Thread by @NickWhithorn

12 December 1985, at 8 p.m. in the Sicilian town of Villafranca Tirrena, 17-year-old Graziella Campagna leaves the "Regina" laundry, where she works to help support her parents & 7 siblings, and waits for a bus home to the nearby village of Saponara. She never arrives [Thread] >>

Investigators quickly establish that Graziella didn't board the bus, as neither the driver nor any of the passengers remember seeing her, even though she is a regular user of the service and known to many of them >> 1

A hairdresser, Maria Bisazia, who works in a salon adjacent to the bus stop, reports hearing a scream at the time of Graziella's disappearance but, when she looked out onto the street, she saw nothing, just passing cars >> 2

Investigators are at a loss to find a possible motive for Graziella's disappearance. She is quiet, intoverse and dedicated to her large family, travelling back and forth to work in the laundry 6 days a week for just 150,000 lire a month, cash in hand, to help out >> 3

Two days later, a family out for a walk, finds Graziella's body at a local beauty spot, Forte Campone (photo). She has been shot five times with a sawn-off shotgun, in the shoulder, stomach, face, arm (probably trying to shield herself) & a shot to the head >> 4

This final element indicates a mafia murder but nothing in Graziella's background or that of her family suggests even a tenuous link to the mafia. Her older brother Pietro is a Carabiniere but he works in Calabria and, again, investigators draw a blank >> 5

The murder remains unsolved until, in 1987, two mafiosi, Gerlando Alberti Jr. & Giovanni Sutera are arrested, after years on the run. Reconstructing their time in hiding, it's discovered that, when Graziella was murdered, they were living in Rometta Marea, near Villafranca >> 6

Not only, they were also habitual clients of the "Regina" laundry, where Graziella worked. They used false identities: Alberti Jr. passed himself off as an engineer called Eugenio Cannata & Sutera as a surveyor called Gianni Lombardo, his cousin >> 7

They said they were staying in the area to work on a construction project. But how did Graziella cross their path? Three days before disappearing, Graziella, checking the pockets of a coat Alberti Jr. had brought in for cleaning, found a notebook he'd left there by mistake >> 8

This notebook revealed his real name & contained names & numbers of associates & details of drug deals. Graziella only briefly looked at its contents & probably didn't realise its significance. She mentioned it to her colleague Agata Cannistrà, who ripped it out of her hands >> 9

Graziella thought nothing of it, but just mentioned to her mother it was strange that Engineer Cannata wasn't his real name. Alberti Jr., however, was in total panic. He knew or found out that Graziella's brother was a Carabiniere & was afraid she would refer details to him >> 10

Alberti Jr. was a ruthless person, just like his uncle of the same name, who was an associate of Pippo Calò and responsible for numerous murders, including the journalist Mauro De Mauro and Judge Pietro Scaglione, as well as being involved in heroin trafficking >> 11

Thus, Graziella's fate was sealed. Her family's ordeal, however, was to last 24 more years until they finally obtained justice, thanks to Italy's Byzantine justice system.
Alberti Jr. & Sutera were first indicted for Graziella Campagna's murder on 1 March 1989 >> 12

Just 9 days later, the Court annulled the indictment for a technicality: it had not been notified to the defendants. The new indictment process took a year, only for the case to be dismissed by Judge Marcello Mondello (photo) >> 13

Mondello would later be arrested & tried for 'associazione mafiosa', his ruling in favour of Alberti Jr. & Sutera being one of the 'favours' he granted. He was found guilty in two trials and on appeal but the Court of Cassation ordered a new appeal trial >> 14

At this point, 20 years had passed & the Statute of Limitations came into play. Several judges from the Court & Court of Appeal in Messina & law enforcement officers were tried for mafia in the 1980s & 1990s, partly explaining Alberti Jr. & Sutera's choice of hiding place >> 15

Thanks to the efforts of Graziella's Carabiniere brother, who carried out investigations privately, and a TV programme in 1996, the case was reopened. In December 1998 a new trial opened against Alberti Jr. & Sutera for murder >> 16

In addition, the owner of the laundry where Graziella worked, Franca Federico, her husband Francesco Romano, her brother Giuseppe Federico & sister-in-law Agata Cannistrà (who ripped the notebook, never recovered, from Graziella's hands) were tried for aiding & abetting >> 17

On 11 December 2004, Gerlando Alberti Jr. & Giovanni Sutera were sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, while Franca Federico & Agata Cannistrà were given two years each for aiding & abetting. Francesco Romano & Giuseppe Federico were found not guilty >> 18

Incredibly, Alberti Jr. was released from prison in September 2006 because Judges from the Court of First Instance failed to deposit the motivations for their judgment within the time limit, so he could no longer be held in remand. Sutera stayed in prison on other charges >> 19

On 18 March 2008, the Messina Court of Appeal confirmed the life sentences for Alberti Jr. & Sutera but the convictions for aiding & abetting fell victim to the Statute of Limitations. However, Federico & Cannistrà were ordered to pay damages to the Campagna family >> 20

On 18 March 2009, the Supreme Court of Cassation confirmed the sentences of the Court of Appeal and the legal process finally came to its conclusion. Even now, however, the suffering of Graziella Campagna's family was not completely over >> 21

Less than 9 months later, just days before the anniversary of Graziella's death, Gerlando Alberti Jr. is released from prison in Parma on grounds of health & placed under house arrest. This decision is overturned in May 2010 and Alberti returned to prison, where he remains >> 22

As for Giovanni Sutera, he was released on parole in 2015, without the Campagna family being informed. They only learnt that he was free when the media carried news of his arrest and return to prison for drug trafficking in 2018// 23