Giovanni Falcone changed the way Italy perceives the Mafia. Before Falcone decided to take justice in his arms, the mafia was ruling freely across Italy and at Sicily for many years. He was the chief prosecutor of the trial of century, when he sentenced 346 mafia members to prison.
Falcone was the first one to say “The Mafia in Italy exists. The mafia in Sicily exists. And it is our judiciary’s duty to fight and try to destroy the mafia”.
Falcone prosecuted Salvatore Toto Riina in absentia, and sentenced him to life in prison. Toto Riina was the boss of bosses, the head of Cosa Nostra.
He sought revenge after the trial, delivering a very Sicilian justice to Giovanni Falcone. The judge was assassinated on May 23, 1992, near the mafia heartland of Palermo. Just two months later, his associate, another judge, Paolo Borsellino was also assassinated.
Borsellino and Falcone inspired the Italian government to take matters into their own hands, and finally get rid of the mafia.
