A Mafia clan of former government witnesses found in Sicily — the return of the finks!
Description
An anti-Mafia police blitz in Sicily uncovered a mob clan of former government witnesses and confirmed growing concerns over how repentant Italy’s turncoat mobsters really are. For decades, some members of Cosa Nostra have agreed to cooperate with the state rather than face grueling prison sentences. In Italy, they are called “pentiti” — meaning “repentant”, using religious terminology to signify a confession of guilt and a promise to make amends. In English-speaking countries we call them informants and cooperating witnesses — or, more colloquially, finks. In Italy, there has been a growing concern about them. And shortly before Christmas, Operation Dominance was revealed in Messina, Sicily’s third-largest city. When police swept up an emerging, aggressive clan, among the 14 arrested were five pentiti.
The investigation is alarming. Prosecutors say five of the cooperating witnesses had returned to their old lives, figuratively and literally. They returned to Messina to “take it back.” They organized a Cosa Nostra cell and were working to once again dominate their old territory.
(A CORRECTION: I misspoke in the video. Messina is the third largest city in Sicily when I inadvertently said in Italy. My apologies for the mistake.)
The arrested pentiti had been active in the Mafia in the 1980s and 90s, police said. After going through the program and requirements of becoming a government witness they went back to the mob. It wasn’t without opposition. They restored ties to mobsters still working there and pushed their way back in, including overcoming conflict with criminal groups unhappy about their return. It was a year-long investigation by police, using surveillance, wiretaps, telephone and room probes, and, yes, even using information in the testimony of other pentiti.
Please tell me in the comments below how surprised you are at the former cooperating witnesses returning to a life in the Mafia and how concerned prosecutors should be over this revelation.
~ The Mob Reporter is a professional journalist bringing you real-life mob, police and true crime news and educational videos.
~ PLEASE SUBSCRIBE: http://www.youtube.com/user/themobreporter?sub_confirmation=1
~ Please subscribe to my other channels:
• Crime Watch: https://www.youtube.com/CrimeWatchWorld
• Crime in Italy: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-RAffGKnxExn8kXmeRdRsg
~ To read my written journalism in the National Post, visit: http://news.nationalpost.com/author/ahumphreys/
~ For more information, visit http://www.adrianhumphreys.com.
Please like, share, comment and subscribe.
Thanks for watching!
- The Mob Reporter
-~-~~-~~~-~~-~-
Please watch: "Italian Mafia boss visiting Canada accidentally brought police wiretap to all his meetings": https://youtu.be/lhSL0JzQJYc
-~-~~-~~~-~~-~-
Comments