Over 20 mafia mobsters have been released from prison in Italy after showing good behaviour – the Goodfellas could now be out of jail for good, but victims are worried
Apparently some mobsters have become Goodfellas(Image: Getty Images)
More than 20 mafia mobsters have been released from jail in the past three months after showing behind bars they really can be Goodfellas.
The Sicilian mafia members have been released on furlough`for good behaviour’. If they stay out of trouble their temporary freedom is likely to be made permanent.
But victims’ families have expressed fear that the hoodlums may return to neighbourhoods they once controlled.
Most of the crime bosses, some of whom held leadership roles in mafia families based in Sicily’s capital Palermo, have not turned on the Cosa Nostra and have refused to cooperate with the authorities.
Victims’ families have expressed fear
Salvatore Borsellino, whose legendary anti-mafia judge brother Paolo was killed by the crime gang in 1992, said: “The release from prison of mobsters who have always refused to collaborate with justice is always extremely dangerous.
“It’s a fatal blow to the fight against the mafia. These mobsters will leave prison to reclaim their power within the clan.
Matteo Messina Denaro(Image: ITALIAN CARABINIERI PRESS OFFICE)
“Moreover they will enjoy even more prestige among mafia members and those who support Cosa Nostra because they can boast of being in prison without ever speaking or naming other clan members.’’
Nino Morana Agostino, whose police officer uncle Nino was shot dead in broad daylight in 1989 along with his pregnant wife Ida, said: “We cannot afford to lower our guard in the fight against the mafia or to underestimate it.
“The mafiosi who had been sentenced to life imprisonment and who are now returning to freedom with parole still hold heavy secrets on unsolved mafia murders that they have refused to confess.
Salvatore Borsellino, whose legendary anti-mafia judge brother Paolo was killed(Image: Getty Images)
“That’s why their release sends a bad signal.’’
In October Raffaele Galatolo, 74, a mafia boss from Palermo’s Acquasanta neighbourhood, was released after a court declared him a `model detainee’ for his good behaviour.
Galatolo and his brother Vincenzo, who were both convicted of murder, ran a so-called `death chamber’ – a room where victims were strangled on the orders of the then-boss of the Sicilian mafia Salvatore `Totò Riina.
A week earlier Giuseppe Corona, who had been in custody since 2018, was released having served the maximum period allowed before his continually-delayed trial.
Italian newspapers with the news of fugitive Matteo Messina Denaro’s arrest on January 17, 2023(Image: Getty Images)
For the same reason in early October the appeal court released nine crime bosses from Trapani linked to ex-Sicilian mafia chief Matteo Messina Denaro who died in 2023 nine months after his arrest following 30 years on the run.
Palermo’s chief prosecutor Maurizio de Lucia recently appealed to maintain the fight against the mafia as investigators fear the Cosa Nostra may try to reorganise its Cupola – governing body – after years of decline.
University of Oxford professor of criminology Federico Varese said: “This is a perfect storm.’’
A Carabinieri officer taking images of the house of Italy’s top wanted mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro in Palermo in January 2023(Image: ITALIAN CARABINIERI PRESS OFFICE)
Recent Italian law changes allow bosses who have never recanted their past deeds or testified against the mafia to benefit from `good behaviour’ releases.
Prison authorities do not consult prosecutors to assess the potential dangers prior to letting `Goodfellas’ out.
Police fear their return to the community en masse will make it easier for Cosa Nostra to reorganise and send a message to the community mobsters are untouchable.
Palermo’s chief prosecutor Maurizio de Lucia (Image: Getty Images)
Professor Varese said: “Entry into the Sicilian mafia is for life and it happens through a ritual.
“At the ritual the burning image of a saint is put in the hands of the novice and the assembled mafia members declare: `You will burn like this image if you betray or try to leave this organisation’.
“You can leave only with death or expulsion for becoming a state witness. Death is indeed the punishment for those who become state witnesses.
“So it follows that those who come back to the neighbourhoods of Palermo and Trapani will resume their mafia activities.’’
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