''Pentito'' (; lit. "repentant"; plural: ''pentiti'') is used colloquially to designate collaborators of justice in Italian
criminal procedure
Criminal procedure is the adjudication process of the criminal law. While criminal procedure differs dramatically by jurisdiction, the process generally begins with a formal criminal charge with the person on trial either being free on bail o ...
terminology who were formerly part of criminal organizations and decided to collaborate with a
public prosecutor
A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal tria ...
. The judicial category of ''pentiti'' was originally created in 1970s to combat violence and
terrorism
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
organized crime
Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...
who had abandoned their organization and started helping investigators.
Role and benefits
In exchange for the information they deliver, ''pentiti'' receive shorter sentences for their crimes, in some cases even freedom. In the Italian judicial system, ''pentiti'' can obtain personal protection, a new name, and some money to start a new life in another place, possibly abroad.
This practice is common in other countries as well. In the United States, criminals testifying against their former associates can enter the
Witness Protection Program
Witness protection is security provided to a threatened person providing testimonial evidence to the justice system, including defendants and other clients, before, during, and after a trial, usually by police. While a witness may only require p ...
, and be given new identities with supporting paperwork. The Italian Mafia bosses Buscetta and Francesco Marino Mannoia were allowed to live in the U.S. under new identities in the Witness Protection Program when Italy did not yet have such a program.Mob Boss and Stoolie Share a Day in Rome Court ''The New York Times'', November 20, 1993Stille, ''Excellent Cadavers'', p. 302-10
Cases
Among the most famous Mafia ''pentiti'' is Tommaso Buscetta, the first important ''pentito''. He was helpful to judge
Giovanni Falcone
Giovanni Falcone (; 18 May 1939 – 23 May 1992) was an Italian judge and prosecuting magistrate. From his office in the Palace of Justice in Palermo, Sicily, he spent most of his professional life trying to overthrow the power of the Sicilian ...
in describing the
Sicilian Mafia Commission
The Sicilian Mafia Commission (Italian: ''Commissione provinciale''), known as Commissione or Cupola, is a body of leading Sicilian Mafia members to decide on important questions concerning the actions of, and settling disputes within the Sicili ...
or ''Cupola'', the
leadership
Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets v ...
of the Sicilian Mafia in the 1980s, and identifying the main operational channels that the Mafia used for its business.
In Italy, important successes were achieved with the cooperation of ''pentiti'' in the fight against
terrorism
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
(especially against the Red Brigades), by Carabinieri general Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa (who was later killed by the Mafia).
In the period until the 1990s, there were very few, albeit significant, ''pentiti'' such as Tommaso Buscetta, Salvatore Contorno, Antonino Calderone, etc. However, this changed significantly during the early 1990s. From 1992, over a thousand ''mafiosi'' have agreed to collaborate with Italian justice.Martin J. Bull, James L. Newell, ''Italian Politics'' Google Print, p. 111
In some cases, ''pentiti'' have invented stories to obtain reductions in jail time. A famous case regarded the popular TV anchorman
Enzo Tortora
Enzo Tortora (30 November 1928 – 18 May 1988) was an Italian TV host on national RAI television, who was unjustly convicted of being a member of the Camorra and drug trafficking in 1985, and sentenced to 10 years in jail. He was acquitted of a ...
, who was falsely accused of
cocaine
Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Am ...
membership by a ''pentito'' named Giovanni Melluso. Tortora was detained for years before being cleared; he developed cancer and died soon after the case was finally solved, some say because of the emotional
stress
Stress may refer to:
Science and medicine
* Stress (biology), an organism's response to a stressor such as an environmental condition
* Stress (linguistics), relative emphasis or prominence given to a syllable in a word, or to a word in a phrase ...
* Leonardo Vitale (1941–1984) was the first to become a ''pentito'' in 1973, although originally his confessions were not taken seriously.
* Tommaso Buscetta (1928–2000) was the first high-profile ''pentito'' against the Sicilian Mafia. He started to collaborate with the anti-Mafia prosecutor
Giovanni Falcone
Giovanni Falcone (; 18 May 1939 – 23 May 1992) was an Italian judge and prosecuting magistrate. From his office in the Palace of Justice in Palermo, Sicily, he spent most of his professional life trying to overthrow the power of the Sicilian ...
in 1984. His testimony was of crucial importance in the landmark Maxi Trial of 1986–87.
* Salvatore Contorno (born 1946) started to collaborate in October 1984, following the example of Buscetta.
* Leonardo Messina (born 1955), member of the San Cataldo clan, who became an informant in 1992. He was the greater accuser of
Giulio Andreotti
Giulio Andreotti ( , ; 14 January 1919 – 6 May 2013) was an Italian politician and statesman who served as the 41st prime minister of Italy in seven governments (1972–1973, 1976–1979, and 1989–1992) and leader of the Christian Democracy ...
Corleonesi
The Corleonesi Mafia clan was a faction within the Corleone family of the Sicilian Mafia, formed in the 1970s. Notable leaders included Luciano Leggio, Salvatore Riina, Bernardo Provenzano, and Leoluca Bagarella.
Corleonesi affiliates were not ...
, turned informant in 2002, after his arrest.
* Antonino Calderone (1935–2013) started to collaborate in April 1987.
