Santino Di Matteo

Santino Di Matteo (born December 7, 1954), also known as Mezzanasca, is an Italian former member of the Sicilian Mafia from the town of Altofonte in the province of Palermo, Sicily, Italy.

Di Matteo took part in the killing of Antimafia judge Giovanni Falcone on May 23, 1992, near Capaci. After his arrest on June 4, 1993, he became the first of Falcone's assassins to become a government witness – a pentito.[1] He revealed all the details of the assassination: who tunnelled beneath the motorway, who packed the 13 drums with TNT and Semtex, who hauled them into place on a skateboard, and who pressed the button.[2]

Killing of son

In retaliation for Di Matteo becoming an informant, the Mafia kidnapped his 11-year-old son, Giuseppe Di Matteo, on November 23, 1993, on the orders of Giovanni Brusca and Leoluca Bagarella.[3] According to a later confession by one of the kidnappers, Gaspare Spatuzza, they dressed as police officers and told the boy he was being taken to see his father, who was at that time being kept in police protection on the Italian mainland.[4]

Di Matteo made a desperate trip to Sicily to try to negotiate his son's release but on January 11, 1996, after 779 days, the boy, who by now had also become physically ill due to mistreatment, was finally strangled, and the body was subsequently dissolved in a barrel of acid — a practice known colloquially as the lupara bianca.[5][6][7] The executors were Enzo Brusca, brother of Giovanni, Vincenzo Chiodo and Salvatore Monticciolo on the orders of Giovanni Brusca.[6]

In 1997, Di Matteo and Brusca met face to face during court proceedings. Bursting into tears Di Matteo told the judge: "I guarantee my collaboration, but to this animal I guarantee nothing. If you leave me alone with him for two minutes I'll cut off his head." The confrontation threatened to become violent, but court security guards restrained Di Matteo.[2][7] Brusca had also asked Giuseppe Di Matteo's family for forgiveness.[6]

In October 1997, the pentito Di Matteo was rearrested. Although a key witness in several important trials underway, he had returned home to recommence his criminal activities and avenge atrocities carried out on family members.[8]

Release

In March 2002 Di Matteo was released early, along with four others, in return for cooperating with magistrates, outraging relatives of Falcone, who stated that the system of pentiti safeguarded killers from prosecution for murder.[2] Despite no police protection, he decided not to go into hiding but returned to his family in Altofonte, protected by an iron gate and two dogs. He tried to live a normal life in the town but was shunned by the townspeople.[2][9]

Before his arrest, Di Matteo had already become hesitant about the violent strategy of the Corleonesi. In their testimonies Di Matteo and another pentito, Salvatore Cancemi described the victory celebration that followed the Capaci bombing. Totò Riina ordered French champagne and while the others toasted, Cancemi and Santo Di Matteo looked at one another and exchanged a gloomy assessment of Riina and their future: "This cuckold will be the ruin of us all."[10]

The story of Di Matteo's son Giuseppe's kidnapping and murder was turned into a film, Sicilian Ghost Story.[11][12]

See also

References
  1. Jamieson, The Antimafia, p. 98-99
  2. Freed mafia grass a marked man, The Guardian, March 14, 2002
  3. Jamieson, The Antimafia, p. 217
  4. (in Italian) "Uccisero il piccolo Giuseppe Di Matteo", La Repubblica, January 16, 2012
  5. (in Italian) La madre del bimbo sciolto nell'acido: «Giuseppe ha vinto, la mafia ha perso», Corriere della Sera, November 10, 2008
  6. BRUSCA AI DI MATTEO: 'PERDONATEMI' - La Repubblica.it
  7. (in Italian) Di Matteo assale Brusca: "Animale, ti stacco la testa", La Repubblica, September 15, 1998
  8. Jamieson, The Antimafia, p. 109-10
  9. (in Italian) Tornano in libertà i killer di Falcone, La Repubblica, March 13, 2002
  10. Stille, Excellent Cadavers, p. 404-05
  11. Paternò, Cristiana. ""Sicilian Ghost Story": from Sicily to Argentina". Cinecittâ News. Cinecittâ News. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  12. McLaughlin, Katherine. "Thelma LFF film review: "exquisitely crafted depiction of oppression"". Sci-Fi Now. Sci-Fi Now. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  • (in Italian) Il sequestro di Di Matteo on YouTube, Teleacras Agrigento, February 11, 2004.
  • (in Italian) Il Strage Capaci, parla Santino Di Matteo: 'Mio figlio sciolto nell'acido' on YouTube, TV interview of Santino Di Mateo 20 years after the murder of his son, La7 Attualità, May 26, 2017.
  • Dickie, John (2004). Cosa Nostra. A history of the Sicilian Mafia, London: Coronet ISBN 0-340-82435-2
  • Jamieson, Alison (2000). The Antimafia. Italy’s fight against organized crime, London: MacMillan Press ISBN 0-333-80158-X
  • Stille, Alexander (1995). Excellent Cadavers. The Mafia and the Death of the First Italian Republic, New York: Vintage ISBN 0-09-959491-9
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