«The mafia is by no means invincible, it is a human fact and like all human facts it has a beginning and will also have an end», said Giovanni Falcone. With the arrest of Matteo Messina Denaro after thirty years on the run, the State has inflicted a very hard blow on the Cosa Nostra which perhaps did not kill it, but certainly opened a deep wound. «Perhaps we can say that the Cosa Nostra of the past is dead. The structured Cosa Nostra, that of the Corleonesi no longer exists », he explains to FIRSTonline Marcelle Padovani, a French journalist who has been reporting on the mafia and anti-mafia in Italy for forty years, analyzing it from a particular perspective. The perspective of someone who has known closely servants of the state who dedicated their lives to the fight against the mafia and lost it. As Giovanni Falcone, who together with Padovani wrote "Cose di Cosa Nostra", a book that has become an anti-mafia icon and professional testament of the judge killed in Capaci on May 23, 92. Just to him, the journalist dedicated a second book "Giovanni Falcone, thirty years later" published in 2022.
With Marcelle Padovani we talked about the past and the future of the mafia and the effects it the arrest of Matteo Messina Denaro could have on Cosa Nostra.
Giovanni Falcone, in the iconic book "Cose di Cosa Nostra" written in collaboration with her, says that "in Sicily the mafia strikes the servants of the state that the state has failed to protect": what did he think when he learned of the capture of Messina Denaro, given his role in the Capaci massacre where the judge lost his life?
«The first thing I thought about is that when it comes to the mafia, "thirty years" have become a memorable deadline that occurs more and more often. Last year we celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of the assassination of Judge Giovanni Falcone. Thirty years have passed since the arrest of Totò Riina, on 15 January 93, and now we are celebrating the end of Messina Denaro's fugitive, which also ended after thirty years».
Stories have been built on his figure that in some cases even lead to legend. But who is Matteo Messina Denaro really?
«He is a character that I have always considered very interesting, because he is totally in contrast with the traditional portrait of the mafia boss, especially with that of the Corleonese godfather. From a physical point of view Messina Denaro is long-limbed, trained, keeps up appearances. But he is above all a man of culture. In the letters exchanged between 2004 and 2006 with the former mayor of Castelvetrano, Antonino Vaccarino, who signed, at the suggestion of Messina Denaro himself, "Your Svetonius" with the name of the famous Roman historian, the fugitive Matteo claimed as his reference writer the French novelist Daniel Pennac. His cultural level is light years away from that of bosses such as Totò Riina and Bernardo Provenzano, but this has not prevented him from becoming a criminal and being part of organized crime. From his figure also comes the confirmation of the fact that the mafia boss is protected by his environment, where he has his roots. It is something that strikes me a lot. Messina Denaro was totally immersed in the Trapani area, he enjoyed the solidarity not only of the mafia bourgeoisie, but also of the population. And it is no coincidence that he was taken in Palermo, close but at the same time distant from Trapani. As soon as he left his environment they managed to arrest him. A third aspect to consider when analyzing the figure of the boss is that it was he who changed the mood and choices of Cosa Nostra, transforming it into aeconomic and business association».
Are you referring to the end of the massacre strategy and the beginning of what is called Mafia Spa?
«For years, Messina Denaro had been investing in the green economy, in wind energy, in tourism, but he was also making real financial investments. He was already the incarnation of what for decades was thought to become the Cosa Nostra: an economic mafia, inserted in capitalism. But above all a mafia that has abandoned the bloody strategy, the attacks. Suffice it to say that in 1981 in Palermo alone there were more than 100 deaths from the mafia. Today there will be 4 or 5 throughout Sicily in a year. This is an important parameter to evaluate how Cosa Nostra has changed over the years. Mafia Business begins with Messina Denaro, it is a change that Cosa Nostra makes to survive. The attacks on Falcone and Borsellino, the strategy of the massacres did not defeat the state, they defeated the Cosa Nostra. The Corleonese line was the death of him. At that point, the Sicilian mafia realized that in order to survive, it had to do something different. And it was at that moment that Messina Denaro led the Cosa Nostra towards business and the economy».
And what will Cosa Nostra become now after the arrest of Matteo Messina Denaro?
