Term used colloquially in Italy to designate former criminals who cooperate with the government
Pentito
(
Italian pronunciation:
[pen?tiːto]
; lit. "repentant"; plural:
pentiti
) is used colloquially to designate collaborators of justice in Italian
criminal procedure
terminology who were formerly part of criminal organizations and decided to collaborate with a
public prosecutor
. The judicial category of
pentiti
was originally created in 1970s to combat violence and
terrorism
during the period of left-wing and right-wing terrorism known as the
Years of Lead
. During the 1986?87
Maxi Trial
and after the testimony of
Tommaso Buscetta
, the term was increasingly applied to former members of
organized crime in Italy
who had abandoned their organization and started helping investigators.
Role and benefits
[
edit
]
In exchange for the information they deliver,
pentiti
receive shorter sentences for their crimes, in some cases even freedom. In the Italian judicial system,
pentiti
can obtain personal protection, a new name, and some money to start a new life in another place, possibly abroad.
This practice is common in other countries as well. In the United States, criminals
testifying against their former associates
can enter the
Witness Protection Program
, and be given new identities with supporting paperwork.
[1]
The Italian Mafia bosses Buscetta and
Francesco Marino Mannoia
were allowed to live in the U.S. under new identities in the Witness Protection Program when Italy did not yet have such a program.
[2]
[3]
Cases
[
edit
]
Among the most famous Mafia
pentiti
is
Tommaso Buscetta
, the first important
pentito
. He was helpful to judge
Giovanni Falcone
in describing the
Sicilian Mafia Commission
or
Cupola
, the
leadership
of the Sicilian Mafia in the 1980s, and identifying the main operational channels that the Mafia used for its business.
In Italy, important successes were achieved with the cooperation of
pentiti
in the fight against
terrorism
(especially against the
Red Brigades
), by
Carabinieri
general
Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa
(who was later killed by the Mafia).
In the period until the 1990s, there were very few, albeit significant,
pentiti
such as Tommaso Buscetta, Salvatore Contorno, Antonino Calderone, etc. However, this changed significantly during the early 1990s. From 1992, over a thousand
mafiosi
have agreed to collaborate with Italian justice.
[4]
In some cases,
pentiti
have invented stories to obtain reductions in jail time. A famous case regarded the popular TV
anchorman
Enzo Tortora
, who was falsely accused of
cocaine
trafficking and
Camorra
membership by a
pentito
named
Giovanni Melluso
. Tortora was detained for years before being cleared; he developed cancer and died soon after the case was finally solved, some say because of the emotional
stress
of his imprisonment.
[5]
Important
pentiti
of the Sicilian Mafia
[
edit
]
- Leonardo Vitale
(1941?1984) was the first to become a
pentito
in 1973, although originally his confessions were not taken seriously.
- Tommaso Buscetta
(1928?2000) was the first high-profile
pentito
against the Sicilian Mafia. He started to collaborate with the anti-Mafia prosecutor
Giovanni Falcone
in 1984. His testimony was of crucial importance in the landmark
Maxi Trial
of 1986?87.
- Salvatore Contorno
(born 1946) started to collaborate in October 1984, following the example of Buscetta.
- Leonardo Messina
(born 1955), member of the
San Cataldo
clan, who became an informant in 1992. He was the greater accuser of
Giulio Andreotti
.
- Antonino Giuffre
(born 1945), boss of
Caccamo
and member of
Corleonesi
, turned informant in 2002, after his arrest.
- Antonino Calderone
(1935?2013) started to collaborate in April 1987.
- Francesco Marino Mannoia
(born 1951) started to collaborate in October 1989 because his brother had been murdered. He was the first
pentito
who used to belong to the winning faction of the
Second Mafia War
(1981?83).
- Giovanni Brusca
(born 1957), the murderer of anti-Mafia prosecutor Falcone, began to collaborate in 1996.
- Santino Di Matteo
(born 1954), became an informant in 1993 after his arrest; offered information relating to the
Capaci bombing
, for this reason his son Giuseppe was kidnapped, murdered and dissolved in acid.
