Mafia boss amongst those investigated in Scopelliti case INSIDER NEWSDESK | 18 MARCH 2019
REGGIO CALABRIA - Seventeen mafia members, amongst which notorious boss Matteo Messina Denaro, are under investigation after a breakthrough in the murder case of Italian Supreme Court prosecutor Antonio Scopelliti, shot dead almost 28 years ago.
Scopelliti was murdered on 9 August 1991 while visiting family in Calabria. He was at the time preparing to argue against Cosa Nostra in court in the Maxi Trial, which is still to this day the biggest trial ever against the Sicilian mafia.
The murder is long thought to have been the result of a collaboration between ‘Ndrangheta, the Calabrian mafia, and the Sicilian mafia, but subsequent trials failed to convict any of suspects.
However, with the help of mafia informer Maurizio Avola, a breakthrough has been made in the case as the firearm thought to have been used in the murder was recovered from its hiding place in the Catania countryside.
The firearm will now be analysed for finger prints and will undergo a forensic ballistics examination to determine whether it matches evidence found on the murder scene.
Amongst those being investigated is renowned mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro. Messina Denaro has been a fugitive since 1993 but is thought to still be a prominent mafia boss.
Messina Denaro is one of seven Sicilians under investigation, alongside ten men linked to Calabrian group ‘Ndrangheta.
Scopelliti’s daughter Rosanna, coordinator for Antimafia movement Ammazzateci tutti, today spoke out on the breakthrough: “Truth and justice for the Calabrian people. For the nation. Because dad was never only ours. Dad was the patrimony of this country. A country for which he gave his life […]
“Killed after having turned down an enormous sum of money. Killed for having done his job with the proficiency that defined him. Killed leaving us, leaving a young me, a lesson that is hard to understand in its entirety: respect for one’s own dignity. A dignity that is not for sale […]
“Because this truth brings that redemption of a land that does not belong to Antonino Scopelliti’s murderers, but rather a land that has never stopped remembering. Never stopped engaging. Never stopped proudly believing that something good can come from the sacrifice of our victims.â€
