There are thousands of them, scattered across the Italian peninsula, far from their home province and the places where they committed their crimes. On their doorbell, a false name. When they testify during a trial, they do so from a secure bunker, without their faces being seen. Collaborators of justice, also called “repentants” (pentiti), have been involved in anti-mafia investigations in Italy for over thirty years. “Safety pin”according to specialized magistrates. From “traitors”for their detractors. they are also “Walking Dead”As the popular expression goes, their lives hang in the balance when they decide to break the code of silence.
The history of the collaborators of justice dates back to the years of the presidency, when political violence threatened the rule of law, in the 1970s. The first legal framework, defined in 1980, was dedicated to terrorism cases. Ten years later it was expanded to organized crime under the auspices of Sicilian magistrate Giovanni Falcone, architect of the country’s anti-mafia doctrine. He had tested this system on a chosen guinea pig: Tommaso Buscetta, known as “chief of both worlds”This Cosa Nostra leader returned from America to tell all about his former accomplices. His confessions led to the great Palermo trial in 1986-1987, where 360 mafiosi were convicted.
Collaboration with organised crime was gradually established in a precisely codified system, distinguishing, on the one hand, the magistrates-confessors, and, on the other, the Central Protection Service, deployed to monitor people officially registered with EL. “program”In total, more than 5,000 people are affected, including close relatives, but also around sixty “witnesses of justice”, citizens who chose to report mafia-like acts.
“Shedding light on opaque criminal realities”
The rules are clear: once the decision to cooperate has been made, the detainee has one hundred and eighty days to convince himself of his good will as well as the relevance of his revelations. The information must be ” news “, “complete” AND “decisive”In exchange, he can get a reduced sentence, protective measures for himself and his family (relocation, anonymity, etc.), as well as a monthly income of around 2,000 euros per household. At the slightest mistake, at the slightest lapse of memory, he is sent back to jail. This is what has just happened to Francesco Schiavone, the historic boss of the Casal di Principe clan, a member of the Camorra, who repented at the age of 70 and failed to convince the Neapolitan magistrates after three months of interviews.
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