The repentant: 'The 'ndrine killed Judge Scopelliti to do a favor to Totò Riina'

Supreme Court magistrate Antonino Scopelliti was killed by the 'Ndrangheta as a favor to Toto' Riina, who feared a negative outcome in his appeal to the Supreme Court against the convictions in the Palermo maxi-trial, which had decimated Cosa Nostra leaders and underlings and cast grave suspicion on the relationship between criminal organizations and corrupt state powers. This was stated by Francesco Onorato, a self-confessed murderer of Salvo Lima, the leader of the Andreotti faction in Sicily, who testified today in the Assize Court in Reggio Calabria in the trial dubbed "'Ndrangheta Stragista." Responding to questions from Deputy Prosecutor of the Anti-Mafia Directorate (DDA) Giuseppe Lombardo, Onorato reiterated that he did not know the actual perpetrators of the fatal attack on Deputy Prosecutor General of the Supreme Court Scopelliti, but that "it all happened as a result of an exchange of favors, and one could not deny it." The informer, however, named the 'Ndrangheta families willing to trade for murder and criminal trafficking: the De Stefanos, the Mancusos, and the Piromallis. "When we met in Calabria," Onorato said, "we returned to Sicily with cars full of salami, cheese, and 'nduja. These meetings discussed sensitive issues and exchanged favors." "It was well known," Onorato emphasized, "that anyone from Cosa Nostra who happened to be in transit through the Reggio Calabria prison was always welcomed with great solidarity by all the inmates, at the behest of Paolo De Stefano, who took care of sending us expensive lunches, including lobster." According to the collaborator, "not all 'Ndrangheta clans had the same weight," and only De Stefano, Mancuso, and Piromalli were allowed to interact with the Sicilians. The collaborator also reconstructed the climate of the 90s, the relationships with some fringes of the Sicilian Christian Democrats, then in crisis: "Salvo Lima," he said, "was killed for failing to keep his promises to Cosa Nostra regarding the verdict in the maxi trial. A few years after the Lima murder, there was talk of new leaders, Berlusconi and Dell'Utri, who should be voted on, also to amend Article 41 bis."