Federico Cafiero de Raho: "New truths will come about the mafia massacres" by Alessia Candito
The national anti-mafia prosecutor retires and talks about the investigations into Capaci and via D'Amelio JANUARY 30, 2022 4 MINUTES OF READING "There will be a new piece of truth about the massacres. Of this I am convinced. We have been working on this for years." Federico Cafiero de Raho is not a man of easy promises. One of the magistrates who dismantled the Casalesi clan in Campania, at the top of the Reggio Calabria prosecutor's office in the years in which the true face of the 'Ndragheta was discovered, has been at the head of DNA since 2018. "Unfortunately, in less than a month I will retire." Was becoming the head of such an important office a goal from the beginning of your career? "Absolutely not. I just knew I wanted to be a prosecutor with one goal: to guarantee freedom and justice." First assignment? "In Milan, a great school. I was a kid. When I went to the court the trolleys with the files seemed enormous to me". The masters of the time? "We were all young, even if there were already experienced magistrates who were reference points such as Armando Spataro or Ferdinando Pomarici. One of the deputy prosecutors was Bruno Siclari, who later became the head of the first DNA. He had a reputation for gruff, but he was actually very careful. " When did you start dealing with the mafia? "Four years later, just back in Naples. The District Anti-Mafia Directorate had just been set up. I was there when we got the news of the attack in Capaci". What do you remember of that moment? "We all came together, shocked. For everyone, that attack was a declaration of open war. Cosa Nostra wanted to kill some men of the state in a massacre way. Those methods are a message to be taken into consideration". What do we know and what we don't know about that season? "We know that Cosa Nostra was the perpetrator and instigator of those attacks. And thanks to the work of the Reggio Calabria prosecutor's office we know that the 'Ndrangheta played a role and numerous subjects have emerged who have operated both in Sicily and in Calabria. investigations are continuing to ascertain the role of institutional or para-institutional formations ". Are we talking about intelligence sectors? "Also. Thirty years have passed and still no full light has been shed on that season. "We proceed with caution. We must avoid new misdirections to Scarantino, to arrive at an organic reconstruction every conquest is an element that must be examined by the various offices - Palermo, Catania, Caltanissetta, Reggio Calabria, Florence - involved in the investigations. In addition, a lot of time has passed. ". What does this mean? "That the declarations of the repentant must be examined with even more attention and certain investigations cost more effort. But they can and must be done and the results are coming." In the history of Italy, what have those massacres meant? "They have changed the history of the country also because they have created a common sense of condemnation and the awareness of the need to react to the oppression of the mafia". And for her? Have you started to be more afraid of wearing the toga? "No, for a simple reason. Those who live in justice, in the world of fighting the mafias, know they are taking risks. They take into account that something can happen, but they end up living everything in a very natural way. we live with it ". There are those who argue that after the extraordinary response of the state, Cosa Nostra has been heavily downsized. "And it is wrong and dangerous. It almost shakes us off the responsibility of fighting the mafias. Cosa Nostra has only changed strategy, choosing immersion, invisibility, as the 'Ndrangheta had done even before. Today the utilitarian reasoning of the mafias is not making noise, moving underground, moving in the legal and illegal sector of the economy ". Was the pandemic an opportunity or did the crisis also hit companies and mafia activities? "Mostly an opportunity, because it has allowed the clans to reinvest their wealth in the sectors most in difficulty. The tourism-hotel sector, or the restaurant business, are at very high risk of infiltration". The tools for identifying mafia capital exist. Why does the infiltration of clans into the real economy continue to be a real danger? "For some time now, the mafias have had professionals and white-collar workers at their disposal capable of designing economic and financial strategies. The clans enter companies with their own money but often without even changing the corporate structure. The old owner becomes in fact just a figurehead. of a company that no longer controls, even if the documents still show it as such ". Does the PNRR also risk ending up being prey to the mafias? "These funds will be fundamental for the restart of the country and for this reason more than careful monitoring is necessary. A paper-based check, based on documents, is not enough, you have to physically go and see what happens in the streets, on construction sites. We must be vigilant and for this reason. collaboration on the part of all is needed ". What would that mean? "Entrepreneurs must support a project of legality, Confindustria, Confcommercio, Coldiretti, all trade associations are called to watch, and the citizens too. Everyone's future is at stake". Are high-density mafia and economically fragile territories such as Sicily likely to be more exposed? "Sicily is the region that most of all has suffered the violence of the clans, has experienced firsthand the compression of freedoms due to the arrogance of Cosa Nostra. This has created a deep-rooted anti-mafia conscience, from this point of view it is ahead of respect to many territories ". From an institutional point of view, are we gearing up? "A protocol has recently been signed with the Lazio Region which provides for the transmission to Dia and the DNA of all the documents relating to tenders. This means having greater and more pervasive tools available for controls". What's the benefit? "If it were extended to all regions, extensive monitoring could be carried out, making up for the historic lack of a national procurement database that would allow for the identification of all the parties involved at all levels". Has any other Region or institution come forward? "Not at the moment". Do you believe that the pandemic has overshadowed the danger of the mafias? "I don't think so. In any case, it is a luxury that we cannot afford." In the last two years he has had to coordinate the national anti-mafia leadership in the middle of the pandemic. "Covid19 has made coordination between the magistrates of different prosecutors more complex. There is still no secure communication channel, for our meetings we used the tools that everyone had at their disposal. This also created a security problem. C 'it was difficult to name certain names, reveal certain passages, for fear that someone might listen to those discussions ". Was the interceptor afraid of being intercepted? Almost a paradox "The mafias have always tried to know in advance the moves of those who oppose them. Once there were their sentries in front of police headquarters and commands. It would not surprise me to discover that the clans can count on" technological "sentries". After many years of activity, he will retire on February 18th. "Actually not yet. Of course it's hard to imagine standing still. Maybe I'll write a book. But I'll think about it on February 19th."
