Maxi process
The Maxi Trials (also often called the Mammoth Trials ) were a series of large trials that led to the conviction of hundreds of members of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra during the 1980s . This was made possible primarily through the work of a few committed investigative judges such as Giovanni Falcone and the statements of Pentito Tommaso Buscetta .
Formation of the anti-mafia
While the existence of the mafia in the 19th century and well into the second half of the 20th century was flatly denied or at least downplayed by the public authorities, an awareness of the existence of the mafia and one gradually developed in Sicily in the 1960s Anti-mafia movement. Up until that point, a broad alliance made up of the beneficiaries of organized crime, compliant politicians, and the Catholic Church had denied a related problem.
At the end of the 1950s the Italian Communist Party (PCI) began - unsuccessfully for a long time - to demand a parliamentary investigation into the Sicilian mafia; this should take place according to the model of the American Kefauver Hearings . In the 1960s the center of political power gradually shifted to the left; the more left-wing newspaper L'Ora began to print exposé stories about the Mafia despite repeated repression . In 1963, the First Mafia War began in Palermo , which gave further impetus to demands for an investigation.
Even if the subsequent parliamentary investigation was unsuccessful and the problem was hushed up again in the further course, the work of the anti-mafia inspired some investigating judges, who from the end of the 1970s became increasingly committed to fighting the mafia. As a result of the investigations by judges such as Rocco Chinnici and Giovanni Falcone, a major litigation success could be recorded for the first time in the early 1980s. Rocco Chinnici also founded the Antimafia Pool. After Chinnici's murder on July 29, 1983 by a car bomb, Antonino Caponetto took over the management of the pool and, in addition to Falcone, recruited the judges Paolo Borsellino , Gioacchino Natoli , Giuseppe Di Lello and Leonardo Guarnotta for the pool; later new members such as Ignazio de Francisi and Giuseppe Ayala were added.
Preparation for the process
In 1982 the important mafioso Tommaso Buscetta , also known as the boss of the two worlds, was arrested in Brazil . Buscetta had not only lost his closest friends and allies like Stefano Bontade in the bloody Second Mafia War , but also two of his sons; these had been murdered by the victorious Corleonese faction , although they themselves had nothing to do with the mafia. Buscetta became the first real Pentito and from 1984 he began working with Falcone and sharing his knowledge of the Cosa Nostra, as the Mafia calls itself, with them. Buscetta's statements made it possible to arrest 366 so-called "men of honor". The statements of Salvatore Contorno, who soon followed Buscetta's example, enabled another 127 arrest warrants.
Caponnetto explained the meaning of Buscetta's statements in a press conference and already hinted at a larger trial: "We not only have an abundance of different Mafia cases. The Mafia as such is being brought to justice. So it is not an exaggeration to say that this one is is a historic measure. We have finally succeeded in penetrating right into the heart of the mafia structures ".
In this process, not only should the previously imprisoned Mafiosi be tried, but it should also be proven that the Mafia was a single and uniform entity. Contrary to the opinion, which was sometimes expressed earlier, that the Mafia was only a loose collection of individual gangs, the uniform structure and organization as well as its hierarchical structure were now emphasized. In addition, high-ranking bosses are to be made directly liable for the important murders carried out by the Cosa Nostra - such as the repeated sensational murders of important representatives of the state - since these could only have been decided by the Sicilian Mafia Commission . This view soon became known as the Buscetta theorem .
process
The Maxi Trial began on February 10, 1986. To ensure a trouble-free process, a massive concrete bunker made of reinforced concrete was built near Ucciardone prison . In addition, extensive safety precautions had been taken in the context of the process; The building was fenced in with barbed wire , a tank stood in front of the entrance day and night , metal detectors , surveillance cameras and alarm systems were used. In the courtroom itself Community cages were installed, of which the defendants were able to follow the process. The meetings were regularly televised nationwide.
