Antonino "Ninni" Cassarà (Italian pronunciation: [antoˈniːno ˈninni kassaˈra]; May 7, 1947 – August 6, 1985) was an Italian policeman killed by Cosa Nostra.
Life edit
Born in Palermo on May 7, 1947, he was Commissioner in Reggio Calabria and then in Trapani, where he learned about Giovanni Falcone. He was then promoted and sent to Palermo where he served as deputy chief of the Judicial police. In 1982 he worked on the streets of Palermo together with the agent Calogero Zucchetto, in the context of Cosa Nostra's inquiries. On one of these occasions Cassarà and Zucchetto recognized the two top killers Pino Greco and Mario Prestifilippo, but they could not arrest them because they fled. Among the numerous operations he took part in, many of which together with Commissioner Giuseppe Montana, there is the famous Pizza Connection operation in collaboration with U.S. police forces. Cassarà was a close associate of Giovanni Falcone and the so-called Antimafia pool of the Republic Prosecutor's Office of Palermo, and his investigations contributed to the groundwork of the first Maxi Trial. Married and father of three children, he was killed by the Mafia in 1985, at the age of 38.
Assassination edit
On August 6, 1985, he was returning home via the Viale della Croce Rossa 81 in Palermo in an Alfa Romeo Alfetta and he was escorted by two agents. He exited the car and reached the front door of his home when a group of nine hitmen armed with AK-47 rifles and Submachine guns opened fire from the windows of an apartment building. Police officer Roberto Antiochia, that was 23 years old, that came out of the car to open the door for Cassarà, was instantly struck by gunshots and fell to the floor in front of the entrance door. Natale Mondo, the other escort police officer, remained unharmed succeeding in taking cover under the car (but was later killed in another ambush in January 1988). Cassarà, was hit by the killers almost simultaneously with Antiochia and died inside the entrance hall in the arms of his wife Laura, who saw the ambush with their daughter from the balcony of their home. Antonino Cassarà is buried in the Sant'Orsola Cemetery in Palermo. After the assassination (or in the meanwhile) his notebook, which was assumed to contain important information, disappeared from his office.
On February 17, 1995, the tribunal of Palermo sentenced life imprisonment to five members of the Cupola (Totò Riina, Bernardo Provenzano, Michele Greco, Bernardo Brusca and Francesco Madonia) in connection of the crime.[1][2][3][4]
See also edit
References edit
- ^ ANSA, Author. "Antonino Cassarà". www.ansa.it.
{{cite web}}:|first=has generic name (help) - ^ "DUECENTO COLPI DI KALASHNIKOV - la Repubblica.it".
- ^ "Ninni Cassarà - Morte di un commissario - La Storia siamo noi". Archived from the original on 2017-11-07. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
- ^ "NINNI CASSARÀ, IL COMMISSARIO UCCISO DALLA MAFIA - la Repubblica.it".