Judge Giovanni Falcone: the story of the Cosa Nostra fighter

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:48

This man became a vivid prototype of the hero Corrado Cattani in the famous crime series of the 80s ("Octopus"). First of all, Giovanni Falcone and the police commissioner, who was impeccably played by the famous actor Mekele Placido, have in common hostility and even hatred for mafia structures. Both have been waging an unequal struggle with them for many years, both die at the hands of criminals. Today, Judge Giovanni Falcone is the national hero of Italy, who put his own life and the lives of his loved ones on the altar of liberating the country from the powerful criminal structure Cosa Nostra. How did a man who in his youth wanted to become a naval sailor manage to resist criminal groups led by influential bosses? Let's take a closer look at this issue.

Italy under mafia

For a long time, "Cosa Nostra" occupied a dominant position in the hierarchy of the underworld on the Apennine Peninsula.

In the mid-80s, the leaders of the mafia structures tried by all means to interfere in politicscountry, and the murder of judges, deputies and high-ranking officials then was almost an everyday occurrence. Many people remember the photograph that adorned the once printed edition of Der Spiegel (Germany) - it shows a plate of spaghetti, above which a black revolver rises. It became clear to everyone: the mentality of "Cosa Nostra" was greatly transformed, but still there were heroes who were able to decide on an unequal fight against criminal clans.

Thunderstorm of the Italian mafia

Giovanni Falcone is a native of the Sicilian city of Palermo (Italy). He was born on May 18, 1939. His father headed one of the chemical laboratories, and the family did not experience financial difficulties. Having received a matriculation certificate, the young man decided to enter the naval academy in Livorno, and he succeeded. However, he soon developed an interest in the study of jurisprudence. In 1964, he took a job in the judiciary. The young man represented the magistrate in a number of Italian cities. Then young Giovanni began to study the textbook of criminology and intensively study the articles of the Criminal Code.

His work profile has gradually shifted from civil law to criminal law.

Judge position

At the age of 27, Giovanni Falcone became a judge in the provincial town of Trapani. Here, in the west of Sicily, the connections and authority of Cosa Nostra were stronger than anywhere else. However, the newly minted representative of Themis did not think to tremble before the mafia clans, most of all he was outraged by the fact that criminal communities commit excesses andlawlessness, and ordinary people feel in danger, absolutely not believing that law enforcement structures will be able to protect them. Giovanni Falcone, whose biography is familiar to many Italian detectives today, firmly believed that it was possible to win the fight against Cosa Nostra, and that the main weapon against the mafia was the coordinated work of law enforcement agencies. And of course, the criminal structures very quickly began to see the enemy in the young judge, they were especially indignant after the trial in Palermo took place: Falcone handed down harsh sentences to 400 mafia members.

Of course, Giovanni was aware of the vulnerability of his position, which was unenviable, according to many experts. Therefore, serious security measures were taken: the house where the judge lived was protected from all sides, he himself worked in a bunker, and moved around the city only with guards.

Elephant Memory Panther

He soon became a legend in Sicily. However, the judge himself has repeatedly stated that his merits should not be exaggerated, since he is an ordinary person who stands guard over the state interests. The leaders of the underworld called him a panther with the memory of an elephant, while not doubting that Giovanni Falcone was powerless against the mafia.

Standoff intensifies

Soon, the judge, who started his career in Trapani, starts investigating bankruptcy cases. His colleague Rocco Cinnicci noticed with what perseverance and zeal Giovanni was trying to get to the bottom of the truth.

Falconet's hands fall into the case ofthe bankruptcy of the company, which the banker Michele Sindona sold to one of the ex-members of the Christian Democratic Party. All this was just the tip of the iceberg.

Giovanni began to check the work of construction companies and the activities of officials who were suspected of taking bribes for issuing licenses. Naturally, after that, threats rained down again, and they tried to drag him into negotiations. But the judge was adamant in his intentions and continued his work.

As a result, he managed to find a thread that led to influential mafia leaders. All of them, in the amount of 80 people, were arrested, and a warrant for such a measure of restraint was signed by Judge Gaetano Costa. Of course, Cosa Nostra does not forgive such blows, and soon Costa is found dead.

