The confessions and arrests led to what remains today the largest trial of the 20th century in Italy. It opened on February 11, 1986, under high security in Palermo. Media from around the world came to see the 475 mafiosi locked in cages.
Italian national television broadcast the judgment live. The mayor of Palermo at the time, Leoluca Orlando (who had filed a civil action), was astonished by the intensity of the trial:
“When I first entered the bunker, the enormous room of the maxi-trial, almost 500 mafiosi in the cages stared at me in disbelief. To see the mayor of Palermo, whose name they didn’t even know, calling for their conviction; the world had crumbled for them. It was madness; it was confirmation that the State had awakened against them.”
During Tommaso Buscetta’s entrance, a heavy silence prevailed. It was a form of respect for a man who still had a great capacity for intimidation. He was a mafioso like no other, not a repentant one. Claiming his belonging to the old mafia, he was opposed to the bloodthirsty Toto Riina. Buscetta would say that the methods used by the criminal organization had significantly changed since “the beast” took power.
“I haven’t repented because I have no reason to repent. What I was, I still am. I no longer share the ideals of this structure to which I belonged.”
The trial would last two years. The verdict was uncompromising: 2,650 years of cumulative imprisonment. This gave the magistrates an enormous sense of confidence, feeling that victory was near. Unfortunately, it never arrived. The Mafia, even wounded, does not concede defeat. The Godfather of Godfathers remained on the run. Back in the United States, Buscetta continued his revelations. He was extradited to New York, where 10 years earlier he had opened one of his pizzerias. In exchange for protection that he would enjoy all his life, the American authorities asked him to collaborate. The organization of Sicilian migrants using pizzerias as a front for drug trafficking fell. All this would have brought in more than 1 billion dollars. Gaetano Badalamenti was among the accused. During his trial, he was supposed to swear on the Bible. He ended up saying:
“You don’t understand, I swore allegiance to a higher authority.”
A silence filled the room. He was asked to swear before God, and he claimed to have done so to an authority superior to him. The court had a key piece of evidence for the investigation. Badalamenti admitted to belonging to the Mafia. A major blow was dealt to heroin trafficking. The Sicilians lost their monopoly.
Devastated by the Donnie Brasco and Pizza Connection operations, the Bonanno family was excluded from the Commission. The Gambino family then took the helm of the Cosa Nostra.
At its head was John Gotti. He killed his predecessor, Paul Castellano (the former head of the Gambino family), in broad daylight in front of a popular restaurant in the center of Manhattan. People were captivated by his charisma; he was loved by everyone despite his criminal acts. Gotti didn’t hesitate to kill, and he was no better than Toto Riina or Lucky Luciano. His arrogance even made him forget the basic rule of the underworld, discretion. Spending time in his Little Italy club, he didn’t hide from the outside world. Cameras were installed on the street by the FBI to identify members of the Gambino family. The feds could thus take down license plates and recognize people thanks to infiltrators.
Another mistake of John Gotti, which facilitated the work of law enforcement, was that he didn’t play ambient noise like TV or radio to prevent the readability of the installed bugs. Simply because he didn’t want it. It was like offering an open book on his activities.
In 1992, he was finally convicted, leaving a destroyed Gambino family and dragging many of his collaborators down with him due to his lack of discretion. He did more harm to the Mafia than anyone. At the same time in Italy, the Court of Cassation confirmed the verdict of the maxi-trial that began in 1986. Sensing the danger, the fugitive Toto Riina used the only technique he knew: violence. On May 13, 1992, Judge Falcone was assassinated alongside his entire escort on the road returning from the airport. He felt death approaching.
“The thought of death follows me everywhere.”
Less than two months later, it was Judge Borsellino who was killed in the center of Palermo in an explosion while visiting his mother. During Giovanni Falcone’s funeral, a woman dared for the first time to address the underworld:
“Forgiveness is possible for you too. I forgive you, but you will have to kneel if you have the courage to change. But they don’t change. We ask you on behalf of the city of Palermo, which you have turned into a bloodbath, too much blood… to let peace, justice, hope, and love reign… because there is no more love.”
