Mystery in a cave on Etna. These are human remains dating back at least forty years ago and belonging to a man of about 50, about one meter and seventy tall and with a congenital malformation of the nose and mouth. The discovery was made in Zafferana Etnea by the Alpine Rescue soldiers of the financial police. The death of man is to be placed in a temporal space that goes from the seventies to the nineties. The area is not easy to access.
Did the man voluntarily enter that cave, then unable to get out or did someone later hide his body? Who was that man? Why was he inside that well hidden cave? Who was he hiding from or who was he hiding from and why? The investigations will dispel the doubts. The man wore a light-colored striped shirt, wool sweater, long dark trousers, black tie, lava hat, dark green nylon cape and Pivetta n. 41. Lira coins and an Omega watch with a strap and a small comb with a case were found.
Could they be the remains of Mauro De Mauro, the journalist who died fifty-one years ago at the hands of Cosa Nostra? It was September 16, 1970, De Mauro was returning home, he had parked the car in front of his home, was joined by some men and picked up. The reporter was about six feet tall and had congenital malformations of his mouth and nose. Could the body found be hers? It would therefore be solved one of the greatest Italian mysteries concerning the disappearance of the journalist of the newspaper L'Ora.
Another hypothesis that lies ahead, in addition to that of De Mauro, concerns Giuseppe Balsamo, the usher of the Catania court who died with his Gilera motorcycle on 20 June 1978. He was 28 years old and lived alone. The fact that does not coincide with the remains found concerns the age that Balsamo had at the time of his disappearance.
Many murders and many victims of white shotgun who in those years filled the streets of Palermo and the front pages of the newspapers. A disappearance of "white shotgun", which took place in 1979, of which nothing has ever been known again is that of Giovanni Pollara, a building builder, belonging to a family of esteemed entrepreneurs. Giovanni's mysterious disappearance had been reported by Salvatore Pollara, his brother, who actively collaborated in the investigation. However, the trial did not lead to any convictions. Salvatore subsequently received requests for protection money, which he reported to the authorities. After persistent threats and intimidation of all kinds, Salvatore was killed by Cosa Nostra on 11 March 1983, in Palermo, in via Montuoro, while he was returning home in his car.
What if the body was Giovanni Pollara's? Scientific investigations will clarify any doubts.
Angelo Barraco