- Salvatore Cancemi
(1942?2011), another of Falcone's assassins, turned himself to the
Carabinieri
in July 1993 and immediately began collaborating.
- Giuseppe Marchese
(1963), Filippo Marchese's nephew and who became an informant in 1992.
- Gaspare Mutolo
(born 1940), started to collaborate in prison in May 1992 and was the first mafioso who spoke about the connections between the
Cosa Nostra
and Italian politicians.
Other important
pentiti
[
edit
]
Cultural acceptance
[
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]
In some southern Italian communities, the Mafia has a significant presence, and in these areas becoming a
pentito
is tantamount to a death sentence. Indeed, the Mafia family of
Toto Riina
based in the town of
Corleone
habitually extended the death sentence of the
pentiti
over to their relatives. For example, several of
Tommaso Buscetta
's close family members were killed in a long series of murders.
[6]
It is often pointed out that the correct term should be
collaboratori di giustizia
, or "collaborators with justice". The word
pentito
implies a moral judgment that is considered inappropriate for the courts of justice to make.
[7]
Criticism
[
edit
]
In Italy,
pentiti
have come under criticism because of the favours they receive and because they would invent stories to receive benefits; they would invent stories to persecute people they do not like; their employment is seen as a reward for criminals, instead of a punishment; and they would be unreliable since they come from a criminal organization. Criticism comes most often from politicians,
[
who?
]
especially when they or an associate of theirs is under investigation for connections to
the Mafia
.
[
citation needed
]
It is therefore interpreted by some as an attempt to discredit one's own accusers, instead of a genuine preoccupation of the common citizen's
civil rights
.
Luciano Violante
, a politician and former president of the Italian
Antimafia Commission
, countered that "We do not find information about the Mafia among
nuns
."
[8]
Laws have been passed that bar
pentiti
from obtaining substantial benefits unless their revelations are later deemed new material, and lead to concrete results. The State can collect revelations only for six months after the initial intention to collaborate, after which they cannot be used in court.
[9]
This has had the effect of reducing the appeal of becoming a
pentito
since a single mafia associate does not know whether his knowledge will be useful to the prosecutors at the time of defection. Defection from the mafia in Italy have subsequently sharply reduced from the height reached in the early nineties, and results in the fight against mafia have reduced
[
citation needed
]
accordingly.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
Look up
pentito
in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
- ^
U.S. Marshals site
, a
PD
source
- ^
Mob Boss and Stoolie Share a Day in Rome Court
,
The New York Times
, November 20, 1993
- ^
Stille,
Excellent Cadavers
, p. 302-10
- ^
Martin J. Bull, James L. Newell,
Italian Politics
,
Google Print, p. 111
.
- ^
Enzo Tortora: When justice miscarries
Archived
April 5, 2015, at the
Wayback Machine
, The Florentine, October 30, 2008
- ^
Bagli, Charles V. (June 12, 2019).
"They Hid From the Mob for Decades. Now They Will Surface in a Film. (Published 2019)"
.
The New York Times
.
ISSN
0362-4331
. Retrieved
November 2,
2020
.
- ^
Backlash threatens to silence informers
, The Independent, May 2, 1997
- ^
Luciano Violante,
Non e la piovra: Dodici tesi sulle mafie italiane
("It is not the octopus: twelve theses on Italian Mafias"),
Einaudi
, 1994,
ISBN
88-06-13401-9
.
- ^
D'Alessio, Valeria (July 24, 2017).
"Il "pentito": dissidio interiore tra onore, rispetto verso il clan e senso di giustizia"
.
Ius in itinere
(in Italian)
. Retrieved
April 26,
2023
.
il pentito ha un tempo massimo di sei mesi per dire tutto quello che sa, il tempo inizia a decorrere dal momento in cui il pentito dichiara la sua disponibilita a collaborare; [a "pentito" has 6 months to say everything he knows, from the declaration of intent to collabolate;]
Bibliography
[
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]