilian Mafia, the need to find political support different from the one obtained. The intrigue is “intense”, the documents the prosecutor’s offices have could burn anyone’s’ hands. When the Mafia is involved, you never know how it is going to end.  

Translated by Chiara Nunnari from John Milton Institute