52minutes.

Corleone : Mafia and Blood - The Downfall

Part 2/2

Synopsis

The assassination of Dalla Chiesa in 1982 was one crime too many. Targeted directly, the Palermo prosecutor's office set a team of magistrates on Totò Riina's case, going after the businessmen and politicians who had previously been untouchable thanks to their mafia links.
Totò Riina responded by having the magistrate Rocco Chinnici killed in a car-bomb attack. Two young magistrates from Palermo, Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, then made bringing down the Mafia their sole aim in life. Thanks to the testimony of one of Riina's former rivals bent on revenge, they issued hundreds of arrest warrants against Cosa Nostra. In 1986, despite the climate of terror which Riina maintained whilst on the run, a "maxi trial " was held in Palermo with 475 accused. It resulted in some very heavy sentences, including a life term for Riina, pronounced in his absence. Against all expectations, this historic verdict was confirmed both on appeal and at the supreme court. Enraged, Riina in 1992 organized two bombings which killed respectively Falcone and Borsellino – a double tragedy that sticks in the memory of Sicilians like 9/11 does for New Yorkers. Totò Riina was finally arrested in 1993, and would die in prison. This bloody battle played out in Europe between 1977 and 1994, on a sun-kissed island with a very dark side.

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French, English, German

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French, Spanish, English

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