In 1992, Giuseppe Ayala (Sicily, 1945) was forty -seven years old and two good friends with whom he had dreamed a better country: Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino. The first died in May, on the way to Palermo airport, victim of a five hundred bomb … Kilos of Trilita who took his life ahead, that of his wife and that of his escorts. The explosion was so strong that it was recorded in the seismic monitors of the island. They say that Toto Riina gave a party that same night and celebrated his death with champagne. Two months later, a Fiat 126 loaded with one hundred and ten kilos of trinitrotoluene erased from the map to the second. Only a burned torso remained. «I was the first to see him in that state. I will be the last to forget it, ”says Ayala in ‘Who is afraid dies daily’ (Catopardo), his memoir of his prosecutor who has just translated into Spanish.
Ayala is one of the few survivors left of the ‘antimaphia pool’ that changed the history of the fight against organized crime in Italy. He was the chief prosecutor in the first maxiprocess against the capos of the Nostra thing, in a trial that extended in February 1986 and December 1987 and ended with three hundred and sixty gangsters in prison, nineteen from them with life imprisonment. It wasn’t free. And they, always escorted, with lives mutilated by security, knew it. It was borsellino who summarized the spirit of those days: «It is beautiful to die for what you think; Who is afraid dies daily, who is not afraid dies only once ».
«I felt fear years ago, but I never let me condition me. I continued fulfilling my duty, without a doubt or hesitations. Today is a distant memory. I think I have relegated it to the archive of my memory, ”says Ayala in this interview, held between emails and voice notes.
“After so many years, have you learned anything about fear?”
“It’s a distant memory, but also indelible.” As indelible as the trauma that caused me. I do not deny that, from time to time, I relied it.
“At the beginning of the book, she writes:« I stumbled with the burned torso of a man. It was what was left of Paolo Borsellino. I was the first to see him in that state. I will be the last to forget it ». As soon as he dedicates a couple of paragraphs to the murders of Falcone and Borsellino, such as fleeing from the morbidity.
“It was not at all a stylistic choice.” It was dictated exclusively by my feelings. (…) In the file of my memory I have not found room for those dramatic moments.
—The Italian edition of ‘Who is afraid dies daily’ is from 2008. Do you remember what pushed him to write?
—I wrote the book motivated by the requests that came to me from many people, some of them very influential, such as Francesco Cossiga, the former president of the Republic. He defended that it was my must tell that story from within, from the perspective of who had lived it in the first person. So I decided to relive many unforgettable moments of my life, also to pay tribute and exalt the merit of those who, unfortunately, had lost it.
“Was it a cathartic or therapeutic writing?”
“In doubt, she had a therapeutic function against the two dramas I lived.” In front of the deep footprint that left me in my heart and mind.
“For years, she writes, in Italy, the word mafia was not even pronounced.” «Nobody wanted to admit what was hiding behind those letters. The same happened with another six -letter word, cancer ». How was that fear dissipated?
—It shook thanks to the great judicial achievements obtained by the work of the ‘antimaphia pool’. That dark and mysterious criminal world was illuminated by the reflectors of the magistracy, and was exposed to public opinion. In other words: no one could pretend that it did not exist. The 1992 massacres shocked broad sectors of Italian society and transmitted the need to maintain the institutional struggle against the mafia organization.
An image of the attack in which Giovanni Falcone died
–In a 1987 interview, speaking of how Italy had changed after the Maxiprocess, paraphrased ‘El Gatopardo’: «In a certain sense, in Sicily everything changes so that nothing changes». Is it still true, somehow?
—We must understand the famous quotation of ‘El Gatopardo’ in its historical context. It has been true for a long time, but I like to think that today is less valid. Something is moving in the right direction, although much remains to be done to produce a true and deep change.
“The war against the mafia, is it an eternal war?”
—Giovanni Falcone said in an interview that the mafia, however harmful it is, is always a human phenomenon and, as such, is destined to have an end. I agree with him, although I do not think that day is just around the corner. But it will arrive, there is no doubt that it will arrive.
“How do you see that fight today?”
“Those have taken over have maintained the commitment of the fight.” However, the commitment should be broader and involve other institutions. We will see what happens. What I can say is that, in my opinion, although the mafia has not been defeated, it does not enjoy good health either. Something is something.
“Borsellino says that” he always had a joke about. ” In those difficult years, was humor a way of relieving the seriousness of the situation?
—The irony was a travel companion who helped us unfold things, even in the most complicated moments. Borsellino was a master of irony, like Falcone, and the others also put our grain of sand … I remember that when I did the requisition in the maxiprocess, my allegation lasted eight days, during which I lived in the Bunker classroom. He ate and slept there, so I didn’t see Falcone or Borsellino at any time. They were instructor judges, so they could not enter the Chamber to listen to the prosecutor, although they were informed about how my requirement was going. When I finished, that night Giovanni [Falcone] He invited me to dinner at his house. He made great praise, something weird in him, which naturally filled me with joy. He realized that I was surprised by that excess of generosity in his judgment and then returned in himself and said: «Look, Giuseppe, you are a great speaker, moreover, you are ‘The Voice’, like Frank Sinatra. But don’t forget that we write the song. You sang it well, but we wrote it ».
