Italian Mafia Giovanni Brusca Free After 25 Years In Prison And Hundreds Of Cruel Murders

Giovanni Brusca at the time of his arrest (Source: National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement)

JAKARTA - Giovanni Brusca, a mafia boss from Sicilia, Italy, was released last June. He was jailed for 25 years for hundreds of murders. He is now on parole for four years. Who is Giovanni Brusca?

Given the choice of a gun or a harness, Giovanni Brusca would probably choose the reins. The rope would be tied to a rock which he would sink to the bottom of the river, dragging a person's body, sinking the body until it suffocated to death. Or any way the most sadistic for Giovanni to kill someone's life. Giovanni Brusca is a mafia as well as the most cold-blooded assassin of his time.

His name is so well known. Throughout his life, Giovanni has killed two hundred lives. Among the mafia, he is a mainstay. Giovanni is like an angel of death that can be bribed. Not at God's command the angel to serve, but to bills.

Giovanni was born in San Giuseppe Jato, Palermo, Italy on February 20, 1957. Born into a mafia family, Giovanni was familiar with violence. His father, Bernando Brusca is a mobster who was sentenced to life in prison for various premeditated murder cases.

Locked his father in iron bars make Giovanni have to make a living on his own. He started his mafia career at the age of 20. At that time, Giovanni worked as a driver for a mafia named Bernando Provenzano. Giovanni's career continued by joining a network of assassins called Corleonesi. Forging experienced by Giovanni there. The forging that formed his killing instinct.

Of the hundreds, there is one murder that is most closely associated with the name Giovanni. The victim was the legendary judge from Sicily named Giovanni Falcone. As a judge, Falcone's career was brilliant. With his guts -- which not many other judges had at the time, Falcone brought down Salvatore Riina, the most respected mafia leader at the time.

Feeling threatened by Falcone's actions, Riina hires the services of Giovanni. Falcone was killed in a crazy way. Giovanni placed a thousand pounds of TNT in a tunnel under the highway Falcone would travel from the airport outside Palero. At that time, Falcone had just landed from a flight to Rome.

Famous murder

Giovanni Falcone (center) (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

On May 23, 1992, Giovanni and three members of his gang waited on a mountain outside Palermo. They're monitoring Falcone. When he saw Falcone approaching the tunnel, Giovanni and his gang detonated the bomb that had been set. Falcone, along with the driver and three police escorts were killed.

The explosion also injured 20 other people who were in the vicinity of the incident. The murder of Italy's top anti-mafia prosecutor caused a stir in the news in Italy and sparked public outrage. Very reasonable. Falcone is a law enforcement figure who is admired by many Italians. A big loss.

The police are actively looking for Giovanni's whereabouts. However, Giovanni ran away for up to four years. In his escape, Giovanni did not stop. He committed another sadistic murder. Still in the series of Falcone murders. This time Giovanni's target is a 13-year-old boy named Giuseppe Di Matteo, a member of the Cosa Nostra mafia. The boy was kidnapped and then killed by strangling and soaking in an acid solution.

Quoted from Eddward S. Kennedy's book Born Out Law, the beginning of disaster for Giuseppe Di Matteo was when his father, Santino Di Matteo was arrested in 1992. At that time, his father was willing to work with law enforcement to uncover the murder case of two judges who were tough against the mafia. , namely Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino.

The conspiracy was known to Salvatore Riina. He immediately hired the services of Giovanni to kill Santino Di Matteo. Santino, who at that time was the key figure in the disclosure of the case, was under strict guard so that it was difficult to kill his life. This condition makes Brusca intend to kidnap Santino's child.

Giuseppe Di Matteo was kidnapped by Giovanni with his men who disguised themselves as policemen and told Giuseppe that he would be taken to visit his father in prison. The child was delighted. Without thinking he joined Giovanni's gang. Giovanni beat the little boy many times. Photos of bruises from torture were sent to Santino. The goal is for him to stop speaking out and collaborate with the police.

The length of time in captivity also did not produce results. Negotiations between Brusca and Santino were tough. Until finally Giovanni's patience ran out. Santino's son who was a prisoner was killed in a ruthless manner.

Arrest of Giovanni Brusca

After years in hiding, Giovanni was finally arrested on May 20, 1996. He was arrested while hiding in a house in southwest Sicily. At that time Giovanni was about to have dinner and turned on the television to watch a film about Falcone's death.

In the midst of the spectacle, immediately dozens of police arrived and arrested him and his brother, Vincenzo. Officers cheered for their success in catching the sadistic hitman. In fact, so furious, there was a policeman who punched Giovanni in the face until he was bleeding.

Giovanni Brusca at the time of his arrest (Source: National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement)

While in prison, Giovanni was nicknamed "The Pig" for his unkempt appearance or "The Butcher" for his cruelty as a hitman. Giovanni was sentenced to 26 years after a reduced sentence because Giovanni agreed to "sing" on the witness stand.

His testimony helped law enforcement punish several high-ranking Mafia leaders. In 1999, Giovanni released a prison diary, in which he claimed to be the ultimate mafia hitman. Giovanni has been involved in more than a hundred gang attacks, including the 1983 car bomb death in Palermo that killed Falcone and Giuseppe.

"I killed Giovanni Falcone," he wrote. But it's not the first time. "I have used a car bomb to kill judge Rocco Chinnici and his bodyguards. I am responsible for the kidnapping and death of Giuseppe Di Matteo who was 13 years old when he was kidnapped and 15 when he was killed," Giovanni said.

“I have committed. And personally ordered over 150 crimes. In fact, today I cannot remember every single person, one by one, the names of those I killed. More than a hundred, of course less than two hundred.”

In October 2019, Giovanni, who has served 23 years in prison, insisted that he had "repented" and rejected Mafia life. He asked Italian federal authorities to let him spend the last three years of his term under house arrest.

However, a national court judge rejected the request. The 62-year-old murderer would not have been jailed much longer, if he had lived.

*Read other information about WORLD HISTORY or read other interesting writings from Sadam.

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