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Mafia bombings 'to destabilise'

Mafia bombings 'to destabilise'

Transcript of Napolitano State-Mafia testimony made public

Palermo, 31 October 2014, 18:30

ANSA Editorial

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-     ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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The Sicilian Mafia wanted to destabilize Italy and possibly pave the way for a coup in a bettered Italian State with an early 1990s bombing campaign, according to President Giorgio Napolitano's Tuesday testimony at a State-Mafia trial hearing, made public Friday.
    In a major show of transparency after the unprecedented testimony at the Quirinal Palace, Napolitano had the entire trial transcripts posted online.
    The trial being held in Palermo is looking into allegations that the State engaged in talks with the Sicilian Mafia in a bid to stop a bloody bombing campaign that claimed the lives of crusading anti-Mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino in 1992 and killed 10 people and damaged art sites in Rome, Florence and Milan in 1993.
    Sources present at the hearing said Napolitano alleged that the bombings were "an ultimatum" aimed at easing a tough new prison regime called 41-bis for Cosa Nostra bosses.
    This was confirmed and expanded on Friday by the 86-page transcript. The bombings, Napolitano told prosecutor Nino Di Matteo on Tuesday, were a form of "extortion or outright pressure aimed at destabilizing the entire system, on the premise that there there might be disarray among State authorities". He also said then premier Carlo Azeglio Ciampi feared a coup was imminent. Another source of fears of a possible coup was an April, 1993 two-and-a half-hour blackout at Palazzo Chigi, which houses the premier's office, in what Napolitano called a "classic" pre-coup move.
    Prosecutors also asked Napolitano, who was the Lower House speaker at the time, about a 2012 letter from his legal adviser Loris D'Ambrosio, in which he referred to "unmentionable agreements" and appeared to imply Napolitano had known about the talks. Napolitano denied knowledge of the alleged talks, and in the transcript said D'Ambrosio, who died soon after writing the letter, was filled "with the spirit of truth" and that he and D'Ambrosio "worked as a team".
    In another piece of testimony, Napolitano said he had an "absolutely imperturbable" reaction to 1993 news from Italy's police chief that the Mafia was planning on attack on him as then House Speaker. "I didn't bat an eyelid, also because I have always believed that serving one's country means...the possibility of sacrificing one's life," he said according to the transcripts.
    Napolitano added that many believed there was a split within Cosa Nostra between a hard-line 'pro-massacre' wing, the dominant one, led by the bloodthirty Toto' Riina, and a group of 'doves' led by his long-time co-boss Bernardo Provenzano.
    Although Napolitano said there "probably" was such a schism, not everyone was certain and there were "conflicting" lines of thought.
    Defendants in the trial include present and past Cosa Nostra bosses Riina and Provenzano, both of whom are behind bars, and ex Senator Marcello Dell'Utri, a former top aide of Silvio Berlusconi who is serving seven years for associating with the Mafia. Nicola Mancino, a former interior minister and Senate speaker is also on trial on charges of perjury, which he denies.
   

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