Santino Di Matteo
Italian mafia member
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Key Takeaways
- Santino Di Matteo (born 7 December 1954), also known as Mezzanasca , is an Italian former member of the Sicilian Mafia from the town of Altofonte in the province of Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
- After his arrest on 4 June 1993, he became the first of Falcone's assassins to become a government witness—a pentito .
- Killing of his son In retaliation for Di Matteo becoming an informant, the Mafia kidnapped his 12-year-old son, Giuseppe Di Matteo, on 23 November 1993, on the orders of Giovanni Brusca and Leoluca Bagarella.
- The murderers were Enzo Brusca, brother of Giovanni, Vincenzo Chiodo and Salvatore Monticciolo on the orders of Giovanni Brusca.
Santino Di Matteo (born 7 December 1954), also known as Mezzanasca, is an Italian former member of the Sicilian Mafia from the town of Altofonte in the province of Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
Di Matteo took part in the killing of anti-Mafia judge Giovanni Falcone on 23 May 1992, near Capaci and also of the businessman Ignazio Salvo. After his arrest on 4 June 1993, he became the first of Falcone's assassins to become a government witness—a pentito. He revealed all the details of the assassination: who tunnelled beneath the motorway, who packed the 13 drums with TNT and Semtex, who hauled them into place on a skateboard, and who pressed the button to set them off.
Killing of his son
In retaliation for Di Matteo becoming an informant, the Mafia kidnapped his 12-year-old son, Giuseppe Di Matteo, on 23 November 1993, on the orders of Giovanni Brusca and Leoluca Bagarella. According to a later confession by one of the kidnappers, Gaspare Spatuzza, they dressed as police officers and told the boy he was being taken to see his father, who was at that time being kept in police protection on the Italian mainland.
Di Matteo made a desperate trip to Sicily to try to negotiate his son's release, but on 11 January 1996, after 779 days, the boy, who by now had also become physically ill due to mistreatment and torture, was strangled and his body was subsequently dissolved in a barrel of acid—a practice known colloquially as the lupara bianca. The murderers were Enzo Brusca, brother of Giovanni, Vincenzo Chiodo and Salvatore Monticciolo on the orders of Giovanni Brusca.
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