Salvatore Lima

Salvo Lima

Salvatore "Salvo" Lima (born January 23, 1928 in Palermo , † March 12, 1992 in Mondello ) was an Italian politician from Sicily who was murdered by the Mafia , with which he allegedly had close ties.

Life

During his long years in the Democrazia Cristiana he was mayor of Palermo and maintained close relations with the seven-time Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti , under whom he was once a minister. Lima rarely spoke in public or campaigned, but won many votes on election day itself. At the time of his death he was a member of the European Parliament .

In 1964, in connection with an investigation, Lima admitted that he knew Angelo La Barbera , one of the most powerful Mafia leaders of the time. In March 1992 he was in Palermo to prepare an election campaign appearance for Andreotti. On March 12, 1992, he was driving his chauffeur towards Palermo when a rifleman shot the car's tires from the back seat of a motorcycle. The car stopped, Lima got out and tried to escape, but the two killers chased him and the gunman first shot him in the back to stop the escape and then killed him with a shot in the neck. The murderers then fled.

A few years later, former mafioso and key witness Tommaso Buscetta claimed that Lima was killed because he had no longer used the mafia and should now be punished for his failure. According to Buscetta, Lima was the politician the Cosa Nostra turned to most often when it came to solving problems that could only be solved in Rome . In return, Buscetta said, he would have received support in political elections in Sicily. These allegations were supported by other key witnesses such as Antonino Calderone , Gaspare Mutolo and Francesco Marino Mannoia . Independent investigations also come to this conclusion, but it is important to emphasize that Lima was never formally charged or convicted on such charges. Buscetta continued to claim that Lima's father was already a member of the 'honorable society' in the 1940s.

In 1983, in connection with the establishment of the anti-mafia pool around Antonino Caponnetto , Giovanni Falcone (murdered 1992) and Paolo Borsellino (murdered 1992) , Lima tried to nominate Corrado Carnevale as judge, a judge who was known to be a "killer" was known as he brought down many judgments due to the smallest formal error. Lima posed a potential threat to the Mafia in 1992 as he may have known many secrets about the Mafia.

In 1998 some powerful mafiosi, among them the boss of the bosses , Salvatore Riina from Corleone , were convicted of the murder of Lima.

Web links

• Entry on Salvatore Lima in the European Parliament 's database of deputies