The term State-Mafia Pact (Italian: trattativa Stato-mafia) describes an alleged series of negotiations between important Italian government officials and Cosa Nostra members that began following the 1992 and 1993 terror attacks by the Sicilian Mafia with the aim to reach a deal to stop the attacks; some sources suggest that negotiations began even earlier. From Garibaldi to Totò Riina, all pacts between State and mafia The supposed cornerstone of the deal was to end "the Massacre Season" in return for a reduction in the detention measures provided for by Italy's Article 41-bis prison regime. 41-bis was the law by which the Antimafia pool, led by judge Giovanni Falcone, had condemned hundreds of mafia members to the "hard prison regime". The negotiation hypothesis has been the subject of long investigations, both by the courts and in the media. Sebastiano Ardita, Ricatto allo Stato, Sperling & Kupfer 2011 Massacres: the there was a State-Mafia Pact. Forza Italia party was not the instigator. Corriere della Sera. Florence. News. 12 March 2012. State-Mafia Pact, la Repubblica.it State-Mafia Pact: five things to know about the Maxi Trial and the role of President Napolitano, La Stampa 25/09/2014 State-Mafia Pact, Dell’Utri investigated for extortion against Berlusconi, IlFattoQuotidiano.it 18 July 2012 Graviano intercepted: now Florence and Caltanissetta are considering the re-opening of the investigation on Berlusconi about the massacres, IlFattoQuotidiano.it 9 June 2017 In 2021, the Court of Appeal of Palermo acquitted a close associate of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, while upholding the sentences of the mafia bosses.Court acquits associate of Italy’s ex-premier of Mafia deal This ruling was confirmed by the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation in 2023.Ex cops, Dell'Utri acquittal in state-Mafia talks upheld
Historical background According to reenactments, in September–October 1991, during some meetings of the Cosa Nostra "Interprovincial Commission" occurred in Enna or thereabouts and led by the boss Salvatore Riina, it was decided to start with terrorist actions, because 475 people suspected to be mafiosi were arrested. Mafia terrorism against Italian state had to be claimed under the name "Falange Armata". Thereupon, in December 1991, there was another "Interprovincial Commission" meeting, always led by Riina, in which it was decided to hit in particular the judges Giovanni Falcone, Paolo Borsellino and several politicians: Sicilian deputy Salvo Lima and his assistant Sebastiano Purpura, Sebastiano Purpura, il fedelissimo di Lima. Repubblica. Inchieste. 16 ottobre 2011. the minister for extraordinary intervents of the Mezzogiorno Calogero Mannino, the minister of Justice Claudio Martelli, the minister of Communications Carlo Vizzini and the minister of Defence Salvo Andò. La lista nera che spaventò lo Stato. Così un accordo salvò ministri e politici. Attilio Bolzoni e Francesco Viviano. Repubblica. Inchieste. 16 ottobre 2011..
Claudio Martelli was watched by mafia bosses because according to the pentiti Angelo Siino, Nino Giuffrè and Gaspare Spatuzza he was between "those four crasti (Sicilian for cuckholded) socialists who first took our votes, in '87, and then waged war against us". Siino: " Martelli venne a casa mia nel 1987. Corriere della sera. Archivio. 18 settembre 1997. pag.5. In particular, Claudio Martelli called Giovanni Falcone as main chief for Penal Affairs in ministry.
On 30 January 1992 the Corte di Cassazione confirmed the Maxi Trial sentence that condemned Riina and many other bosses to life imprisonment; after the sentence, the bosses Sicilian Mafia Commission and Interprovincial Commission decided to start the massacres season yet planned.
Premise In 1992 the boss Giovanni Brusca tried to open a first negotiation through the mafioso Antonino Gioè (who will be one among the killers of Capaci bombing), which was put in contact by Bellini, an art trafficker linked to secret services. I pentiti del terzo millennio . Giorgio Bongiovanni e Anna Petrozzi. Antimafiaduemila.com. Giugno 2003. Through Gioè, Brusca made know to the Carabinieri Marshal Tempesta that, in return of the recovery of other precious artworks, he wanted the agreement of the house arrest for five mafiosi bosses, among which the father Bernardo Brusca. The Marshal Tempesta asked to his superiors, the Colonel Mario Mori and the Captain Giuseppe De Donno, and the answer was that "the request is unacceptable". Then Gioè threatened that they could have hit the Italian artistic heritage, referring to an attack against the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Attacks
On 12 March 1992 the deputy Salvo Lima, Sicilian parliamentarian of Democrazia Cristiana, was killed some days before the Italian general election since he was no more able to guarantee the interests of mafia clans within the government: in particular, he didn't succeed to influence the Maxi Trial in Cassation. Actually the real target was Giulio Andreotti: Cosa nostra would have retaliated on the prime minister, but he was too protected and unreachable. So the choice fell on the Andreotti's reference person in Sicily, Lima ucciso perché non favoriva più Cosa nostra. Corriere della sera. Archivio. 12 aprile 1994. and the homicide claimed with the tag "Falange Armata". Setacciati i quartieri periferici. Corriere della Sera, Archivio. 16 March 1992.
