The killing of sixteen-year-old Giuseppe Di Dio in Capizzi, in the province of Messina, has profoundly shaken public opinion and reignited the debate on the growing climate of violence that is affecting many areas of Sicily. For this reason, the national secretary of Action, Carlo Calenda, and the national manager of the Legality department, Sonia Alfano, presented a written question to the Minister of the Interior, asking for urgent and concrete interventions to re-establish security and legality in the territories most exposed to street crime and mafia infiltration.
In the question, Calenda and Alfano recall two recent news episodes which, according to them, represent “the tip of the iceberg of a situation now out of control”: the shooting on 1 November in Capizzi, which claimed the life of a 16-year-old boy and injured a 22-year-old, and the murder of Paolo Taormina, a 21-year-old killed in Palermo on 12 October during a fight in front of the family pub. According to the two Action representatives, these facts confirm the spread of violent behavior among young and very young people, often linked or adjacent to organized crime circuits. Hence the request to the Government to adopt extraordinary measures, strengthening the presence of law enforcement in the area, improving coordination with local administrations and activating “high impact operations” for the control of weapons and the prevention of violent crimes.
The question also underlines the need to strengthen video surveillance, promote initiatives for a safe nightlife, support crime victims and implement tools such as the “Daspo Willy”, which allows the Police Commissioners to prohibit access to public places to violent or dangerous individuals. Calenda and Alfano denounce the “very serious insufficiency” of the Government’s security policies, accused of focusing on “purely punitive” measures such as increased penalties, instead of effective prevention and control of the territory.
«Capizzi’s murder is a dramatic event that requires urgent reflection on the criminal escalation that is affecting Sicily – say Calenda and Alfano -. The State must return to being a concrete and credible presence, capable of protecting honest citizens and re-establishing legality and trust. We need more resources, more controls and certainty of punishment.” The question therefore asks the Minister of the Interior to clarify what immediate actions the Government intends to implement to deal with this emergency and restore security to the Sicilian communities, increasingly affected by violence, degradation and social marginalization.