“What do you remember from Borsellino?”
—Borsellino joked a lot about his political ideology (he was a right -wing man). I always greeted with a “comrades, welcome.” And in the 1992 elections, when I was chosen [diputado Partido Republicano Italiano]I went home to thank him for the support he had given me. As soon as he saw me enter he adopted a somewhat thoughtful attitude and asked him: “Paolo, what’s wrong with you?” “I don’t feel very good, I don’t have pain, but I feel discomfort from Sunday morning.” “But why? What happened? «I went to vote. I have always marked the cross on the symbol of the Italian social movement, but an instant before voting I told myself: ‘What if Ayala to be chosen would be missing only one vote?’ So I voted for you … but I haven’t recovered yet.
«My allegation in the maxiprocess lasted eight days, during which I lived in the Bunker classroom. He ate and slept there »
“For years, the magistracy left to devote himself to politics.” Was it a good choice? In 2006 he put the toga again …
“This in Parliament during four legislatures.” It is an experience that I do not reborn at all. It was very interesting and, without a doubt, it enriched me. But ultimately I decided to conclude my working life again dressing my dear toga.
—You have given his life to the State, how do you see the discredit of the institutions that Europe and the West is going through?
“I’ll be brief.” Today there are very few state men, and the objective crisis of many institutions only confirm it.
—It’s one of the few members left of the ‘antimaphia pool’. Are you afraid that this memory can be lost?
“I’m not the only survivor.” In addition, the memory of what happened is undoubtedly indelible. But it is necessary to spread it, especially among young generations, so that they grow in respect for legality. This is the task of many organizations, including the Falcone Foundation, of which I am vice president.
—How has the cultural phenomenon of mafia stories lived, the transformation of the mafia into a pop icon?
– The demands of the show are sometimes cynical and implacable. In my opinion, among them is the propensity to see the mafia as a pop icon.
“Do stories on the other side?”
“They are not missing, but we may need more.” Perhaps the aforementioned demands do not help.
—Your first job was as a criminal lawyer with Girolamo Bellavista, known for defending several mafia bosses. How do you see that period of your life today?
“It served me to understand what side I wanted to be.” A process was decisive in which Professor Bellavista caused me to appoint me defender of a gangster. At the end of that trial, I submitted my request to access the magistracy. I have never regretted that choice.
“How was that trial?”
“It was carried out before the Court of Assise of Agrigento, and was one of the few trials for the time of the time, with numerous accused. I defended one of them. He was not a very high rank, but belonged to that world. After the morning audiences, in the afternoon I had to return to jail to meet him to comment on what happened and prepare the defense for the next session. Those meetings in jail bother me deeply. They weighed me. The direct contact with those characters, whose true criminal nature was evidenced in the judicial files, led me to take an opposite direction. I wanted to put myself on the right side, which for me could only mean one thing: dressing the magistrate toga.
—That took him to live under police protection twenty -four hours a day. In those years he lost a lot of freedom. Have you recovered it?
“This is twenty years old … My day to day passed between the house, the office and the armored car.” But I did my best to take my escort, because, thank God, I had realized that I was already out of danger. I couldn’t anymore. I got them to take it away and I was a free man again.
«The demands of the show are sometimes cynical and implacable. In my opinion, among them is the propensity to see the mafia as a pop icon »
“What pleasures did your freedom back?”
“I discovered what freedom really meant one morning, after almost twenty years, when I left home and that display of armed men and armored cars was no longer. He was alone, in the middle of the square where he lived in Rome, and did not know where to go, because it was still early for the session in the Senate. I had half an hour free and did not know what to do, because I was no longer used. So I entered a supermarket: my first contact with normal life was precisely in a supermarket. The next day I went to buy a precious motorcycle, with which I enjoyed walks and getaways again. And then, the possibility of going out with my children, whom for years I only saw at home, the possibility of going to the cinema with them … in short, returning to a normal life. But if I had to make a list, I would say that what I miss most was, without a doubt, the motorcycle.
“Now she’s retired, are you still thinking about the mafia?”
“I don’t think about the mafia every day, but I follow her carefully through the media.”
“What do you spend your days today?”
—My routines are typical of a retiree. I dedicate the family to read the family. I also add some swimming.
“We started talking about fear.” He has lived for years under the threat of murder … Does natural death be afraid of?
“Death doesn’t scare me.” It will arrive, it is safe. I just hope that without haste and, above all, without suffering.
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