Carlo Palermo
Carlo Palermo (born September 28, 1947 in Avellino ) is an Italian lawyer, judge and former politician, former deputy prosecutor in Trento from 1975 to 1984 and then in Trapani from 1985 to 1989. Today he works as a lawyer.
Professional career
Appointed Deputy Public Prosecutor in Trento in 1975, he became known to the public when he launched an investigation into extensive arms and drug trafficking, which followed in 1980 following the seizure of 110 kg of morphine base in Trento for hotelier Karl Kofler (who shortly thereafter died in prison) and Herbert Oberhofer, who represented a connection between the Turkish traders and the Sicilian mafia.
The investigation revealed the leading role of the Syrian drug trafficker Henry Arsan (then residing in Milan), who was able to exchange arms deliveries in the Middle East for drug deliveries, and in whom officers from the secret services affiliated to Lodge P2 (General Giuseppe Santovito and Colonel Massimo Pugliese), the Turkish mafia boss Bekir Celenk (also involved in the investigation into the assassination of John Paul II ) and the actor Rossano Brazzi , who was accused of participating in negotiations for the sale of war weapons abroad.
However, the then Prime Minister Bettino Craxi filed a complaint against Judge Palermo with the Supreme Council of the Magistrate because he was wrongly drawn into the case after the magistrate had written his name on a number of search warrants against the socialist party financier Ferdinando Mach di Palmstein .
As a result, the Supreme Council of the Magistrature opened a disciplinary investigation into Palermo and the investigation was withdrawn. Carlo Palermo then decided in 1985 to be transferred to the public prosecutor's office in Trapani, where his anti-mafia investigations coincided with those of his colleague Giangiacomo Ciaccio Montalto, a Trapani judge who was shot on January 22, 1983. The murder of Montalto was ordered by the mafiosi Totò Riina and Mariano Agate .
In fact, Judge Palermo met with Montalto in Trento three weeks prior to the murder of Montalto to exchange confidential information about the drug trafficking investigation.
Pizzolungo massacre
On April 2, 1985, just 50 days after Judge Palermo took office, the Mafia responded and attempted to kill him with a car bomb. Palermo was on his way to work from his residence Bonagia Palace of Justice of Trapani, as at 08:35 pm with TNT groomed vehicle in the Ericer district Pizzolungo exploded. The thunder could be heard for miles.
The magistrate was only slightly injured because his vehicle was adequately armored, but there were other victims: at the moment of the explosion, the armored vehicle, a Fiat 132 , a VW Scirocco in which Barbara Rizzo (30 years old) and her two overtook little twins, aged six, Salvatore and Giuseppe Asta, who were torn to pieces by the explosion. At the time, unidentifiable body parts of one of the twins were found on a house wall 200 meters away.
The following investigations by the then Chief Public Prosecutor of the Province of Caltanissetta Sebastiano Patanè showed that the bomb was detonated by the VW Scirocco by remote trigger despite the "shield", because it was assumed that the explosive force would be sufficient. Over the years it became known through Pentiti that Salvatore Riina (called la belva , the beast) and Vincenzo Virga (boss of Trapani and one of the largest money launders of the Cosa Nostra ) were responsible here too .
In addition, the investigations made it clear that the mafia bombing was for preventive and demonstrative purposes, as Judge Palermo intended to continue the investigation into the drug trafficking and could have discovered a heroin refinery near Alcamo , which the police actually 22 days after the attack was found.
End of the anti-mafia fight
A few months after the assassination, Carlo Palermo moved to the ministry in Rome for some time, then left the judges 'and prosecutors' offices and devoted himself to the legal profession as well as politics. For La Rete , an anti-mafia party, he was a member of the Chamber of Deputies in the College of Trento and Bolzano from April 1992 until he was declared “incapable of consensus” in November 1993 and was replaced by Paolo Prodi : he excelled in his parliamentary work by opposing the high-speed railway in South Tyrol and campaigning for the approval of proceedings against Craxi. Then he was provincial (and thus also regional) councilor in Trento.
Publications (selection)
- Riflessioni di un giudice . Editori Riuniti, Rome 1987, ISBN 88-359-3111-8 .
- L'attentato . Publiprint, Trient 1992, ISBN 88-85179-32-0 .
- Il quarto level: integralismo islamico, massoneria e mafia . Editori Riuniti, Rome 1996, ISBN 88-359-4032-X .
- Il giudice. Frammenti di una storia incompiuta Reverdito Edizioni, Trient 1997, ISBN 88-7978-100-6 .
- Il papa nel mirino. Gli attentati al pontefice nel nome di Fatima . Editori Riuniti, Rome 1998, ISBN 88-359-4340-X .
- Il quarto level: 11 September 2001, last day? Editori Riuniti, Rome 2002, ISBN 88-359-5175-5 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Yes, it was the Mafia - Italian archive La Repubblica
- ↑ Arms and drugs - Three arrest warrants for 110 kg of morphine - Italian archive La Repubblica
- ^ The names of drug smugglers - Report from 1984 - Italian - La Repubblica Archives
- ↑ A giant of arms dealers - Italian archive La Repubblica
- ^ Report of the Board of Directors on the approval of the further procedure - Italian Chamber of Deputies July 31, 1992 - Italian - PDF
- ↑ Investigations into arms trade against Palmstein discontinued -Italian archive La Repubblica
- ↑ Guns and Drugs - Defeat for the Investigator - Italian Archives La Repubblica
- ↑ The judge who knew, murdered - Italian archive La Repubblica
- ↑ Toto Riina wanted the death of Judge Palermo - Internet Archive 2013 - Italian
- ↑ The killers with the car bomb - Italian archive La Repubblica
- ^ Archive of the Italian Chamber of Deputies Archive La Repubblica
- ↑ Carlo Palermo: I was right and explain why - Corriere della sera archive - Paywall - Italian Corriere della Sera of September 22, 1996.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Palermo, Carlo |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Italian lawyer and politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 28, 1947 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Avellino |