Rome, Oct. 3 (LaPresse) – An investigative line that had brought back under scrutiny a possible link between the mafia-public contracts dossier and the Capaci and Via D’Amelio massacres has ended with a dismissal. Judge for preliminary investigations Santi Bologna of Caltanissetta ordered the dismissal of the investigation against unknown persons in a 644-page ruling. At the heart of the investigation was the hypothesis that events surrounding public contracts may have played a role in the deaths of Giovanni Falcone, Francesca Morvillo, Paolo Borsellino and the officers assigned to protect them. The request for dismissal had been submitted in April by the Caltanissetta Public Prosecutor’s Office. However, another proceeding connected to the case remains ongoing. The investigation continues into allegations against former prosecutors Giuseppe Pignatone and Gioacchino Natoli of aggravated aiding and abetting through the facilitation of Cosa Nostra, an offense that is now time-barred. Natoli is also accused of slander. According to investigators, the two allegedly obstructed the emergence of evidence contained in the mafia-public contracts dossier, with consequences that benefited businessmen considered to be close to the mafia. According to this reconstruction, the fear that Borsellino might investigate Cosa Nostra’s infiltration of the major public-contracts system in greater depth may have contributed to the decision to eliminate him. The dismissal concerns exclusively this line of the investigation. “What must be duly pointed out here is the misleading activity carried out by Senator Scarpinato against Dr. Natoli,” the investigating judge wrote in the reasoning behind the ruling.
Palermo, investigating judge dismisses line of inquiry into mafia and public contracts
Rome, Oct. 3 (LaPresse) – An investigative line that had brought back under scrutiny a possible link between the mafia-public contracts dossier and the Capaci and Via D’Amelio massacres has ended with a dismissal. Judge for preliminary investigations Santi Bologna of Caltanissetta ordered the dismissal of the investigation against unknown persons in a 644-page ruling. At the heart of the investigation was the hypothesis that events surrounding public contracts may have played a role in the deaths of Giovanni Falcone, Francesca Morvillo, Paolo Borsellino and the officers assigned to protect them. The request for dismissal had been submitted in April by the Caltanissetta Public Prosecutor’s Office. However, another proceeding connected to the case remains ongoing. The investigation continues into allegations against former prosecutors Giuseppe Pignatone and Gioacchino Natoli of aggravated aiding and abetting through the facilitation of Cosa Nostra, an offense that is now time-barred. Natoli is also accused of slander. According to investigators, the two allegedly obstructed the emergence of evidence contained in the mafia-public contracts dossier, with consequences that benefited businessmen considered to be close to the mafia. According to this reconstruction, the fear that Borsellino might investigate Cosa Nostra’s infiltration of the major public-contracts system in greater depth may have contributed to the decision to eliminate him. The dismissal concerns exclusively this line of the investigation. “What must be duly pointed out here is the misleading activity carried out by Senator Scarpinato against Dr. Natoli,” the investigating judge wrote in the reasoning behind the ruling.