PALERMO. On 15 April the mafia boss Tommaso Lo Presti, recently released from prison after 12 years of detention, celebrated his silver wedding with his wife Teresa Marino, also convicted of mafia, in the church of San Domenico which houses the Pantheon of the illustrious of Sicily and which among other things houses the remains of Giovanni Falcone. The news, reported in recent days by the Palermotoday news site, was relaunched today by Repubblica.
The couple, who have top roles in the Porta Nuova mafia gang in Palermo, then celebrated the anniversary in a villa with two neo-melodic singers. The rector of San Domenico, Father Sergio Catalano, says that when the mass took place he did not know who the two were and that he only learned it from the website after the fact. The two mafiosi, who renewed their promise of love, also left an offering for the church. Father Catalano says that “that money will be used to do good for those in need”.
“We didn’t know that couple,” says the rector of the church of San Domenico, Father Sergio Catalano, even though according to the Church they are two excommunicated men who are also known in Palermo and have often been in the newspapers. “The checks on people – says the parish priest – are not the responsibility of the priests who receive a blessing”.
