Italians aghast after notorious mafia killer Giovanni Brusca released from prison
- In 1992, he detonated the bomb that killed Giovanni Falcone, a legendary prosecuting magistrate who dedicated his career to overthrowing the mafia
- He was also involved in the killing of 12-year-old Giuseppe Di Matteo, the son of a mafia turncoat, who was kidnapped and murdered in 1993
Italians were outraged on Tuesday by the release from prison of a ruthless mafia boss who assassinated Italy’s most famous prosecutor and dissolved a boy’s body in acid, among other crimes.
Giovanni Brusca, 64, was released on Monday from Rome’s Rebibbia prison after serving a 25-year sentence, during which he became a state’s witness. He will now serve four years of probation.
“Brusca freed – the cruelest boss,” wrote La Repubblica daily.
Brusca was a key figure within the Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian mafia group.
He detonated the bomb that killed Giovanni Falcone, Italy’s legendary prosecuting magistrate who dedicated his career to overthrowing the mafia, in 1992.
Falcone’s wife and three bodyguards were also killed in the attack after their car drove over a section of highway outside Palermo packed with 400kg of explosives, detonated by Brusca nearby.
The wife of one of the bodyguards killed, Tina Montinaro, told Repubblica she was “indignant” at Brusca’s release.