Apogee of struggle

However, the brutal reprisal against the judge did not frighten Giovanni. In the early 80s, he became a member of the association of prosecutors and judges, which was engaged in unwinding cases involving mafia structures. Falcone took such a measure after the head of the Palermo police, Boris Giuliano, who collected large dirt on the bosses of the Italian underworld, was deprived of his life.

In 1982, Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa, who became famous for exposing the activities of the Red Brigades, was appointed prefect in Palermo. However, after only three months, he is killed on a crowded street by machine guns.

After a little time, the criminals brutally crack down on Judge Rocco Cinnicci, placing an explosive in his cardevice, and Falcone becomes the head of the anti-Cosa Nostra unit. The federal center was already quite tired of the atrocities of criminal communities and instructed Giovanni to solve high-profile cases in which the hand of the mafia was traced. The special attention of officials from Rome was riveted to the murder of Dalla Chiesa. And Falcone coped with this task. Representatives of the top mafia structures again landed behind bars.

Detractors among colleagues

It is noteworthy that the enemies of Giovanni Falcone were not only the leaders of the criminal world of Italy. His colleagues at work tried to stop his activities to capture and expose the leaders of the mafia. In the late 80s, several servants of Themis wrote letters of resignation in protest against the mafia fighter. But Falcone knew how easy it was sometimes to bribe a judge, so he did not indulge in vain illusions.

Murder

But, in the end, the hands of the mafia still got to their main enemy. In May 1992, Giovanni Falcone was assassinated. The death of the judge caused a wide public outcry. Who is the perpetrator of the murder and under what circumstances did it happen? The crime was committed by someone Giovanni Brusca, who was in one of the criminal gangs in Italy. It was he who pressed the button on the remote control. He has more than a hundred murders on his account, so he had more than enough experience in criminal cases.

At six in the evening on May 23, 1992, three cars were driving from the airport towards Palermo. In the second armored car of the cartege there was an ex-Judge Falcone with his wife. The explosion came suddenly, shortly before the cars were supposed to turn towards the city of Capaci. As it turned out later, a 600-kilogram explosive was planted in the car. The first car, in which the bodyguards were, was thrown up after the explosion, and it landed a few tens of meters from the highway. The motor of the second car was blown off after the explosion. There were no survivors in the two vehicles. The third car was damaged, but not critically.

The perpetrators were punished as they deserved

The investigation most thoroughly investigated this resonant case. A huge number of Cosa Nostra members were brought to criminal responsibility, who subsequently actively cooperated with law enforcement agencies, many of them have already served their terms. Only the perpetrator of the crime - Giovanni Brusca - is in prison for committing a flagrant murder.

Falcone remembers all of Italy. He is called the main fighter against the mafia, he is a symbol of the country's salvation from the monstrous hydra called "Cosa Nostra". Traditionally, commemorative ceremonies are held in Italy in honor of a man who sometimes stood alone against a powerful criminal organization.

Regalia

Today, Italians cannot underestimate the feat accomplished by Giovanni Falcone. The awards and recognition that this person has received are another confirmation of this. After his death, the judge was awarded the gold medal "For Civil Valor".

In the fall of 2006, the print edition of Timerecognized Falcone as a real hero. Streets, schools, squares and even one of the administrative districts of the capital are named after the judge in Italy. There is an airport in Palermo named after a mafia fighter.

A movie about a hero

A year after the judge's death, director Giuseppe Ferrara made a film about Giovanni Falcone, based on real events. Moreover, the veracity of the plot is confirmed by testimonies and written documents. Paradoxically, the main role of Giovanni Falcone (film by D. Ferrer) went to the actor Mekele Placido, who had already played a fighter against mafia structures in the famous crime saga The Octopus.

The picture about the confrontation between a judge from Palermo and the powerful "Cosa Nostra" begins with the murder of three servants of Themis. In the center of the plot is the unfolding confrontation between an uncompromising judge and the leaders of criminal communities, whose representatives have already managed to occupy the chairs of high-ranking officials. At the end of the film "Giovanni Falcone" (1993), the protagonist and his wife are killed, but the names of those who ordered the crime remain undisclosed. The director's work was done at a high quality level, which confirms the selection of actors and the realism of the staged scenes.