His comments came in a message for the 32nd anniversary of the murder of anti-mafia prosecutor Giovanni Falcone, his wife and three of his bodyguards by Cosa Nostra in the 1992 Capaci bomb attack.
Falcone’s friend and colleague Paolo Borsellino was killed two months later by another huge Cosa Nostra bomb.
“As Falcone and Borsellino said, the Republic has shown that the Mafia can be defeated and that it is destined to end,” the head of State said.
“The commitment to fight it never falters.
“Attempts to pollute civil society and intimidation of economic operators are always lurking.
“The day of law and order that we are celebrating aims to a sign of a common responsibility.
“It is necessary to maintain a high level of vigilance.
“The institutional antibodies and social mobilisation to prevent mafia organisations from finding support in grey and compliant areas cannot be weakened.
“The legacy of Falcone and Borsellino is a living inheritance that belongs to the entire national community.
“Carrying on their work entails working for a better society.”
Falcone led the investigation that culminated in the so-called Maxi Trial in which over 300 people were convicted, in the process proving that the Sicilian Mafia actually does exist, something that was not universally accepted at the time.
Falcone and Borsellino were killed in a bombing campaign launched by Cosa Nostra after the supreme court upheld the Maxi Trial convictions, making them definitive.
Mattarella is the brother of Piersanti Mattarella, the Sicilian governor who was murdered by the mafia in 1980.
ANSA
