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Mafia abducted and murdered 12-year-old boy to silence informant

Crime & justiceCrime
Key Points
  • Giuseppe Di Matteo was abducted at age 12 in 1993, held for 779 days, strangled in 1996, and his remains dissolved in acid.
  • Mafia bosses Giovanni Brusca and Salvatore 'Toto' Riina orchestrated the crime, with Brusca ordering the murder and later being released from prison in 2021.
  • The abduction aimed to silence Santino Di Matteo from testifying in the trial of judge Giovanni Falcone, who was killed in a 1992 car bomb attack by Brusca.

' Brusca, who was imprisoned for 25 years after confessing to involvement in over 100 murders, was released from prison in 2021 at age 64. In his autobiography, he displayed no remorse for his crimes, and according to Daily Express - World, Giovanni Brusca described never being upset by such acts, unlike some former Mafiosi who express disgust. The abduction targeted Santino Di Matteo, a former Mafia associate living under police protection, to prevent him from testifying in the trial of anti-Mafia judge Giovanni Falcone.

Brusca had previously planted half a tonne of explosives under a motorway near Palermo in 1992, targeting Falcone, who died in the car bomb attack alongside his wife and three bodyguards. Falcone had presided over the 1986 'maxi trial' that convicted 342 mafiosi. The exact location where Giuseppe was held captive and the specific evidence Santino possessed remain unknown, as do the legal grounds for Brusca's release and the full list of other individuals involved.

Get rid of the puppy.

Giovanni Brusca, Mafia hitman

I've dissolved bodies in acid; I've roasted corpses on big grills; I've buried the remains after digging graves with an earthmover.

Giovanni Brusca, Mafia hitman

Some pentiti [former Mafiosi] say today they feel disgust for what they did. I can speak for myself: I've never been upset by these things.

Giovanni Brusca, Mafia hitman
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