Nicholas Whithorn
@nickwhithorn
Legal Translator and University Lecturer based in Messina. Sicily, mafia, Italian justice system. Mafia Chronicles: nicholaswhithorn.substack.com
Yesterday's maximum temperatures in Sicily. Fortunately, I am in the top right corner.
Sunday 19th July 1992 - Sunday 19th July 2026. Paolo Borsellino "I never asked to deal with mafia cases. It happened by chance. Then I continued to do it for moral reasons. The people around me were dying."
Tomorrow is the anniversary of the via D'Amelio bomb. I still reflect on this photo of Carabinieri Captain Giovanni Arcangioli walking away from the scene, with cars still burning, carrying Borsellino's briefcase containing his red diary, which then disappears. May all those concerned rot in hell.
18th July 1980. Wreckage of a Libyan Mig is found in the Sila mountains in Calabria. The official investigation finds it crashed after the pilot lost conciousness & it ran out of fuel. Contrasting evidence leads many to believe it crashed earlier & may be tied to the Ustica disaster of 27th June.
La Minetti mica ha ucciso due persone con colpì dì pistola alla schiena mentre fuggivano.
Perché, notoriamente, I soldati sono ben addestrati nel combattere la mafia... Non dire stupidaggini, per favore.
The car in front caught the full force of the blast (see photo). Falcone's car ran into a wall of debris thrown up by the blast. It is possible they would have survived if they had been wearing seatbelts. Falcone's driver, who was sitting in the back, did survive.
Not a single player in the English or Argentinian squad had even been born when these events took place.
Remember all the praise Meloni got for standing up to Trump when he insulted her last time? Well, he's insulted her again and this time ... silence. She's ordered all her Ministers to stay silent as well. The only ones criticising Trump this time around are the leaders of opposition parties.
Right-wing press continues to hound Gratteri just as happened with Falcone & Borsellino. Maybe they hope for the same result. Gratteri won't care. He has fought 'ndrangheta for most of his career & has been living under close police protection for 37 years. He won't worry about a few cheap hacks.
Starting my journey from one end of Italy to the other. As long as my 4 trains and one ferry don't play any tricks I should be home in 15 hours' time.
A train journey along the coast of Calabria never disappoints.
"Sposi" non sono, visto che i loro partiti ancora bloccano il matrimonio fra persone dello stesso sesso nel nostro paese. È un'unione civile, un istituto al quale i loro stessi partiti si sono opposti quando fu introdotto nel 2016. Basta ipocrisia.
I know they are only doing it because they are client journalists for Meloni but this must be the first ever 'Libero' front page headline to be factually accurate.
Life comes at you fast when you are client journalists for Meloni.
For those who don't follow Italian politics closely we now have an additional fascist party to the right of Lega and Fratelli d'Italia. It's called Futuro Nazionale and is led by former Army General Roberto Vannacci. At the party's founding assembly yesterday he declared they are "proud to be scum".
Berlusconi has been dead for 3 years now but the party he founded still proclaims him their candidate for PM on their symbol.
In a previous post I said if you want real change in Sicily vote for the party whose leader is living under police protection. Well, the good people of Agrigento & Bronte have done just that, heavily defeating the right. I now expect a campaign aimed at delegitimising & isolating Ismaele Là Vardera.
The Italian Member of Parliament who was expelled from Fratelli d'Italia for accidentally shooting a man in the buttock at a New Year's Eve party and has since joined Roberto Vannacci's neo-fascist Futuro Nazionale party has now driven his Mercedes SUV into a ditch while drunk. What's next?
Italian expression of the day: "cavallo di ritorno". This refers to a form of extortion, often employed by organised groups, whereby something (usually a car or motorbike) is stolen, then the owner is contacted and given the opportunity to "buy back" the stolen property for a price below its value.
Italian word of the day: "ponte", not as in "bridge" but a long holiday weekend. When public holidays fall on Tuesday/Thursday & you get 4 days off with 1 day's leave from work, it's a "ponte". Tuesday 2 June is Republic Day & in Messina we get an even longer "ponte" as 3 June is a local holiday!
Stampa italiana. Due ragazzi morti in un incidente stradale a Catania. Il ragazzo italiano ha nome e cognome. Il ragazzo srilankese è solo un "sushiman".