Italy's Supreme Court of Cassation on Monday announced that former Cosa Nostra boss Salvatore “Totò” Riina is entitled to a dignified death, adding that authorities should re-examine a defence plea for the ageing criminal to be moved to house arrest or have his life sentence shortened.

Nicknamed “The Beast” for his ferocity, Riina is currently serving life in prison for a string of crimes, including the assassinations of antimafia magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino 25 years ago, and the 1982 murder of Carabinieri General Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa, who had recently been appointed prefect of Palermo.

Dalla Chiesa’s daughter and TV presenter, Rita Dalla Chiesa, was among those who criticised the Cassation Court for its statement on Monday.

"My father did not have a dignified death; they murdered him and left him, his wife and [escort] Domenico Russo in the car without even a sheet to cover them," she said on national television.

Victims of the Florentine Via dei Georgofili bombing, which killed five people near the Uffizi Gallery in 1993, said they were "dumbstruck" by the court's ruling.

President of the Antimafia Commission, Rosy Bindi, said there was no need to move Riina because he had access to all the treatment he required in a prison hospital.

Source: http://ilglobo.com.au/news/34717/toto-riina-entitled-to-dignified-death/#

They should read Furious's shout box post, smh... Goddamn, corrupt beyond comprehension even....



But Sicily is different, the politicians are another species of gangster. The Mafiosi and the politicians have a symbiosis going back so far and long, you can't really remove one without the other, as they are two sides of the same coin...

This guy was going to have his minions scatter HIV infected needles in some public place or some shit, bomb all kinda historical monuments and foolishness, WHAT THE HELLS WRONG WITH THEM???

The trouble of Italian justice is that it tends to forget. Of course the end of the punishment is to rehabilitate the person and surely there are many people who are facing long prison sentences that have regretted and would deserve to be released but not Totò Riina.
At the end it is enough (as suggested) to transfer him if he is really ill (not the first time he pretends to be seriously ill) in a maximum security prison equipped for the cares that Riina needs.
What is missing is that riina is a symbol, if he will be released the ITALIAN STATE will show that it is enough to wait a few years to go out even if you have ordered the assassination of hundreds of people.

He won't be released I think, because he is powerful only in the underworld society, but never had a legal position. Formally, he was just a random peasant. If he was a politician, an important lawyer, a chairman of the directors' board of a big company or business alliance of more companies, just anything that gives a position in the legal society, not just in the underworld, then I think he would have gotten house arrest with no problem a long time ago already, no matter how many life sentences he has. Even mafiosi who are not "white-collar" often get released to house arrest. And, to be honest, in my opinion it's inappropriate to call it "arrest" at all, at least how they do it in Italy: no guards under your door, no electronic bracelet that traces your movements, you can even GO OUTSIDE if it's during a specific period of time, like from 17.00 to 19.00 or something like that. When you are in jail, it's not like you can go shopping and then return to prison, so why do they allow this on house arrest? Isn't it supposed to be like jail, with no movement, just in your house instead on a jail cell?

Just to make an example, how ridiculous it is to call this "house arrest": in 2008, the 'ndrangheta boss Silvio Farao was arrested and placed under "house arrest" instead of jail, because his life sentence wasn't yet upheld by the supreme court. So, Farao took a rest for a couple of days and then went on the run again with no problem, since nobody was guarding the door. So why is it called "arrest" at all?

And, to show that it's impossible to send a "white collar" criminal in jail for life: there was the case of Antonino Velio Sprio, just a small-time employee or office worker in the regional administration in Sicily; small-time, but technically white collar and therefore a member of the "high society". What happened with him shows perfectly how much does this status matter, not only for big-time politicians and tycoons: not only did Sprio have a crime record already and was allowed to work there, but he went on a killing spree ordering hit after hit, after one of his colleagues in the administration, Giovanni Bonsignore, tried to have him fired, after discovering another fraud committed by Sprio. Sprio had him killed, then other 4 people at least (don't remember the details; one was a lawyer with whom Sprio had a money problem I think, others I have to re-check). At the end, when the triggermen got arrested and fingered him, not only didn't he go to jail immediately after his first life sentence, it wasn't even considered enough to remove him from his position in the regional administration. Even after he had already THREE life sentences, ALL UPHELD BY THE SUPREME COURT, he was still under "house arrest". Only after a FOURTH life sentence arrived, they finally took him to jail, where he later received a fifth one and died last year I think. So you see: if it takes so much to put in jail even a small-fry character if he is "white collar from the high society with political connections", can you imagine what would happen if it was a mayor, a governor, a minister etc on trial for murder? Even THREE life sentences are not enough for them to send somebody from that social group to jail for murder. White collar criminals often go briefly to jail for corruption or fraud, but nobody ever wants to try them for murder, probably because it would make "bad headlines" for the "high society". Even a minister can be sent to jail for corruption even if it takes big efforts, but to send them there for MURDER, is impossible. Everybody is already used to the known fact that they are thieves and frauds, but the society will never publicly admit to itself that they are often killers too. Imo it's not a question of "to be easier or harder to prove", but it's about losing face too much and setting a dangerous example: if an important white-collar character is jailed for murder for life in a real prison, not for a non-violent financial crime, then everybody can really become equal for the law sooner or later and that's what they don't want.

