May 23, 2024 Various news
It happened at Santa Caterina, in the presence of the authorities
MONREALE, 23 May – The dramatic historical context and the Corleonese mafia of the 70s and 80s, the procession of the Holy Crucifix of Monreale, the testimonies of those who knew the captain and those who were on the street in that tragic situation.
The wait for the fireworks, the gunshots and the town that suddenly emptied. The silence, the emotional emptiness, the shock of a community wounded to the core, in its civil and moral dignity; the immediate repairing act, courageous and full of humanity, of a young eighteen-year-old from Montreal who, regardless of the danger, rushes to help his wife Silvana and little Barbara.
An important document was screened yesterday at Santa Caterina, a testimony full of emotional experience and community history, as underlined by the mayor of Monreale, Alberto Arcidiacono, and by the commander of the Monreale Carabinieri Company, Captain Niko Giaquinto who, on behalf of all his predecessors (including Basile and D’Aleo) thanked him for the initiative and for its dissemination in schools.
“A documentary that is the result of in-depth reflection and patient technical editing – states the president of the Pro Loco Monreale, Amelia Crisantino, visibly moved at the end of the screening like many of those present – twenty-five intense minutes full of lived history. Now the dissemination work in schools, with older students starting from Legality Day”.
“I have always thought of writing to Mrs Silvana and her daughter Barbara who never returned to Monreale – says Tonino Cassarà, the then young eighteen year old who helped the Basile family – Perhaps I haven’t found the right words, but it would be correct to do feel the sincere affection and deep feeling of gratitude of our entire community to the Basile family.”
The methods, the particular and significant moment (the procession of the Crucifix) mean that the killing of Captain Emanuele Basile has a particular specific weight in the history of Monreale; but, on Legality Day, it is obligatory to remember that next June 13th is the date of the killing, again at the hands of the mafia, of Captain Mario D’Aleo, who continued the work of his predecessor.
