Falcone, Giovanni

Born into a well-to-do family of Arturo Falcone (1904-1976), director of a chemical laboratory, and Louise Bentivena (1907-1982). After graduating from school, Falcone studied for a short time at the Naval Academy in Livorno , then studied law. In 1964, he began to work in the judicial structure. As a result of his work as a magistrate in Lentini , Trapani and other cities, he switched from civil law to criminal law .

In the 1970s, Falcone worked on several criminal cases related to organized crime , and in the early 1980s he became one of the main fighters with the mafia in Sicily. In his work, he achieved considerable success, in particular, he managed to convince several high-ranking mafiosi to violate the omerta , the “code of honor” of Cosa Nostra, and to cooperate with the authorities. One of the first such pentito (informants) was Tommaso Bushetta , who had been hiding in the USA and Brazil since the 1960s after the defeat of mafia clans in the war, his testimony became the basis of the charge in a high-profile trial of the mafia, as a result of which 360 out of 474 people were found guilty the accused.

In 1988, Falcone actively collaborated with Rudolf Giuliani , who was then the federal attorney for the Southern District of New York , in cases against the mafia, in particular against the Gambino family .

In 1992, Falcone, along with his wife, also a magistrate, Francesca Morvillo and three police officers: the escort chief Antonio Montinaro , Rocco Dichillo and Vito Skifani , was killed near the commune of Capachi on the road between Palermo international airport and the city of Palermo. The Fiat Croma armored car, in which the magistrate rode, was detonated by a powerful bomb planted beneath the road.
He was buried in a crypt at the cemetery of Sant'Orsola in Palermo.

The organizer of the murder was a large mafia boss Salvatore Riina , nicknamed "Shorty", and the direct executor was his godson and his assistant Giovanni Brusca , nicknamed "Pig." Two months after Falcone's death, Riina organized another high-profile assassination attempt, which killed another influential magistrate Paolo Borsellino . After the death of the two most famous crime fighters in Italy, which caused widespread publicity around the world, the war with the mafia flared up with renewed vigor, and many of the leaders of Cosa Nostra, including Salvatore Riina, were arrested, as a result of which the mafia’s activity significantly decreased in the following years.

• Gold medal "For Civil Valor" - posthumously, August 5, 1992.
• November 13, 2006 was named by Time magazine one of the heroes of the last 60 years.
• Asteroid 60183 Falcone is named after him.
• The names Falcone and Borsellino are also named: many streets, squares and schools both in Sicily and throughout Italy, one of the districts of Rome is called Villaggio Falcone .
• The name of Falcone and Borsellino is Palermo Punta Raisi Airport.
• At the site of the tragedy on the Palermo-Kapachi motorway, a memorial stele with the names of the dead was erected.
• On May 18, 2012, a glass sarcophagus called Teca Falcone was erected on the parade ground of the police school in Rome, which houses the Fiat Croma warped from the explosion as a reminder of the tragedy.
• A commemorative postage stamp with the image of Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino was issued.

• Giovanni Falcone, Marcelle Padovani / Cose di Cosa Nostra , collana Saggi, BUR , 2004, ISBN 978-88-17-00233-2 .
• Giovanni Falcone / La posta in gioco. Interventi e proposte per la lotta alla mafia, Milano, BUR Rizzoli, 2010. ISBN 978-88-17-04391-5
• Giovanni Falcone / Io accuso. Cosa nostra, politica e affari nella requisitoria del maxiprocesso, Roma, Libera informazione, 1993.
• Giovanni Falcone / Rapporto sulla mafia degli anni '80. Gli atti dell'Ufficio istruzione del tribunale di Palermo, Palermo, SF Flaccovio, 1986.

Cinema, television, literature

• The film " Giovanni Falcone " ( Giovanni Falcone ) Giuseppe Ferrara , Italy, 1993;
• The film “ Judges - Excellent Victims ” ( I giudici - Vittime Eccellenti ) Ricky Tonyazzi , 1999, USA, Italy;
• Miniseries " Paolo Borsellino " ( Paolo Borsellino , dir. Gianluca Maria Tavarelli ), Italy, 2004
• Miniseries " Giovanni Falcone, the man who challenged Cosa Nostra " ( Giovanni Falcone, l'uomo che sfidò Cosa Nostra ) Andrea and Antonio Frazzi , Italy, 2006;
• The documentary film " In a Different Land " ( In un altro paese ) Marco Turco , Italy, 2005;
• The miniseries "The Boss of Bosses " ( Il Capo dei Capi , dir. Alexis Sweet and Enzo Monteleone ), Italy, 2007;
• TV film " I forgive you, but kneel down " ( Vi perdono ma inginocchiatevi ) Claudio Bonivento , Italy, 2012;
• "The Dead Slain: Falcone, Borsellino and Other Heroes " ( Morti ammazzati: Falcone, Borsellino e altri eroi ), script and theater production of Emanuele Montagna , 2012;
• The book " Therefore, my name is Giovanni " ( Per questo mi chiamo Giovanni ) Luigi Garlando , 2012, ISBN 978-88-17-02447-1 , ISBN 9788817055772 ;
• The film "The Mafia Kills Only in the Summer " ( La mafia uccide solo d'estate ) Pierfranchesko Diliberto , Italy, 2013.
• The film "The Traitor" ( Il traditore ) Marco Bellocchio , Italy, France, Germany, Brazil. 2019.

Music

• The symphonic chronicle on CD: Il coraggio della solitudine ( “The Courage of Solitude” ), music by Stefano Fontsi , text by Jommaria Monti ;
• Falconet song " Castles Burning" in the album Handful of Rain by American rock band Savatage , 1994
• The song " La collina " ( Hill ) in the album "Brutto & Stonato" by Lucci Brokenspeakers ( hip-hop )

•   Wikimedia Commons has media related to Giovanni Falconet
• On the 10th anniversary of the tragic death of the magistrate Giovanni Falcone
• Vincenzo Salerno . Remembering Judge Falcone
• Time 60 Years of Heroes Giovanni Falcone & Paolo Borsellino .
• Scandal / arrest of the head of the Sicilian mafia . Magazine "Power" No. 22 (181) of 06/18/1996
• Giovanni Falcone, un eroe da ricordare - lagazzettaitaliana.com
• Intitolato a Giovanni Falcone l'asteroide scoperto a Capannori
• Giovanni Falcone - Anomalia palermitana , La storia siamo noi
• Fonte: La Repubblica, 12/22/2009, "Il custode dei segreti di Falcone:" Dai suoi archivi spariti molti dati "" - "Mancano 20 dischetti dall'archivio di Falcone"
• Giovanni Falcone e Paolo Borsellino - Il ricordo di Gesualdo Bufalino ,
• L'attentato a Falcone, sul portale RAI Storia
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