Sorry for the long post where many things seem off-topic: I am saying all this to show that, in my opinion, if Riina won't manage to get out of jail and will die there, it's only due to the fact that he never had a position in legal society, and NOT because he is a multiple murderer and those judges have respect for justice. If it was somebody with a public history as a "prominent personality, not just in a criminal sense", he would be out in no time under this "house arrest" that shouldn't even be called that imo.

Dwalin2011 from tangentopoli to now members of high society was arrested and made time in jail; again if the public opinion is against a member of high society or a white collar men,the judge can dare but in the other cases they had much trouble to touch an untouchables.

I'd admonish that behavior but I would probably be called a "racist" because an attack on a mafioso is apparently an attack on all Italian people.

An attack on a single mafioso,not; but an attack to Salvatore Riina that was the capo dei capi that declared war to the italian state,killed or ordered to kill hundreds of people ecc YES MOE, IS AN ATTACK TO ALL ITALIAN PEOPLE.

Yes, but the Tangentopoli trials were about corruption, fraud, stealing public money etc. Sometimes they do jail time for that. But nobody dares to link a big white collar (especially politician) to murder. Giulio Andreotti got close once, getting 24 years for the Pecorelli murder, but then it was reversed by the supreme court. And, even if it got upheld, he would have gotten house arrest immediately, probably in less than a week.

Yes Furio, I agree completely. I appreciate that you can see the nuances in my viewpoints.

Lol @ him deserving any type of dignified death. They ought to let a pack of starving dogs eat that piece of shit after they starve him for a few days. Unreal. I thought they were tough on crime over there, shows what I know.

Thanks for that info Dwalin2011. Had no idea it was that fucked up in Italy.

Vegas,, pigs that is what he had done to others.chopped that boys arm off and threw it to the pigs

I can never understand how someone could harm anyone like that. Let alone a child. Dont get me wrong, if my back is against the wall I doubt id have a problem killing someone but I just can't understand how hurting people brings someone joy.

Why Giovanni Brusca killed kidnapped,strangled and dissolved the body in the acid ? Why Navarra killed a little boy injecting poison into his veins?
And I could continue, but in the end the answer is just one: they are sociopaths.For money and power they would kill their mother.

brusca would jerkoff when torturing men

It was Leoluca Bagarella.He was ever worse than brusca,Tommaso Buscetta said:"I prefer not to speak about him, I think he doesn't belong to the human species...in prison everybody feared him. I remember we stayed three months together in the prison infirmary and the only words he told me were good morning and good evening." Buscetta said Bagarella had mental problems and has been involved in possibly 300 murders

Riina in video-link to trial (3)
Mafia boss follows hearing in bed from Parma prison

(ANSA) - Florence, June 7 - Former Mafia boss of bosses Totò Riina followed a Florence hearing for a trial into the 'Train 904 bombing' in 1984 via video link from a bed in Parma jail on Wednesday. The supreme court this week said the ailing mobster has the right to a dignified death, causing a controversy and indignation from victims. Riina is accused of ordering the attack on a Naples-Milan train that caused 16 deaths and injured 260 in December 1984.
"He's very ill, no one can deny that," said the lawyer of the former Cosa Nosta head, nicknamed 'The Beast' because of his ferocity.
The Cassation Court ordered a detention review court to re-assess Riina's detention in a prison hospital, where he is seriously ill.
Relatives of victims including anti-mafia magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, 25 years ago, and Palermo prefect Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa, have said he should not get a dignified death since their loved ones did not get one from him.
Italy's anti-mafia and anti-terror chief prosecutor, Franco Roberti, has said Riina should not be moved from detention even if he is terminally ill because he is "still the head of Cosa Nostra".

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/general_...5baa7f7f85.html

The end of the boss of bosses
Italy struggles to deal with an aged “godfather”

http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21723147-salvatore-tot-riina-once-head-cosa-nostra-wants-die-home-italy-struggles?fsrc=rss%7Ceur

"Dignified" death? What a joke. He deserves to die in a dungeon and then go to hell.

John Veasey stated that killing Cianglini and almost killing Merlino was a better feeling than any high he ever had.

I don't get it either. It is an ego thing I assume.

Sick people out there. John Veasey is a true low life too and that quote doesn't suprise me.

Speaking of Riina his daughter made the news with her expired paperwork to file for a "Baby Bonus" meaning for three years of a baby growing up the government pays for the child's needs. This is for poor families only.

It was Filippo marchese who jerked of while men were strangled and dissolved in acid..Vincenzo sinagra who made the claim.

thanks, Pilliano

Wasn't that the poor thief who robbed member of the mafia,and they didn't kill him because his cousin was member.So they gave him option of leaving sicily,being killed or to work for them.He was working with Filippo in the "death room". I thought he said same thing about Bagarella.

That was the one strax..How you doing buddy.

I'm sure Merlino was repentant after shooting up Scarfo in Dante and Luigi's with nary a thought for any of the innocents who witnessed it, and could have been killed in the crossfire.

There is little doubt this guy was more brutal Thani anything we've seen in America. Or at least in 40 years or more. Hard to believe the killings in Sicily.

Toto Riina and people around him,were way more brutal than anything you ever had in America.