The super repentant “dumped”. Polished language, iron memory, storytelling ability, cunning: Franco Pino, the former godfather with the “ice eyes”, is considered a precious source. A sort of Calabrian version of Tommaso Buscetta, Angelo Siino, Antonino Calderone, Francesco Marino Mannoia because he had his hands in every deal and, often, the last word on the life and death of many people. Pino was the most powerful boss in the northern area of Calabria. He cultivated stable relationships with the leaders of the Destefano-Tegano gang of Reggio, those of the historic Piromalli clan of the Piana di Gioia Tauro, of the Pelle di San Luca group, with the Camorra members of Raffaele Cutolo's Nco, with the Catania people of the Santapaola consortium. His “office” was the back of a famous flower shop in Cosenza: there he received members of the gang, “companions” from all over Italy and ordinary people who turned to him for assistance and help. Pino maintained solid ties with local entrepreneurs and political leaders, managing to influence the social and economic life of the Bruzio capital. His forays also took place in the sporting world when there was a need to “fix” some important match in the national cadet championship.
In 1995, after three decades of living dangerously, the boss chose to collaborate with justice. He knew that the repentance of the “shareholders” Roberto Pagano, Nicola and Dario Notargiacomo would have landed him in prison for life. He therefore decided to change the meaning of his existence by confessing to the magistrates of the Catanzaro Anti-Mafia District Directorate the background to dozens and dozens of crimes. In recent years, always assisted by his historic defender, the lawyer Vittorio Colosimo, he has testified in numerous hearings in Calabria, Campania, Sicily, Lombardy, Umbria and Piedmont. It was he, moreover, who was the first to reveal the meeting held in a tourist village in Nicotera between the major exponents of the 'Ndrangheta and the emissaries of Totò Riina's Corleonesi who asked the Calabrian mafiosi to participate in the massacre strategy that would soon bring blood not only Sicily but the entire rest of the country (just think of the attacks carried out in Rome, Milan and Florence).
The godfather with the “ice eyes”, in almost 30 years of collaboration, has never stopped testifying, he has never portrayed himself. Now, however, he is out of the protection program. In fact, it was revoked. And he can't get over it because he continues to testify in all the trials in which he is called. His lawyer, Vittorio Colosimo, says: «In my career I have never met a former criminal so determined to change his life. So determined to march along another road, without ever wavering. PIno is a godfather who has finished his previous existence forever, continuing to collaborate without fear or hesitation and leaving aside questions of convenience. I cannot accept that he is out of the program.”