On the morning of 16 June 1982, one of the most dramatic episodes of crime news occurred with victims among the police forces: on the Palermo ring road, at 10 am, there was an ambush, planned by Cosa Nostra, to eliminate the Catania boss, Alfio Ferlito, former right-hand man of the Calderone clan, was detained, during which the civilian driver Giuseppe Di Lavore, three carabinieri Silvano Franzolin, Salvatore Raiti and Luigi Di Barca perished. These were Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa’s first months in Palermo.
The young carabinieri had the task of escorting during a transfer from the prison of Enna to that of Trapani, Ferlito. It was a real commando and in a short time the killers eliminated everyone on board the car with bursts of fire. It was understood that Cosa Nostra’s action was aimed at definitively covering the mouth of the boss who was collaborating with the investigators at that time; in fact, some time earlier the boss Giuseppe Calderone had also been murdered in Catania. The trial of the massacre began in 1982 and ended with the final sentence issued by the Assize Court of Appeal with which Raffaele Ganci, Antonino Madonia and Giuseppe Lucchese were sentenced to life imprisonment. The victims of the massacre were awarded a Gold Medal for Civil Valor.
The young student Ilaria Galea from class I section. D of the “Filolao” scientific high school in Crotone remembers the massacre with these words:
“The boss Alfio Ferlito was the target of the mafia massacre which we remember as the “ring road massacre”. Taking place in Palermo, the massacre was a “favor” on the part of Totò Rina to Nitto Santapaola, the Catania mafioso at the head of the new gang considered to be the instigator of the massacre. The conflicts between Ferlito and Santapaola for the dominance of the territory had been going on for two years now; so on 06/16/82 the hitmen, armed with Kalashnikovs, put an end to it by shooting at the car transporting Ferlito from Enna to Trapani, also killing the three carabinieri who were escorting him: Salvatore Raiti, Silvano Franzolin, Luigi Barca, as well as the driver twenty-seven year old Giuseppe di Lavore. The massacre was just one of many that occurred in Palermo which once again involved innocent people; despite this, respectable citizens continue to fight for legality and dream of a better tomorrow. We students too hope for “the fresh scent of freedom”.
Today’s students will be tomorrow’s citizens. It is therefore important to make young people aware of the mechanisms that fueled the feuds between clans and the current evolutions of organizations in the national and international system. Control of the territory, social hardship, school dropouts, environmental degradation, economic blackmail contribute to fueling the predominance of crime in society. Greater participation of students in the management of public affairs through the exercise of the right to vote, volunteering, study, active presence at municipal council meetings and entry into politics can start a path of positive change.
The National Coordination of Teachers of the discipline of Human Rights notes how the project “#ourstudentsnarratethemartyrsoflegality” is spreading among the young generations faces, stories and episodes that are truly extraordinary for their educational value.
Prof. Romano Pesavento
President CNDDU
