They didn't make it in time. The jute suitcase was always ready, but the fresh air of Monte Arcosu was never able to appreciate it. The highest ranking in the hierarchical scale of bosses, in that prison bordering the wind turbines of the Macchiareddu industrial area and under the wind of the Saras chimneys, never got there. The epitaph is in the register of the toughest regime, 41 bis: Totò Riina, deceased. To be sure of the death of the Chief of Chiefs, creator of the Capaci and Via D'Amelio massacres, it took a whole year. So much was needed by the Public Prosecutor of Parma to confirm: he died of natural causes on November 17, 2017. He was 87 years old. He was still considered, in and out of prison, the undisputed leader of the Cosa Nostra. He had to serve 26 life sentences for dozens of murders and massacres. It did not go better for Don Raffaele, Cutolo in the registry office. For him too, there is no proscenium on the deer and wild boar oasis, close to the Ettore Scalas prison in Uta. After 40 years of "glorious" detention, and at the age of 79, the boss of the new Camorra also left his earthly life. Divine sentence written in the register of 41 bis of the Parma prison: after 25 years of hard prison on February 17, 2021 Raffaele Cutolo died. Not even Riina's predecessor, Bernardo Provenzano, segregated at 41-bis since he was arrested in 2006, after 43 years of inaction, was unable to reach the Santa Gilla salt pans.
No Arcosu breeze
He too had a plane ticket and a reserved escort to breathe the tight breeze of Macchiareddu. It didn't go well. Dead, too, before his passing to Sardinian land. At 83, it was full July 2016. For him, too, doubts about the ultimate paradise. The trip of "Relegatio in insulam" does not bring good, that confinement only threatened on the island of Sardinia, to the princes of the Mafia and Camorra, was fatal. After all, they could not hope for eternal life, given that for the 41 bis unit of Cagliari - Uta had to open already in 2009, but today it is still armored, in the sense that it now seems closed "ad aeternum". bosses, however, does not let the leaders of the Ministry of Justice give up, ready for yet another blitz in order not to leave the arm of the buried alive closed forever, that department of the 41 bis that for almost 15 years have been trying to open, without, however, never succeed. The sequence of announcements by ministers themselves is a string of dates, never respected. Eternally he disregarded, like a curse. The last minister to have risked a date was the five-star lent to the department which was of grace and justice. The announcement was resounding: in 2020 we will open the 41 bis in Cagliari. Foregone conclusion: still closed. Marta Cartabia, Minister of Draghi and Mattarella, is a shrewd woman. In Cagliari last month she arrived on tiptoe, with the excuse of a theme light years away from reality: work and connections in prison. She even connected via satellite with her digitization colleague, Vittorio Colao who belonged to Vodafone, to sign protocols between them, as if they could not sign them directly at Palazzo Chigi, without occupying transmission bandwidth.
Mafia dossier
In reality, that move in favor of cameras was functional to hide a hot dossier: the mafia in Sardinia, from the 41 bis of the Uta prison, always closed, to the Cayenna Island increasingly under pressure from the mafia, the Camorra and the 'Ndrangheta. Heavy chapters to be faced in the silence of the state apparatuses, in order not to provoke reactions and, as often happens, to play the blitz effect to avoid any tension or protest. In those few hours in Cagliari, the Minister disappeared from the radar for the time necessary to personally enter the brand new cells of the hard prison. A fleeting survey, but the true heart of the Sardinian mission. He wanted to see with his own eyes, and he saw. On that inspection, however, nothing has leaked. The delivery is that of silence. The blitz tactic does not involve too much talk, given those of the past. In those "suites" for bosses, however, we entered. And the images we propose are those taken from the inside of the hotel, a suggestive but only ideal view of Monte Arcosu, destined for a long line of mafia bosses with a ticket for yet another Sardinian Cayenne, after that of Bancali in Sassari and Badu 'e Carros in Nuoro.
Hello, but ...
