Translated automatically by AI from the Italian original.
PALERMO / AGRIGENTO – More than a century of prison sentences to underline the scale of the operation that dismantled the leadership of Cosa Nostra and the Stidda in the province of Agrigento. The panel of the Court of Appeal in Palermo, chaired by magistrate Adriana Piras, fully upheld the first-instance convictions for the defendants in the “Xidy” investigation who had chosen the ordinary trial.
The inquiry, conducted in early 2021 by the Carabinieri’s Special Operations Group (ROS), uncovered the reorganisation of the mandamenti between Canicattì, Campobello di Licata and Palma di Montechiaro, revealing the unexpected alliance and business truce signed between the traditional mafia and the Stidda in the agricultural mediation sector.
The sentences for the leaders: Falsone and the pact with the Stidda
The verdict imposed extremely heavy sentences on the organisation’s leaders:
- Giuseppe Falsone: The historic mafia boss of Campobello di Licata was given 22 years in prison. Despite being held under the 41-bis regime after his arrest in France in 2010, Falsone was still recognised as the undisputed leader of the provincial organisation.
- Antonino Chiazza: The highest sentence, 29 years in prison, was handed to the boss from Palma di Montechiaro, considered the absolute head of the Stidda in Canicattì.
Semi-custody and new crimes: sentences for the masterminds of the Livatino murder
The ruling also exposes the failure of reintegration programmes for historic organised crime figures who, despite enjoying semi-custody and reward leave, continued to run mafia business:
- Antonio Gallea: Already sentenced to life as the mastermind behind the murder of judge Rosario Livatino (in September 1990), Gallea – who was on semi-custody, splitting his time between voluntary work and university studies – was sentenced to 28 years in prison in continuation.
- Santo Gioacchino Rinallo: The perpetrator of the Ribisi brothers’ massacre, who had also been granted benefits after years in prison, was sentenced to 30 years in continuation.
Institutional complicity and the abbreviated trial strand
The appeal judges also upheld the 12-year prison sentence for external participation in a mafia association against former police inspector Filippo Pitruzzella. Pietro Fazio was given 18 years and Stefano Saccomando 1 year and 4 months.
The Court of Appeal’s ruling validates and strengthens the work carried out by the public prosecutors of the Palermo DDA (Paolo Guido, Claudio Camilleri, Gianluca De Leo and Francesca Dessì). The overall picture of the “Xidy” investigation also includes sentences already finalised in the abbreviated trial strand, such as the 23 years for mafia boss Lillo Di Caro, 20 years for Giancarlo Buggea and over 9 years for former Agrigento lawyer Angela Porcello, considered the financial mastermind of the mandamento.
