Le Ragioni del Boia, which will be in all bookstores in October and is the latest work by criminal lawyer Giuseppe Garofalo, has been released by Graus Edizioni of Naples, for the Tracce series.
The plot of the book is gripping. The author with extreme skill manages to lead the reader into the meanders of jurisdiction, showing its human, cruel side, devoid of that logic engraved in books, which is rarely present in courtrooms. The justice wonderfully depicted is that of the laws subject to interpretation, dictated by the arbitrariness of judges, of a legality made of precepts concepts that are incompatible with the very different reality of the courts and the gallows.
One of the most illustrious lawyers of the city of Naples finds himself at the foot of the gallows, led with the pipe around his neck, like a beast to the slaughter, ready to be put to death in one of the centuries-old theaters of justice, by the executioner's axe. Judges, accusers, victims and rulers, all seem to be in the act of acting out a tragedy rather than attending a capital punishment trial. The theatrical scene is not lacking, Castel Capuano and Piazza Mercato are just some of the most cited sets in front of which the bloody acts of government are consumed. It is a narrative made up of judicial trials that take place between the 18th and 19th centuries in Bourbon Naples, and whose protagonists are victims and guilty, not so much of what they are accused of, but of justice that puts itself on trial.
“I have worn the toga for 70 years – writes, among other things, Giuseppe Garofalo in the book’s prologue – there is no judicial theater (suppressed or brand new) where I have not played my part. Even in two out of the ordinary: the Chambre d'accusation of Paris and the CAF (Federal Appeal Commission) where I met the strange face of sports justice.
I have nothing to regret. Not without difficulty in this long essay I had to adapt to the continuous changes in the language of justice, sometimes incomprehensible, contradictory and ungrammatical.
I have defended politicians, professionals, magistrates, criminal associates, murderers for love, hate, revenge, money, robbers, thieves, swindlers by profession or necessity, habitual and occasional bankrupts, seduced and abandoned seduced. I have supported just causes and unjust causes, I have suffered undeserved defeats and enjoyed equally undeserved victories. Initially I earned little despite working hard and in the end I earned a lot while working little. I have received certified recognition and flattering comments. I have written books that have been successful. In definitively laying down the toga in the closet I wanted to remember the vicissitudes of a lawyer, the protagonist of this story, not because he was a new Demosthenes in his time, but because he lived through all the justices and counter-justices of a particular period in the history of Naples.
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