Cells equipped in every detail, from 18/10 steel bathrooms embedded in reinforced concrete, not detachable, to non-existent furnishings to avoid blunt objects, rooms for live connections with processes around Italy to avoid high-risk travel and very high cost. After a contract that broke through the hundred million euros, and such a huge criminal investigation, the Public Works Board managed to re-contract the section destined for the toughest prison regime, 41 bis. The times, despite the limited size of the building, have become eternal as always. Indeed, in a confidential report that we are in possession of, the Ministry of Infrastructure has put in black and white yet another curse: «The construction works of the pavilion are completed. The related testing is currently underway. The inspection commission of the Ministry of Infrastructures has recently reported that the delivery of the property to this Administration will not take place in the very short term ». In another internal dossier, at the same time, it is revealed that several service rooms, matriculation office, kitchens and the like are still missing. To achieve them, a new contract would be needed, yet another. These days, however, the voice becomes more insistent. The Minister asks to make the blitz. There is a need to lighten the situation of the 41 bis in some prisons in northern and central Italy and the Draghi government will not think twice about opening the hard Cagliari-Uta prison. The situation, according to insiders, would be such that the Minister could make the forcing. The 41 bis dossier in Rome is hot as never before. To the 748 inmates in harsh prison regime, many to be moved, there is a number kept under cover of other inmates for whom the procedure for 41bis has already been approved, but not yet carried out. In short, there is a queue to enter the armored prison with reinforced concrete, but there are no places. The issue that brings the system to its knees is the forbidden contact between bosses and inmates under the ordinary regime. The list of those destined for Sardinia is getting longer, given that even recent sentences have confirmed the harsh imprisonment for those who believed they had passed the probation period in the reinforced cells. No spaces are free and those who have "earned" the hard prison on the field must wait for the opening of yet another Sardinian branch of 41 bis. If the blitz were to take place, in the front row there are those who have asked to leave the harsh prison regime. Among these is Giovanni Riina, the son of the Chief of Chiefs. Born in 1976, the scion of the clan would not have top roles in the criminal organization, but his surname is enough for him not to exclude his role in the mafia faction of the was number one of the Cosa Nostra. The sentence of the Court of Cassation last year was lapidary: the extension of the hard prison regime must be confirmed due to the social dangerousness of the prisoner. The list of those to be sent to Sardinia could be supplemented by two other leading exponents opposed to 41bis, Giuseppe Madonia and Filippo Matassa. Also in that case the Supreme Court was tranchant: not to loosen the shirts because of the real danger that the prisoners could reconnect with their clans. In the Madonia sentence the judges wrote: "his clan to which he belongs is fully operational, as confirmed by the" Apocalypse "trial, but also by the declarations of the repentant Vito Galatolo, according to which Madonia maintained control from prison".
Sardinia under attack
The opening of the 41 bis Monte Arcosu hotel risks, however, once again putting Sardinia under the crossfire of mafia pressure with a concentration of mafia leaders unmatched in Europe, given that the inmates under the 41 bis regime must be added the hundreds of criminals who have just come out of hard prison and confined to the step just below, that of High Security One. The six from Nuoro must be added to the 90 mafia bosses detained in Sassari, and now the next 92 from Cagliari-Uta. In the prisons of Tempio and Oristano, however, the concentration of members of the most nefarious organized crime has exceeded all limits. And in Rome they are aware of it.
Uta powder magazine
The secret reports speak of full-blown infiltrations into the economic and social fabric of the island, with consolidated contacts between the local underworld, the Camorra and above all 'Ndrangheta. In the Roman palaces they plan to address the issue with a section of the Anti-Mafia Investigation Department, from October at the Ichnusa pier in Cagliari. On the one hand, in short, they place a fire extinguisher against infiltrations, the Dia, on the other side, on the side of Mount Arcosu, they trigger yet another Mafia powder magazine, that of the prominent bosses. Sardinia, therefore, not only state cayenne, but also a land of conquest. The banned dossiers write it clearly: mafia alarm in Sardinian land.
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