Cesare Terranova

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Cesare Terranova (born August 15, 1921 in Palermo ; Sicily , Italy , † September 25, 1979 in Palermo) was a senior Sicilian investigative judge.

Life

Cesare Terranova was one of the first committed investigative judges to seriously commit himself to fighting the Cosa Nostra , as the Sicilian mafia calls itself. From 1958 he worked as an investigative judge in Palermo. The First Mafia War in 1962/1963 gave the anti-Mafia movement its first impetus and Terranova became one of its most important champions. In 1965 he indicted Luciano Liggio and 63 other Corleonese mafiosi ; he accused them of the former head of the Cosa Nostra of Corleone , Dr. To have murdered Michele Navarra and many of his supporters in 1958. Terranova examined the far-reaching links between Mafia and politics, in particular the role of Salvatore Lima , who has been said to have been linked to the Palermian Mafia families since the 1950s. Terranova was also instrumental in the "114 Trial," in which many of the most important Mafiosi and protagonists of the Mafia War were indicted. However, this trial ended in 1968 with acquittals for most of the defendants. Luciano Liggio was arrested in Milan in 1974 . In the subsequent trials, thanks in part to Terranova's work, he was eventually sentenced to life imprisonment.

In 1972 Terranova switched to politics and was elected to the Italian parliament as a representative of the left. He strongly criticized the close ties between the Democrazia Cristiana and the Cosa Nostra. In 1979, at the end of his second legislature, Terranova moved back to Palermo, where he became the chief investigator at the Court of Palermo. During these years, the Cosa Nostra, led by the Corleonesians, began to murder high-ranking representatives of the state, partly to eliminate the danger they posed and partly to warn their successors. On September 25, 1979, Cesare Terranova was shot in his car in Palermo together with his chauffeur and bodyguard, police officer Lenin Mancuso.

In 2004, the members of the Sicilian Mafia Commission , Salvatore Riina , Michele Greco , Francesco Madonia and Nene Geraci were convicted as the perpetrators of the murder of Terranova.

literature

personal data
SURNAME Terranova, Cesare
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian mafia investigator
DATE OF BIRTH August 15, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Palermo
DATE OF DEATH September 25, 1979
Place of death Palermo