Overall, charges brought against 474 men, of whom still 119 men were on the run. The charges included 120 murders , drug trafficking , extortion and membership or formation of a criminal organization . The highest-ranking defendants present included the Corleonese senior boss Luciano Liggio , who has already been imprisoned for life , as well as Giuseppe Calò and Mariano Agate . On the other hand, the two leaders of the Corleones, Salvatore Riina and Bernardo Provenzano , as well as Michele Greco , the chairman of the commission, were mainly fleeting . However, Greco was arrested 10 days after the trial began and soon took part in the trial as well.
"This is the trial against the Mafia organization called 'Cosa Nostra' ..."
The process was sometimes viewed very critically in public; the Giornale di Sicilia repeatedly criticized the trial, as did the Sicilian writer Leonardo Sciascia and the Sicilian Cardinal Salvatore Pappalardo . In addition to the extent of the trial, the use of Buscetta's and Contorno's statements as support for the prosecution was viewed negatively; Giovanni Falcone's media presence was also rated negatively. The process was also accused of being just an agreed show trial .
Since Buscetta initially refused to openly divulge his knowledge of the political connections of the Cosa Nostra, Falcone did not mention them in his indictment. Only the brothers Ignazio and Nino Salvo were openly incriminated in the process. The far-reaching entanglement of the Cosa Nostra with the Democrazia Cristiana (DC), which is dominant in Italy , the Sicilian Freemasonry and the public administration has been excluded for the time being in order not to risk a premature failure of the process.
The trial ended on December 16, 1987 with the sentencing of 344 accused to a total of 2,665 years in prison. 114 defendants were acquitted, including Luciano Liggio, because it was not considered proven that he had ordered the murder of judge Cesare Terranova while in custody .
Further processes, appointments and subsequent development
Through further investigations and the statements of other mafia dropouts like Antonio Calderone and Francesco Maríno Mannoia , another big process was made possible. In order to limit the number of accused in the future, the indictment material was divided into two trials, called Maxi II and Maxi III.
As soon as the first maxi-trial was completed, the “Pax Mafiosa” also ended and the Cosa Nostra began again to murder high officials; This was not done during the process in order not to adversely affect the process. As a result, many judgments in the various appeal bodies were overturned, partly due to minimal technical errors.
Due to the provisional overturning of numerous judgments, at the beginning of 1989 only 60 originally convicted were in custody. Responsible for this was Corrado Carnevale , judge at the Corte Suprema di Cassazione - the Italian court of cassation, which had earned a reputation as a "judgment killer". Since he had close ties to Salvatore Lima and Giulio Andreotti , among others , he was removed from his position in the early 1990s and was accused of bribery and corruption in office.
In 1992 the appeals failed in the last instance and the judgments - and thus Buscetta's statements in particular - were confirmed. The existence of the mafia now became consensus; For the first time ever, the Mafia, previously considered largely inviolable, had suffered a defeat in court. In response to this severe defeat, the Cosa Nostra began - on the initiative of Salvatore Riina - soon afterwards a campaign against the state; the series of attacks also cost the lives of the judges Falcone and Borsellino, Salvatore Lima and Ignazio Salvo.
The latter were murdered because the judgments were interpreted as a failure to effectively protect the criminal organization from persecution or to have the judgments revised through political influence. The aim of the attacks was to force the state to give in; However, this was unsuccessful and after the arrest of Riina in 1993 and his brother-in-law Leoluca Bagarella in 1995, the Cosa Nostra stopped all attacks and assassinations. In later years, the judiciary began to further limit the number of accused and only carry out smaller trials.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b John Dickie: Cosa nostra: The history of the Mafia. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 978-3-596-17106-4 .
- ↑ John Follain: The last Godfathers. Hodder & Stoughton, London 2008, ISBN 978-0-340-97919-8 .
- ↑ Alexander Stille : The Judges: Death, the Mafia and the Italian Republic. CH Beck, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-406-42303-5 .