Vito Di Giorgio, still for a few weeks she will be Messina’s additional prosecutor, then he will hire the same functions in Palermo. 27 years have passed since he arrived, a life. It was 1998 when he was sisted as a young prosecutor, the city was still squared by the murder of prof. Bottari. It is now Messina by adoption, and has always worked on the same front: the fight against the mafia and crime. What sensations do you have before leaving?
“I remember very well … I arrived together with other young PMs, it was not an easy period, the” Messina case “would shortly broke up, which also undermined the credibility of the Messina judicial institutions. But with great commitment and cohesion between us colleagues, under the wise guide of the then prosecutor Luigi Croce, we managed to overcome that complicated moment, which then marked the beginning, in my humble opinion, of a period of significant results in terms of judicial work. When on November 10, 1998 I passed the entrance door of the court, I never thought of staying so long in Messina and, above all, to take the professional path that I made within the same office: substitute, then to the District Anti -Mafia Directorate and finally an additional attorney. Having worked 27 years here means having spent almost half of my existence in this city, so it can understand well what my sensations are in leaving this office and this city. Certainly there is a lot of emotion … sadness … and even a little fear … considering that my only work experiences have gained only in this district. But there is also the awareness of having given all of myself in daily work on the city and the province ».
But what has changed in all this time? For example, how his profession of prosecutor has evolved, the approach to investigations …
“Many things have changed. The work of the prosecutor has evolved considerably both as a result of regulatory changes and for the influence of social, technological and even international phenomena. Then there are the reforms, which have significantly affected our daily work: I refer to the “Cartobia reform”, which introduced important changes, among others, to the criminal trial, the duration of the investigations, and to the digitization of the process. Then there is a further aspect that I want to underline, and it is the greater attention to the rights of the victims of crimes. The level of involvement of these subjects in the investigation and in the criminal trial between listening, protection and information has grown considerably. In this, the prosecutor has a key role in balance the guarantees of the suspect with the rights of the offended party. To all this must be added an increase in media and social pressure at the work of the prosecutor, which is under the lens of public opinion, with a difficult balance between the duty of confidentiality and the right to information. Unfortunately more frequent media cases, I think of feminicides, sexual violence, important events of corruption, require communication skills and caution to avoid parallel processes in the media “.
Has it passed through its cards practically thousands of suspects, defendants, but also acquitted, how do you bear the “weight” of all this daily?
«You ask me a very demanding question … that touches the conscience and the sense of justice of those who exercise such a delicate function as that of the magistrate. Face the fact that a attributed person, and perhaps even detained, is then acquitted can represent a remarkable psychological and moral weight. The prosecutor has the task of ascertaining the procedural truth: if there is a reasonable sentence of conviction, we go to trial. Even if an accusation leads to an acquittal, this does not mean that the magistrate has “wrong”, indeed it is proof of the fact that the system has worked and protected the rights of the accused. In my daily work I have always tried to follow the principle of “favor rei”, just as I tried to find a balance between empathy and detachment. A magistrate must not be insensitive, but not even get emotionally overwhelmed by every matter. It is difficult, but it is this balance that allows you to go on without losing humanity, a conscious magistrate knows to be fallible, nobody is infallible in a human process, but what matters is intellectual honesty, respect for rules and people: if the accusation has been supported with correctness, even an acquittal is part of the path of justice “.
In your opinion, what phase are we in the fight against the mafia in our part? But above all today the Mafia of Messina and the province is defeated, is it reorganizing, is “sleeping”?
«Much has been done in those territories in terms of judicial intervention by the state. I think of the numerous police operations, the processes and sentences especially of the top subjects of the two mafia organizations, many of which currently at the “41 bis”. I also think of the numerous property prevention measures performed in recent years, which have significantly weakened mafia organizations. This is because it was realized that by attacking the illegal assets of the mafiosi, damage was created to the association much higher than that caused by the various arrests, an evaluation that was confirmed by various collaborators of justice. But we certainly cannot say that we have written the end word in the fight against crime organized in our territory. The mafia is not just a criminal organization, it is a mentality, a system of power, a way of being in the world. As long as there are inequalities, corruption, political connivances, the absence of the state, the mafia will always have fertile ground. Even the one that operates in the Messina area transforms, does not disappear: from lupara and lace to businesses, contracts and finance; from explicit violence to silent collusion. All this makes it difficult to eradicate, whenever the state affects, the mafia changes skin, infiltrates elsewhere. So never let your guard down. However, I want to conclude with hope for the immediate future: some time ago, speaking with a belonging to the police who has been collaborating with me for several years, I asked him how life was now in Barcelona, he replied that there was a new air, which unlike the past social life had had a strong increase. Above all, new commercial activities had started, also from young entrepreneurs, with a clear decline in intimidation for extortion purposes. Well, these words are a tangible sign of the work done in recent years. The message that must get to the new generations above all is that the mafia, being mafia, never pays. All the collaborators of justice that I have managed in recent years, to whom I have asked the reasons for their repentance, they replied in the same way: “It was not worth it”. Only when it will be understood – but fortunately this already happens – that the fight against the mafia is a cultural fact, and that we must all make our contribution, small or large that it is, to this struggle, we will have the opportunity or the hope of living in a better place “.
And what do you think of the controversies on the mafia and anti -mafia?
«An effective fight against the Mafia needs a credible, authentic and not facade anti -mafia. The true anti -mafia does not begin in the courts, but in schools, in families, in civil consciousness. Being antimafiosis means choosing every day to be on the side of legality even when it is uncomfortable or unpopular ».
I can’t help but ask Beppe Alfano’s murder, who probably remains one of his “woodworms” …
«Yes, I have been dealing with it for several years. What I think I wrote in the requests of archives presented to the investigating judge of Messina. For my habit I do not speak of the events I have dealt with, especially if still “sub iudice”; For that part of investigations on the murder of Beppe Alfano that I treated there was a storage decree, a non -definitive measure. The only thing I can tell you is that in those investigations I put all my commitment, also writing not obvious things ».
Messina who gave her, or did you take them off in these years? What city is it in your opinion? How has it changed since that 1998?
«He certainly gave me a lot, I hope I made it better. Here I learned, I hope, to be a magistrate also thanks to the colleagues with whom I have worked in these 27 years; Here all my career has been held to date. For this and for a thousand reasons it is, and it will remain, always in my heart. It is a city with extraordinary potential, including the bathing of its coasts, but which, perhaps, has not yet fully aware of this treasure. I will miss many things, especially the daily habits taken in recent years, as well as the many people I have known ».
When you change your way, you always turn back, are there regrets for some results not achieved in its prosecutor?
«I have no regrets leaving this city, I think I did what was in my possibilities. I worked trying to always keep the right balance, respecting all the people I have crossed in recent years, suspects, offended people and lawyers. Before closing I like to thank all the colleagues in the Messina district with whom I have worked in recent years, also remembering those who have prematurely left us, the administrative staff of the prosecutor, whose support has always been precious, as well as the forensic class of Messina and the province, with which there has always been an open, sometimes hard, but loyal confrontation “.
