Cinquefrondi, presentation of the book “Lupare rosa” by Don Marcello Cozzi, former vice-president of Libera

As part of the “Books and Reading Festival”, on Monday 22 April, at 6.00 pm, at the municipal media library “Pasquale Creazzo” in Cinquefrondi, the book “Lupare rosa” by Don Marcello Cozzi, former vice-president of Libera and today coordinator (always in Libera) of the interreligious discussion table, president of the national anti-usury foundation “Interesse Uomo”, vice-president of the Italian Federation of anti-racket and anti-usury associations, coordinator of IRFI (Institute for research and interdisciplinary training on the phenomena of the mafia and corruption) which was born within the Department of Canon Law of the Pontifical Theological Faculty of Southern Italy. The journalist Antonino Raso will dialogue with the author and Antonio Napoli, Vice President Valle del Marro, Libera Terra will speak. Don Marcello Cozzi is the author of numerous successful publications: When the mafia does not exist. Malfeasance and criminal affairs in Basilicata” (2008); “Invisible powers. Journey to Basilicata between business, mafias, murders and denied truths” (2014); “I met Cain. Repent. Stories and torments of lives confiscated from the mafia” (2016); God has dirty hands. The cry of the innocents, the anguish of the executioners, the arrogance of the bosses (2022). ‘Lupare Rosa’, with a preface by Federica Sciarelli and an introduction by Giancarlo Caselli, is dedicated to women who try to escape the oppression of their ‘Ndrangheta boss husbands. Don Marcello Cozzi, a priest who has been involved for decades in the field of social hardship, in education on legality and justice, in the fight against mafias and in accompaniment of mafia repentants and witnesses of justice, tells us a different page of the mafia: that of the women, of the bosses’ wives, of Cetta, Angela, Tita, Annunziata, Rossella who dream of a different life and who tried to escape from that cage made of violence and fear that held them prisoners. The number of women, especially mothers, who are asking for help to escape from the mafia is growing more and more. from their world of lies and death. But if a change of registry is envisaged for justice collaborators and witnesses, these women and children are considered neither justice collaborators nor witnesses, they have no protection. To help and welcome women and minors who want to leave the mafia circuit and promote a protection and support network, “Free to choose” was signed: a memorandum of understanding between the Equal Opportunities Department of the Presidency of the Council, the Juvenile Court, the Prosecutor’s Office for Minors and the District Attorney’s Office of Reggio Calabria. National Anti-Mafia and Free Prosecutor’s Office and is supported by the Italian Episcopal Conference. Last September 30, Pope Francis, in a meeting made public only later for reasons of safety and security of the participants, met the women who had left the mafia and ‘ndrangheta, accompanied by Don Luigi Ciotti. who have decided to break age-old codes based on violence and threats. The mayor and councilor of the metropolitan city of Reggio Calabria with responsibility for Confiscated Assets, Suburbs, Youth Policies and Immigration and Peace Policies, Michele Conia, hit in the past by serious and disturbing intimidating attacks, explains, with the coherence of a politician who has always remained anchored to its reference values, that “the fight against mafias is understood as social redemption and civil commitment, which starts from the bottom, from the territories, for better coexistence between people and for democratic participation in the life of one’s community , respecting the rules through a culture of legality, widespread in society and in schools and thanks to the daily work of mayors and mayors committed to the front line with an extraordinary spirit of service. This literary event aims to tell female stories, women who rise from the silence of silence and violence to build change, victims of a criminal system that has conditioned their existence. Many other stories are still waiting to be known and read by trying to write a different ending.”