“It's hard to say. Perhaps we can say that the Cosa Nostra of the past is dead. The structured Cosa Nostra, that of the Corleonesi, which we got to know thanks to the confessions of Tommaso Buscetta, no longer exists. The "counter-state", the organization made up of the commission, the provinces and the district leaders that he described is over. The new mafia is something different and we can identify it above all with the 'Ndrangheta and the Camorra, that is, with less structured, less rigid organizations, but more attentive to profit. They don't want to destroy the state, but they try to have a relationship with it that allows them to make a profit. From a certain point of view, this new "mafia policy" is positive because it avoids deaths and massacres, but on the other it makes the situation even more complex because it creates a serious problem involving companies and administrations. We are talking about situations in which there is already a tendency towards illegality which manifests itself in tax evasion, false invoices and corruption. The arrival of the mafiosi, who are experts in these practices, could have an impact on the very nature of the economy. We are not yet able to ascertain this, but we must ask ourselves the problem because it is a phenomenon that can have important effects on Western societies and economies".
You have argued several times that the Falcone method, based on the meticulous research of the flows of money to the mafia, is more valid than ever: can the arrest of Messina Denaro be considered a counter-evidence?
"Absolutely yes. Falcone understood as a good empirical and pragmatic investigator what it was that the key was money. He was not ideological, on the contrary he had a "neighbor" curiosity towards the Cosa Nostra that derived from his direct experience. He had lived in a neighborhood dominated by the mafia, often among those under investigation he found people who played with him when he was a child. Having had this culturally privileged relationship, he tried to understand what was the most serious method for defeating cultural adherence to Cosa Nostra and effectively repressing the mafia phenomenon. Being effective meant being very precise in the investigations. Those who worked with him were amazed by his requests. The current Rome prosecutor Francesco Lo Voi said he was amazed at the things that Falcone asked him to check from a mathematical, statistical and financial point of view. And it is thanks to this method that we arrived at the Maxiprocess and the very harsh sentences inflicted on the mafia. Thanks to his way of working, Falcone was able to claim that he never had to release even one of his arrests. So much so that all the convictions of the Maxiprocesso have been confirmed by the Cassation. And right after the final sentence, which arrived on January 30, 92, Cosa Nostra killed Salvo Lima and Giovanni Falcone».
We talked about how Cosa Nostra has changed over the years. Instead, I ask you, how does the fight against the mafia change after the arrest of Messina Denaro?
«We all have to realize and give due recognition to the anti-mafia. In Italy there is a truly formidable anti-mafia, made up of trained people who have studied the mafia in depth. In the Carabinieri, in the Police, in the Guardia di Finanza there are professionals who know everything about the mafia and the fight against the mafia. The quality of the Italian investigative systems has no equal at an international level. The same is true for the legislative apparatus for combating organized crime. I happen to talk to German, Swiss, French magistrates and they all admire Italy's ability to legally defeat the mafia. Italy has not invented special courts, expedients that go beyond the normal rules of the criminal process, but has codified the crime of mafia association. He has adapted his law to the fight against the mafia, as he had done in the past with the fight against terrorism".
Let's go back to Messina Denaro, do you think he will speak or will he shut himself up in silence?
«In favor of the thesis that he could speak there is the fact that he is a very religious person. He attends the Church, has a privileged relationship with a priest of a parish in Palermo. His being a great believer in him could lead him to seek an earthly and spiritual redemption, approaching the rationality of the state and the rightness of his choices. The thing that seems to me to exclude him is instead the fact that he is very ill and therefore he could be tempted to defend his way of life to the end. Finally, we must consider that it is possible that he does not have the so-called Riina treasure at hand, provided that it really exists ».
What effect will the big coup of the capture of Messina Denaro have on Italy's image abroad?
“An extremely positive effect. The Anglo-Saxon and German press have incensed Italy. The French one, contaminated by the Italian one, while recognizing the extraordinary goal, is instead looking for the background, wondering what could be behind it. Overall, Italy's image is strengthened and this could also have a positive influence on the negotiations that will take place at European level on the PNRR, on aid, on the Stability Pact».