* Francesco Marino Mannoia (born 1951) started to collaborate in October 1989 because his brother had been murdered. He was the first ''pentito'' who used to belong to the winning faction of the
Second Mafia War
The Second Mafia War was a period of conflict involving the Sicilian Mafia, mostly taking place from the late 1970s to the early 1990s and involved thousands of homicides. Sometimes referred to as The Great Mafia War or the ''Mattanza'' (Italian ...
(1981–83).
* Giovanni Brusca (born 1957), the murderer of anti-Mafia prosecutor Falcone, began to collaborate in 1996.
*
Santino Di Matteo
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 Antimafia judge ...
(born 1954), became an informant in 1993 after his arrest; offered information relating to the Capaci bombing, for this reason his son Giuseppe was kidnapped, murdered and dissolved in acid.
* Salvatore Cancemi (1942–2011), another of Falcone's assassins, turned himself to the Carabinieri in July 1993 and immediately began collaborating.
*
Giuseppe Marchese
Giuseppe Marchese (born 12 December 1963) is a former member of the Sicilian Mafia, who turned state witness (pentito). Giuseppe ''Pino'' Marchese was born in Palermo in a family with long-standing ties to the Mafia. His father Vincenzo and his un ...
(1963), Filippo Marchese's nephew and who became an informant in 1992.
*
Gaspare Mutolo Gaspare Mutolo (Palermo, February 5, 1940) is a Sicilian mafioso, also known as "Asparino".Cosa Nostra and Italian politicians.
Carmine Schiavone
Carmine Schiavone (20 July 1943 in Casal di Principe – 22 February 2015 in Viterbo) was a former member of the Casalesi clan from Casal di Principe in the province of Caserta between Naples and Salerno. He was a cousin of former Camorra superb ...
(1943–2015), former high-ranking member of the
Casalesi clan
The Casalesi clan is a clan within the Camorra, an Italian criminal organization, operating from Casal di Principe and San Cipriano d'Aversa in the province of Caserta between Naples and Latium. Formed by Antonio Bardellino, it is a confederatio ...
.
*
Maurizio Abbatino
Maurizio Abbatino (; born 19 July 1954) is a former Italian criminal, one of the original bosses of the Banda della Magliana, an Italian criminal organization based in the city of Rome, particularly active throughout the late 1970s until the earl ...
, former boss of the
Banda della Magliana
The Banda della Magliana (, ''Magliana Gang'') is an Italian criminal organization based in Rome. It was founded in 1975. Given by the media, the name refers to the original neighborhood, the Magliana, of some of its members.
The ''Banda dell ...
In some southern Italian communities, the Mafia has a significant presence, and in these areas becoming a ''pentito'' is tantamount to a death sentence. Indeed, the Mafia family of Totò Riina based in the town of
Corleone
Corleone (; scn, Cunigghiuni or ) is an Italian town and ''comune'' of roughly 11,158 inhabitants in the Metropolitan City of Palermo, in Sicily.
Several Mafia bosses have come from Corleone, including Tommy Gagliano, Gaetano Reina, Jack ...
habitually extended the death sentence of the ''pentiti'' over to their relatives. For example, several of Tommaso Buscetta's close family members were killed in a long series of murders.
Since the ''pentito'' himself is physically protected by the police, retribution on his family is common; therefore, when there are rumors of a mafioso collaborating with the police, the family usually condemns that person immediately to avoid retaliation. For example, when Vincenzo Sinagra began collaborating with the authorities his entire family disowned him.
Commentary on the term
It is often pointed out that the correct term should be ''collaboratori di giustizia'', or "collaborators with justice". The word ''pentito'' implies a moral judgment that is considered inappropriate for the courts of justice to make.
Criticism
In Italy, ''pentiti'' have come under criticism because of the favours they receive and because:
*they would invent stories to receive benefits;
*they would invent stories to persecute people they do not like;
*their employment is seen as a reward for criminals, instead of a punishment;
*They would be unreliable since they come from a criminal organization.
Criticism comes most often from politicians, especially when they or an associate of theirs is under investigation for connections to the Mafia. It is therefore interpreted by some as an attempt to discredit one's own accusers, instead of a genuine preoccupation of the common citizen's
civil right
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life ...
s.
Luciano Violante, a politician and former president of the Italian Antimafia Commission, countered that "We do not find information about the Mafia among nuns."Luciano Violante, ''Non è la piovra: Dodici tesi sulle mafie italiane'' ("It is not the octopus: twelve theses on Italian Mafias"),
Einaudi Einaudi is an Italian surname. Notable people with the surname include:
*Luigi Einaudi (1874–1961), Italian politician
*Mario Einaudi (1905–1994), Italian political scientist, son of Luigi
*Giulio Einaudi (1912–1999), Italian publisher, son o ...
, 1994, .
Laws have been passed that bar ''pentiti'' from obtaining substantial benefits unless their revelations are later deemed new material, and lead to concrete results. There have been proposals to accept revelations only for six months, after which their revelations could not be used in court.
This has had the effect of reducing the appeal of becoming a ''pentito'' since a single mafia associate does not know whether his knowledge will be useful to the prosecutors at the time of defection. Defection from the mafia in Italy have subsequently sharply reduced from the height reached in the early nineties, and results in the fight against mafia have reduced accordingly.
Informant
An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a “snitch”) is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law-enforcement world, where informant ...
*
Turn state's evidence
A criminal turns state's evidence by admitting guilt and testifying as a witness for the state against their associate(s) or accomplice(s), often in exchange for leniency in sentencing or immunity from prosecution.Howard Abadinsky, ''Organized C ...