Mafia boss Giovanni Brusca, one of Italy’s most notorious mobsters, is completely free after serving the four years of probation imposed on him following his release from jail in 2021.
Among other things, Brusca, 68, set off the explosive that killed anti-Mafia prosecutor Giovanni Falcone in 1992.
He also had Giuseppe Di Matteo, the teenage son of a mafia informant, strangled and dissolved in acid.
Brusca was arrested in May 1996 and sentenced to life for over dozens of murders, including that of Falcone, his wife Francesca Morvillo and three police officers in May 1992.
Brusca served a total of 25 years in prison. His release—and the decision to place him under supervised liberty—sparked heated controversy. Brusca will continue to live outside Sicily under a false identity and remain in the witness protection program.
“I have learned of the definitive release of Giovanni Brusca. I am well aware that the law has been applied, but I am deeply bitter,” said Tina Montinaro, the widow of Antonio Montinaro, chief bodyguard to Judge Giovanni Falcone, who was killed in the Capaci massacre along with fellow officers Vito Schifani and Rocco Dicillo.
“This is not justice—not for the families, nor for decent people,” she continued. “Thirty-three years later, the trials are still ongoing, and we, the families, still don’t know the full truth. I believe it is disgraceful that Brusca, despite having benefited from the law on cooperating witnesses, is now a free man. I expect the city to express its outrage in the face of this news—if indeed it has truly changed. I don’t think we can remain indifferent.”
Via Rai News
