On May 5, 1971, Palermo saw the public prosecutor Pietro Scaglione and the agent Antonio Lorusso fall under attack by Cosa Nostra. Scaglione began his long career as a judge and public prosecutor in 1928, demonstrating “independence of judgment even during the twenty years of fascism” (as the journalists Enzo Perrone and Rosario Poma wrote in the volume “The Mafia: grandparents and grandchildren”). “An upright magistrate, endowed with exceptional professional skills and absolute moral honesty, ruthless persecutor of the mafia, whose undisputed moral and professional qualities are clearly evident from the documents”, as he was also defined in irrevocable sentences, Scaglione dealt with the most serious mysteries Sicilians, to ascertain the truth and bring the guilty to justice, also actively engaging in defense of the autonomy of magistrates from the executive power.
It was Scaglione who defined the Portella della Ginestra massacre on May 1st 1947 as an “infamous, repugnant and abominable crime” and who credited as the main motives the “defence of the large estates and landowners”, the “all-out” fight against communism which Salvatore Giuliano “always showed that he hated and opposed”, the will on the part of the bandits to accredit themselves as “the eradicators of communism”, and then obtain amnesty, the will to “usurp the police powers devolved to the State”, the “punishment” against the peasants who occupied the lands.
The public prosecutor Pietro Scaglione had also identified in those years the significant criminal danger of the Corleone mafia gang. Among other things, he requested and obtained the indictment for the mafiosi Luciano Liggio, Pasquale Criscione and Vincenzo Collura, accused of the murder of the trade unionist Placido Rizzotto and also supported the accusation in the trial for one of the first crimes committed by the Corleonese boss : in 1945, the murder of the field guard, Calogero Comajanni. He also dealt with the murders of other trade unionists, including Salvatore Carnevale, highlighting, in the 1956 indictment, the courageous figure of the victim and the peasant struggles, speaking of “earth fever” and writing that Carnevale’s activity was feared by those who had an interest in maintaining the landowner system and mafia power. The responsibility for the crime should be attributed precisely to the Corleonesi bosses, even if officially the instigators and perpetrators remained unpunished.
After having assumed the position of prosecutor of the Republic of Palermo in 1962 and after the Ciaculli massacre of 1963, Pietro Scaglione promoted and instructed with the investigating judge Cesare Terranova (who was later killed in 1979 together with Marshal Lenin Mancuso), an anti-mafia action with which Cosa Nostra was undermined: the provincial Commission was even dissolved. The magistrate also launched numerous investigations against politicians, administrators and white-collar workers, as shown by the judicial documents and the testimony of the journalist Mario Francese (killed in 1979). “Pietro Scaglione – wrote Francese – was a convinced believer that the mafia had political origins and that the most important mafia members had to be found in public administrations. It is the time of the so-called tug of war between the high magistrate and the politicians, the time in which the Scaglione line led to a series of proceedings for embezzlement or private interest in official acts against municipal administrators and public bodies” .
Scaglione also dealt with the disappearance of the journalist Mauro De Mauro in September 1970: the intervention of the public prosecutor’s office was “very active”, as was ascertained in court.
An upright and firm magistrate against the mafia, but not justicialist: Scaglione acted as president of the Patronage Council for assistance to the families of prisoners and to those released from prison, promoting, among other things, the construction of a kindergarten nest.
“The reasons for the murder of the prosecutor Scaglione – explains the nascent Study Center dedicated to the judge and chaired by the magistrate’s son, professor Antonio Scaglione – were multiple: vengeful for the role of inflexible persecutor of the mafia played by the magistrate; preventive, to avoid his future dangerous initiatives for Cosa Nostra and the colluding powers; subversive, in a context of implementation of the strategy of tension also in Sicily, as, among other things, also declared by the main collaborators of justice”.
“It was – wrote the historian Francesco Renda – a resumption of mafia terrorism of the 1946-1948 type, no longer, however, against trade union leaders and politicians of the peasant world, but rather against the press and an essential body of the State, such as the judicial body”. In this context, the killing of Pietro Scaglione, Public Prosecutor of Palermo, Giovanni Falcone in turn stated, had “the aim of demonstrating to everyone that Cosa Nostra had not only not been intimidated by judicial repression, but that it was always ready to strike anyone who stood in his way.”
“Starting from the Seventies – stated Paolo Borsellino – the mafia conducted a campaign of systematic elimination of investigators who sensed something. The gangs knew that they were isolated, that the State was not behind them and that their death would delay the discoveries. Isolated, killed, those men were even slandered. This is what happened with Scaglione.”
Mafia: Scaglione, “Judge alone against mysteries” killed in 1971 (2)= (AGI) – Palermo, May 4. – It was this extraordinary magistrate who defined the Portella della Ginestra massacre on May 1, 1947 as an “infamous, repugnant and abominable crime” and who credited the “defense of the large estate and landowners” as the main motives; the “all-out” fight against communism that Salvatore Giuliano “always showed he hated and opposed”; the will on the part of the bandits to accredit themselves as “the eradicators of communism”, and then obtain amnesty; the desire to “usurp the police powers devolved to the State”; the “punishment” against the peasants who occupied the lands.
The public prosecutor Pietro Scaglione had also identified in those years the significant criminal danger of the Corleone mafia gang. Among other things, he requested and obtained the indictment for the mafiosi Luciano Liggio, Pasquale Criscione and Vincenzo Collura, accused of the murder of the trade unionist Placido Rizzotto and also supported the accusation in the trial for one of the first crimes committed by the Corleonese boss : in 1945, the murder of the field guard, Calogero Comajanni. He also dealt with the murders of other trade unionists, including Salvatore Carnevale, highlighting, in the 1956 indictment, the courageous figure of the victim and the peasant struggles, speaking of “earth fever” and writing that Carnevale’s activity was feared by those who had an interest in maintaining the landowner system and mafia power. (AGI)Red (Continued)
041423 MAY 24
NNNN
ZCZC
AGI0039 3 CRO 0 RPA /
Mafia: Scaglione, “Judge alone against mysteries” killed in 1971 = (AGI) – Palermo, May 4. – On 5 May 1971 Palermo saw the public prosecutor Pietro Scaglione and the agent Antonio Lorusso fall under the blows of the Cosa Nostra.
Scaglione began his long career as a judge and public prosecutor in 1928, demonstrating “independence of judgment even during the twenty years of fascism” (as the journalists Enzo Perrone and Rosario Poma wrote in the volume “The Mafia: grandparents and grandchildren”, Vallecchi, Florence, 1971). “An upright magistrate, endowed with exceptional professional skills and absolute moral honesty, ruthless persecutor of the mafia, whose undisputed moral and professional qualities are clearly evident from the documents”, as it was also defined in irrevocable sentences, Scaglione deals with of the most serious Sicilian mysteries, to ascertain the truth and bring the guilty to justice, also actively engaging in defense of the autonomy of magistrates from the executive power. (AGI)Red (Continued)
041423 MAY 24
NNNN
