Thread by @NickWhithorn

6 January 1980, the mafia murders Piersanti Mattarella, President of the Sicilian Regional Government, in Palermo. This iconic photo by Letizia Battaglia shows current President of Italy, Sergio Mattarella, holding his dead brother in his arms >> 1

Piersanti Mattarella is one of those rare beasts in Sicily, an honest & principled Christian Democrat politician, at a time when his party in the region is dominated by figures such as Salvo Lima (left) & Vito Ciancimino, Mayor of Palermo (right), colluding with the mafia >> 2

Just 10 months earlier, another Christian Democrat politician, Michele Reina, Party Secretary for Province of Palermo, was killed by Cosa Nostra because of his refusal to compromise on legality & his moves to find agreement on reforms with the opposition Communist Party >> 3

Piersanti Mattarella goes one step further by gaining active backing for his anti-corruption campaign & institutional reforms from the Communist Party, which supports Mattarella's administration in Assembly votes, although it does not actually take up government posts >> 4

Mattarella's reform initiative also draws attention at national level. In November 1979 President Sandro Pertini (photo with Mattarella), arguably the first President to enjoy widespread popularity among Italians, visits Palermo for a special session of the Regional Assembly >> 5

This support from the Communist Party & national institutions makes it even more imperative for mafia & their proxies in the Christian Democrats to neutralise this dangerous 'loose cannon' in some way. However, this does not automatically mean killing him >> 6

The mafia has always preferred more subtle methods that work on all but the most determined & politicians are rarely killed. Indeed, Michele Reina (murdered in 1979) is the first leading politician to be killed by Cosa Nostra since Mayor Emanuele Notarbartolo (photo) in 1893 >> 7

However, Mattarella's rise to power coincides with that of Totò Riina (photo), who has taken over Cosa Nostra in Palermo with his ruthless 'Corleonesi' faction. Their political proxy in Palermo is Vito Ciancimino & their link to Rome is Salvo Lima, Andreotti's man in Sicily >> 8

Since the Corleonesi by this point have control of the 'Commission' or 'Cupola' in Palermo, which authorises such high level killings, the most ruthless option is chosen, as will happen in many cases over the following years, while Riina wages his war against the state >> 9

On 6 January 1980, a public holiday for Epiphany, Piersanti Mattarella leaves his building in via Libertà in Palermo with his wife, his two children & his mother-in-law. They get into the family's Fiat 132 to drive to church >> 10

There is no police escort. Mattarella always refuses escort on public holidays so that the officers can spend time with their families. He does not even have time to start the engine. At least two gunmen run up to the car & Mattarella is hit by multiple gunshots >> 11

Among the first to arrive on the scene is Piersanti's younger brother Sergio, the outgoing President of Italy. At the time of the murder, he teaches public law at Palermo University & it is this event that leads him to go into politics, to continue his brother's work >> 12

In 1995 Totò Riina, Michele Greco, Bernardo Brusca, Bernardo Provenzano, Pippo Calò, Francesco Madonia & Nenè Geraci are sentenced to life imprisonment for constituting the 'Commission' that ordered the murder but we still do not know who materially killed Mattarella >> 13

According to Francesco Marino Mannoia, who turned state's evidence in the trial of Giulio Andreotti, the killers were the mafiosi Salvatore Federico, Francesco Davì, Santo Inzerillo & Antonino Rotolo. However, Marino Mannoia proved to be an unreliable witness in many cases >> 14

Giovanni Falcone's investigation leads to the surprising conclusion that the gunmen who shot Mattarella are Giuseppe Valerio Fioravanti (photo, left) & Gilberto Cavallini (photo, right), members of neo-fascist terrorist group 'Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari' (NAR), not mafiosi >> 15

NAR are responsible later the same year for the worst terrorist attack in postwar Italian history when they plant a bomb that explodes in the waiting room at Bologna Station on 2 August 1980 killing 85 people & wounding 200 (see thread below) >> 16

Both Fioravanti & Cavallini were convicted for involvement in the Bologna bombing. But why would neo-fascists help the mafia? Their common desire to destabilise the state. Proof emerges in the case of the bombing of a train in 1984 (see thread below) >> 17

Despite Falcone's acumen & perspicacity, in this case the link is not proved. Falcone suspects Fioravanti & Cavallini stayed near Palermo at the home of fellow neo-fascist Ciccio Mangiameli (photo). Fioravanti also visits Mangiameli just days before the Bologna bomb >> 18

Mangiameli is killed by Fioravanti, Francesca Mambro (photo) & Fioravanti's brother, Cristiano, near Rome on 9 September 1980 & his body thrown into a lake. The motive is partly a question of money & partly Mangiameli's desire to disassociate himself from the Bologna bomb >> 19

When he is arrested in 1986, Cristiano Fioravanti (photo) recounts that Valerio wanted to travel to Sicily to kill Mangiameli's wife & daughter before the body was found. When Cristiano asks why, Valerio tells him they "killed a Sicilian politician" in return for favours >> 20

Fioravanti & Cavallini are tried for the murder of Piersanti Mattarella in 1995. Although Fioravanti's presence in Palermo on 6 January is ascertained & Mattarella's wife identifies him as one of the gunmen, he & Cavallini are found 'not guilty' due to insufficient evidence >> 21

In 2018, Prosecutors in Palermo reopen the case. Some hope that Fioravanti (now free) or Cavallini (serving 9 life sentences) may reveal the truth as, under the law of double jeapordy, they cannot be retried, but the names of those who pulled the trigger remain unknown >> 22

Piersanti Mattarella
b. Castellammare del Golfo, 24/05/1935
d. Palermo, 06/01/1980