Italy: Anniversary of Falcone killing marked

Italian President Georgio Napolitano and Prime Minister Mario Monti on Wednesday marked the 20th anniversary of the murder of anti Mafia prosecutor Giovanni Falcone at ceremonies in Italy. Falcone was killed by the Mafia on the 23 May 1992 when a half-ton bomb was placed under the motorway between Palermo International Airport and the city of Palermo.

The anniversary comes less than a week after a bomb attack on a school in Brindisi, which was named after Falcone’s wife, killed one girl and wounded a number of others. No one has as yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

“His murder was a very dark day for Italians and way beyond. It showed that the Mafia was prepared to act in a really very spectacular and brutal way”, says Professor of International Relations at the University of Rome, James Walston.

He adds that Falcone’s would be remember as a man of honesty with sense of ethics.

Listen to Lydia O’Kane’s interview with Professor Walston: