Mattarella Murder Probe Tainted by Institutional Elements

Palermo: The investigations into the 1980 Mafia assassination of Christian Democrat Sicily governor Piersanti Mattarella, brother of today’s Italian President Sergio Mattarella, has been contaminated by institutional elements, Palermo prosecutors said Friday.

According to Ansa News Agency, “The investigation into the murder of former Regional President Piersanti Mattarella was seriously contaminated and compromised by institutional members who, with the clear aim of preventing the identification of the perpetrators of the crime, removed a very important piece of evidence from the body of evidence, thus permanently dispersing its traces,” stated the prosecutors of the Palermo Anti-Mafia Directorate. They obtained house arrest from the investigating judge for former Flying Squad official Filippo Piritore for obstructing the investigation.

The reference is to the leather glove found in the Fiat 127 used by the politician’s killers, about whose fate the former prefect allegedly lied. The DIA (Italian Anti-Mafia Investigation Department) said Piritore is under investigation for obstructing the investigation into the murder.

He was questioned by prosecutors regarding the glove found on the day of the crime in the Fiat 127 used by the killers (on January 6, 1980), which was never recovered or seized. According to the magistrates, “he made statements that proved to be completely uncorroborated, which contributed to misleading the investigation, also leading to the discovery of the glove (which was never recovered).”

Prosecutors mentioned that the name of 94-year-old Bruno Contrada, former Palermo police chief and former deputy head of intelligence service SISDE (now AISE), who served over 20 years in jail for Mafia links but was eventually acquitted, had come up in the investigations in the story of the glove.