After the murder of Lima, the deputy Calogero Mannino, at the time nominated minister for extraordinary intervents of the Mezzogiorno in Andreotti VII Cabinet, got in touch (through marshal of Carabinieri Giuliano Guazzelli) with Antonio Subranni, at the time commander of ROS, because he was warned by a mafioso intimidation, a funeral flowers wreath, an evident death threat and he feared in turn to be killed. Mannino temeva di essere ucciso e diede il via alla trattativa Stato-mafia. Giuseppe Pipitone. Il fatto quotidiano. Giustizia e impunità. 18 maggio 2012. Stato-mafia la procura: Mannino temeva di essere ucciso e avviò la trattativa. Salvo Palazzolo. Repubblica. Cronaca. Palermo. 8 ottobre 2014.
On 4 April 1992, Marshal Guazzelli was killed along the road Agrigento-Porto Empedocle and the homicide was claimed again with the tag "Falange Armata". L'omicidio di un maresciallo nella trattativa Stato-mafia. Giovanni Bianconi. Corriere della Sera. 19 gennaio 2013. Guazzelli was killed since mafiosi bosses wanted to give a strong signal to Mannino and Subranni, to raise the game and to impose a high-level deal. Stato Mafia: per Pm, Mannino cercò aiuto di Subranni e Contrada. La Sicilia. Cronaca. 8 ottobre 2014.
On 23 May there was the Capaci bombing, in which Giovanni Falcone was killed, since the Interprovincial and Provincial Commission of Cosa nostra and led by the boss Salvatore Riina wanted to revenge for his activity of antimafia magistrate. In the massacre even his wife Francesca Morvillo and three police escorts (Vito Schifani, Rocco Dicillo and Antonio Montinaro) lost their life. Also this time the attack was claimed with the tag "Falange Armata". Una strage come in Libano. Attilio Bolzoni. La Repubblica. Archivio. 24 maggio 1992.
On 8 June the Italian Cabinet, after the Capaci bombing, approved the Decree Law "Scotti-Martelli" (also known as "Falcone Decree"), which introduced the Article 41-bis prison regime, that is the "hard prison regime" reserved to mafia inmates: the next day it came an anonymous phone call in the name of the tag "Falange Armata" which threatened to not modify the prison regimes. A Catania nuove minacce al giudice Lima. La Repubblica. Archivio. 10 giugno 1992. In the same time, the Carabinieri captain Giuseppe De Donno contacted Vito Ciancimino through his son Massimo on behalf of the colonel Mario Mori (at time ROS vice-commander) who informed General Subranni; in turn, Ciancimino and his son contacted Riina through Antonino Cinà (doctor and mafioso of San Lorenzo in Palermo). Moreover, the Carabinieri marshal Roberto Tempesta contacted Antonino Gioè (boss of the Family of Altofonte) through Paolo Bellini (former right-wing terrorist and police informer of the SISMI) in order to recover some robbed art; Tempesta informed Mori about those contacts. Torre di Pisa nel mirino della mafia. Flavio Haver. Corriere della Sera. Archivio. 29 luglio 1995.
At the end of June, captain De Donno met Liliana Ferraro, vice-chief of Penal Affairs, at the Ministry of Justice, to whom asked politic covering to the collaboration relationship with Ciancimino; Ferraro, moreover, invited him to refer it to the judge Paolo Borsellino. On 25 June colonel Mori and captain De Donno met judge Borsellino: according to that was referred by Mori and De Donno, during this meeting Borsellino discussed with the two officials about the investigations of the inquiry "mafia e appalti" ("mafia and tenders"). La Cassazione su mafia e appalti: “L'uomo di Gardini volle favorire Cosa nostra”. Davide Milosa. Il fatto quotidiano. 30 luglio 2012. On 28 June Borsellino met in Rome Ferraro, who talked to him about the contacts between colonel Mori and Ciancimino: however Borsellino declared to be already informed about these contacts. The same day Amato I Cabinet took office: Amato nominated the Christian Democrat deputy Nicola Mancino as Ministry of the Interior in place of Vincenzo Scotti. Governo Amato I. Senato della Repubblica. XI legislatura, 1992–1994. In that time, Salvatore Riina showed to Salvatore Cancemi a requests list affirming that it was going on a negotiation with the Italian State concerning pentiti and prison; still in that period, Riina said also to Giovanni Brusca that he drew up a "papello" (a written piece of paper) of requests in exchange for the end of the attacks. Quando Mancino disse a Borsellino di fermare le indagini sui killer di Falcone. Panorama. Cronaca. 15 luglio 2014.
On 1 July the judge Borsellino, who was in Rome to interrogate the pentito Gaspare Mutolo, was invited to Viminale in order to meet the minister Mancino; according to Mutolo, Borsellino came back from the meeting visibly upset. In the same period, Giovanni Brusca received by Salvatore Biondino the instruction to suspend the preparation of the attack against Mannino because they were "working for more important things". According to Salvatore Cancemi, in those days Riina insisted to accelerate the murder of Borsellino and to execute it with impressive manners.
On 15 July Borsellino confided to his wife Agnese that General Subranni was close to mafia environments while some days before he told her that there was a contact between mafia and deviated parts of the State, and that soon he would also be killed. Da Subranni a La Barbera, Servizi e traditori di Stato a contatto con Cosa nostra . Giorgio Bongiovanni e Aaron Pettinari. Antimafia 2000. 30 gennaio 2014. In the same time, Riina would have said to Brusca that the negotiation was abruptly interrupted and there was "a wall to be overstepped".