Mafia Boss Linked To 150 Murders Including Dissolving A Child In Acid Released From Prison

A mafia boss who confessed to being involved in more than 100 murders - including having a child's body dissolved in acid - has been released from prison.

Giovanni Brusca was arrested in 1996 for a bomb attack that killed five people, including Italy's top prosecutor Giovanni Falcone.

Following his arrest, the Sicilian became an informant and helped police capture other hardened criminals.

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Brusca has now been released after spending 25 years in Rebibbia prison in Rome and will serve four years on probation.

The move to release Brusca has prompted condemnation from many, including his victims' families.

Tina Montinaro, whose husband was killed in the bombing, told Repubblica she was 'indignant' over the decision to release Brusca.

She said: "The state is against us, after 29 years we still don't know the truth about the massacre - and the man who destroyed my life is free."

Rosaria Costa, whose husband also died in the attack, said: "He has collaborated with justice only to get the benefits, it was not a personal, intimate choice."

Sixty-four-year-old Brusca is believed to have been involved in around 150 murders and was a key figure in the Sicilian mafia group Cosa Nostra.

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Among the catalogue of grisly crimes he was involved in was the killing of 12-year-old Giuseppe Di Matteo, who was the son of a mafia 'turncoat'. He was kidnapped in 1993 after his dad collaborated with authorities.

The youngster was held in a house for more than two years before being strangled and his body being dissolved in acid.

At the time, police called it 'one of the most heinous crimes in the history of the Cosa Nostra'.

Speaking about Brusca's recent release, far-right leader Matteo Salvini said: "A person who committed these acts, who dissolved a child in acid, who killed Falcone, is in my opinion a wild beast and cannot be released from prison."

While leader of the centre-left Democratic Party, Enrico Letta, said the move was 'a punch in the stomach that leaves one speechless, wondering how it's possible'.

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Chief anti-mafia prosecutor Federico Cafiero De Raho told Reuters: "Regardless of what one may think of the atrocities he committed at the time, there was a collaboration - let us not forget that he gave information on bombings both in Sicily and in mainland Italy.

"Clearly, the judges believed this was the appropriate jail term."

Topics: World News, crime

Claire Reid

Claire is a journalist at LADbible who, after dossing around for a few years, went to Liverpool John Moores University. She graduated with a degree in Journalism and a whole load of debt. When not writing words in exchange for money she is usually at home watching serial killer documentaries surrounded by cats. You can contact Claire at [email protected]

@ClaireReid19