The repentant Angelo Siino, the 'minister of public works' of Cosa Nostra, died

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November 26, 2021 According to Adnkronos, the mafia repentant Angelo Siino, 77, former "Minister of Public Works" of Cosa Nostra, economic mind of the boss Totò Riina who, would have died last 31 July, but the news was also kept secret at the behest of the family. Siino suffered from diabetes and other conditions, including a form of senile dementia. His health condition clearly worsened after the suicide of his son Giuseppe, which took place in 2019. The repentant had decided to collaborate in 1997, in great secrecy, telling all the affairs of Cosa Nostra, entrepreneurship and politics. 

A few years ago Siino decided to tell all the secrets of Cosa Nostra in a book, written with his historical lawyer Alfredo Galasso. In the book ("Life of a man of the world") he talked about characters such as Salvo Lima and Michele Sindona, senators of the Republic such as Giulio Andreotti and Marcello Dell'Utri. There are memories of travels between the luxuries of Paris and those in the Asinara prison circles, of hunting trips with "eaten" and "talks" in the bosses' farms, but also the background of some events that have made tremble an island and even the whole of Italy. 

"I am and my name is Angelo Siino, born in San Giuseppe Jato on March 22, 1944. I have repeated these generalities a hundred times before the Courts and Courts of Italy, until I lose their real meaning, the meaning of my life". Thus began his book.

He had testified in the trial on the negotiation between the state and the mafia. And he had revealed that the mafia boss Totò Riina for everyone was "Uncle 1" while "Iddu" Bernardo Provenzano was "Uncle 2". On that occasion he spoke of the figure of Pino Lipari, the former economic adviser of the Provenzano boss: "He took care of the secret things of the Corleonesi". But he also revealed that in the 1980s Cosa Nostra had planned to kill the former President of the Sicilian Region, Rino Nicolosi. He also spoke of the 1987 political elections: "Claudio Martelli came to see me at home in Palermo to ask me to vote for him and to look for votes for him". The one who later became the minister of justice, again according to Siina's account, would have promised him that he would do "pass laws that would have met the interest of certain people ".

Angelo Siino was nicknamed "Bronson", he had a passion for racing cars, he was a rally driver and it was he who drove the Popemobile in the visit that Karol Wojtyla made to Palermo on November 21, 1982. At that time he was still a "minister" in charge in Cosa Nostra. His statements, starting from 1997, have shed light on the mafia-politics-entrepreneurship intertwining up to that moment only touched upon. He had received from Totò Riina the "delegation" to deal with the large billionaire contracts of public bodies and to mediate with entrepreneurs, large and small, Sicilians and northern Italy. Riina had also entrusted him with the "division" of bribes for the politicians who had helped Cosa Nostra to personally manage large contracts with nominees.When he decided to collaborate, he had already seized assets for 12 billion old lire.

In his book he recounts episodes such as those about the killing of the journalist Mario Francese ("Stefano Bontate annoyed that he didn't mind his business") and Mauro Rostagno about whom he heard from the close relatives of Matteo Messina Denaro ("Must finish is camurria or we break his horns ") or by Peppino Impastato whose death was commented by one of the Badalamenti as follows:" They decided to make him stop ".