Pentito
Pentito (
Italian repented,
plural pentiti) designs people who collaborate with the justice in order to help investigations. The
pentiti were first created in order to fight
terrorism in the
1970s, during the "
lead years". Their correct technical name in Italian is
collaboratori di giustizia ("Justice collaborators"). In the wake of the
Tangentopoli scandal and
Mani pulite, it more often designed former members of the
Italian Mafia that have abandoned their organisation and started helping in investigations.
In exchange for the information they deliver,
pentiti receive shorter sentences for their
crimes, in some cases even
freedom. In the Italian judicial system,
pentiti can obtain personal protection, a new
name, and some
money to start a new
life in another place, possibly abroad. This practice is common in other countries as well: in the
United States, criminals testifying against their former associates can enter the
Witness Protection Program, and be given new
identities, with supporting paperwork.
Among the most famous Mafia
pentiti is
Tommaso Buscetta, the first important
pentito, who was very helpful to judge
Giovanni Falcone in describing the
Cupola, the
leadership of the Sicilian Mafia in the
1980s, and identifying the main operational channels that the mafia used and uses for its business.
In Italy, important successes were achieved with the cooperation of
pentiti in the fight against
terrorism (specially against the
Red Brigades), by
Carabinieri general
Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa (later killed by the Mafia).
In some cases,
pentiti have invented stories, in order to obtain reductions in jail time. A famous case regarded the popular
TV anchorman Enzo Tortora, who was accused of
cocaine trafficking by a
pentito. Tortora was
detained for years before being cleared; he developed
cancer and died soon after the case was finally solved, some say because of the emotional
stress of his imprisonment.
In southern-Italian communities where the Mafia has a strong grip, becoming a
pentito or having one in the
family is tantamount to a death sentence. For example, all of
Tommaso Buscetta's family was exterminated in a long series of
murders spanning many years.
Furthermore, in the most degraded areas, where people live on the borderline of legality or beyond, there is an induced
subculture of hostility towards public institutions and of trust in the Mafia. People will not collaborate with the police (a phenomenon known as
omertà), and will consider any
pentito an
infame, a traitor.
Since the
pentito himself is physically protected by the police, retribution on his family is common; therefore, when there are rumours of a mafioso collaborating with the police, the family usually condemns that immediately, in order to avoid retaliation.
It is often pointed out that the correct term should be
collaboratori di giustizia, or "justice collaborators". The word
pentito implies a
moral judgement that is considered inappropriate for the courts of justice to make.
In Italy,
pentiti have come under criticism because of the favours they receive and because:
*they would invent stories in order to receive benefits;
*they would invent stories in order to persecute people they do not like;
*their employement is seen as a reward for criminals, instead of a punishment;
*they would be unreliable, since they come from a criminal organisation.
Criticism comes most often from
politicians, especially when they or an associate of theirs is under investigation for connections to the
Mafia. It is therefore interpreted by some as an attempt to discredit one's own accusers, instead of a genuine preoccupation of the common citizen's
civil rights.
Luciano Violante, an anti-mafia former
prosecutor and politician, countered that "We do not find information about the Mafia among
nuns".
[Luciano Violante, Non è la piovra: Dodici tesi sulle mafie italiane ("It is not the octopus: twelve theses on Italian Mafias"), Einaudi, 1994, ISBN 8806134019.]Laws have been passed that bar
pentiti to obtain substantial benefits unless their revelations are later deemed new material, and lead to concrete results; there have been proposals to accept revelations only for six months, after which their revelations could not be used in court.
This has had the effect of reducing the appeal of becoming a
pentito, since a single mafia associate does not know whether his knowledge will be useful to the prosecutors at the time of
defection. Defection from mafia in Italy have subsequently sharply reduced from the height reached in the early nineties, and results in the fight against mafia have reduced accordingly.
:Category:Sicilian mafiosi:Category:Pentiti
