Paolo Borsellino

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Paolo Borsellino
Falcone (l.) And Borsellino (r.) On demonstration banners: "You did not murder them, their ideas are on our feet (further)."

Paolo Borsellino (born January 19, 1940 in Palermo , † July 19, 1992 ibid) was an Italian judge and " Mafia hunter".

Life

youth

Inscription in Palermo: This is where Paolo Borsellino was born

Borsellino was born in the poor district of “La Kalsa” in Palermo, where Giovanni Falcone and Tommaso Buscetta , among others, lived. He had five siblings. After attending the liceo classico Meli , a humanistic grammar school, Borsellino enrolled at the University of Palermo to study law . On June 27, 1962, a few days after completing his studies, his father Diego died. Borsellino led the pharmacy on until his sister Rita her studies in pharmacy had finished.

Judging career

In 1963 Borsellino became a member of the judiciary in Palermo, and in 1965 an auditor at the civil court in Enna . In 1967 he became a magistrate in Mazara del Vallo , where he married in 1968 and moved to Monreale in 1969 , where he worked with the captain of the Carabinieri , Emanuele Basile . In 1975 he was transferred back to Palermo and in July he joined the "ufficio istruzione affari penali" (about: Office for the Investigation of Criminal Matters) under the direction of the judge on the Supreme Judicial Council Rocco Chinnici .

In 1980 the first six Mafiosi were arrested thanks to the investigations carried out by him and Emanuele Basile. Basile was murdered in May of the same year, with the result that Borsellino and his family were constantly guarded from then on. In the same year, the antimafia pool (pool antimafia; in such a pool, several investigating judges work together on the investigation, they share all information together, so that no knowledge is lost when a member of the pool is murdered), in which under the leadership von Chinnici three judges (Falcone, Borsellino, Barrile) and two commissioners (Ninni Cassarà and Beppe Montana) worked. All members of the pool expressly demanded state intervention , which did not materialize.

On August 4, 1983, Rocco Chinnici was murdered by a car bomb. A few days later, Antonino Caponnetto came from Florence to take his place in the anti-mafia pool. The pool wanted a general mobilization against the mafia. In 1984 the mafia politician Vito Ciancimino was arrested, and Tommaso Buscetta confessed to his actions as a so-called “pentito” (literally: penitent; mafia dropout). “Don Masino”, as the mafiosi called him, was arrested in São Paulo , Brazil, and extradited to Italy. Buscetta described a mafia in great detail, of which little was known until then.

In 1985, Commissioners Giuseppe Montana and Ninni Cassarà of the Cosa Nostra were murdered within a few days . Falcone and Borsellino and their families were transferred to the hostel of the maximum security prison on the island of Asinara , where they began to write the evidence for the Maxi trial , in which more than 300 mafiosi were later convicted.

On December 19, 1986, Borsellino was appointed Procurate of Marsala. Due to his good relationship with Falcone, who stayed in Palermo, he was able to cover the whole of western Sicily with his investigations.

In 1987 Caponnetto left the pool for health reasons, and the Falcones nomination was expected. The Supreme Judge Council Consiglio Superiore della Magistratura (CSM) saw it differently and fear arose that the pool would be abolished again. Borsellino talked everywhere about the events in the Procurate of Palermo, which he risked disciplinary action.

On July 31, Borsellino received a summons from the CSM and repeated the allegations, causing perplexity. On September 14, Antonino Meli was appointed head of the pool due to seniority. Borsellino returned to Marsala, where he carried out further investigations together with some young judges. In those days the debate began over the creation of a Superprocura , a national anti-Mafia agency modeled on the FBI. Falcone went to Rome to take charge of the Directorate of Criminal Law and urged the creation of the Superprocura.

Borsellino requested the transfer to the Procuratorate of Palermo and worked there on December 11, 1991. On May 23, 1992, when Capaci was assassinated Giovanni Falcone himself, his wife Francesca Morvillo, also a judge at the juvenile court, and their bodyguards Antonio Montinaro, Vito Schifani and Rocco di Cillo were murdered.

attack

Memorial plaque to Falcone and Borsellino at Palermo Airport

On July 19, 1992, after having lunch with some friends, Borsellino and his escort went to Via Mariano D'Amelio ( ⊙ ), where his mother lives. A Fiat 126 parked near his mother's apartment exploded, killing Emanuela Loi (the first woman in an escort), Agostino Catalano, Vicenzo Li Muli, Walter Eddie Cusina and Claudio Traina in addition to Borsellino. Antonio Vullo was the only one who survived.

With Borsellino's death a lot of knowledge was lost in the fight against the Mafia. Among other things, his “red agenda” is said to have been lost during the attack, a compilation of all appointments and important information that he always carried with him. Rita Borsellino , Borsellino's sister, was a leading activist in the fight against the Mafia until her death on August 15, 2018.

After their death, Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone were honored by renaming the airport of Palermo to Aeroporto Falcone Borsellino and by the mural Falcone and Borsellino (2017).

Quote

"Those who are afraid die every day, those who are not afraid only die once."

literature

Web links

Commons : Paolo Borsellino  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In the Italian original: “È bello morire per ciò in cui si crede; chi ha paura muore ogni giorno, chi non ha paura muore una volta sola. "
personal data
SURNAME Borsellino, Paolo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian judge and mafia hunter
DATE OF BIRTH January 19, 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH Palermo , Italy
DATE OF DEATH July 19, 1992
Place of death Palermo , Italy