MEMORIAL MASS FOR GIOVANNI FALCONE
By Maria D’Andrea-Yothers
The annual Mass and reception in commemoration of Magistrate Judge Giovanni Falcone, an Italian judge and prosecuting magistrate who dedicated his professional life working to overthrow the Sicilian Mafia, was held at Holy Rosary Church on Sunday, May 20, 2018. This Mass marked the 26th anniversary of Falcone’s assassination by the Mafia.
Special remarks were provided by the Honorable Romina Incutti, a legal expert and advisor to the Embassy of Italy in Washington. She currently has the rank of 5th Level Judge, equivalent to a Qualified Supreme Court Judge. Ms. Incutti highlighted the prominence of Falcone’s work, and the law enforcement legacy he left behind, in Italy and the rest of the world. For example, Falcone’s assassination helped pave the 9 way for the adoption of the landmark UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, also known as the Palermo Convention, which came into force in December 2003. And, in June 2017, the United Nations General Assembly held a high-level debate on transnational organized crime, in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of Falcone’s assassination.
The reception was held at Casa Italiana Sociocultural Center, and was made possible thanks to the generous contributions of the Lido Civic Club of Washington, DC; the Abruzzo and Molise Heritage Society; the Sons of Italy International Lodge, Italians in DC; the Italian Cultural Society; Holy Rosary Church; and Voce Italiana. Catering was provided by Simonetta’s Pappa Fresca.
Background
Giovanni Falcone was an Italian magistrate who specialized in prosecuting the Sicilian Mafia. He was killed by the Mafia, together with his wife and three of his bodyguards, by a dynamite explosion placed under the highway from Palermo International Airport to Palermo at the town of Capaci on May 23, 1992.
His life story is similar to that of his closest friend, Paolo Borsellino: both came from a poor area of Palermo, had careers as anti-Mafia magistrates, and both were killed (less than two months apart) in bomb attacks in 1992. In recognition of their efforts in the anti-Mafia trials, the pair were named among the world’s heroes in a 2006 issue of Time magazine.
The murder was organized by Salvatore Riina in revenge for Falcone’s conviction of dozens of mobsters in the Maxi-Trials. In the major crackdown against the Mafia following Falcone and Borsellino’s deaths, Riina was arrested in January 1993 and served a life sentence for sanctioning the murders of both magistrates, as well as other crimes, until his death in 2017.