Borsellino Case: Six Searches at Former Police Chief De Gennaro, Who Is 'Not Under Investigation for the Massacre'
Six ROS searches in the province of Rome, ordered by the Caltanissetta prosecutor's office, over the alleged cover-up of the via d'Amelio massacre and the missing red diary: among those searched is former police chief De Gennaro, whom prosecutors do not consider a suspect in the massacre.
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Six searches in the province of Rome carried out by ROS carabinieri on the orders of the Caltanissetta prosecutor's office: the DIRE agency reports they concern an inquiry into an alleged cover-up of the investigation into the via d'Amelio massacre and the disappearance of prosecutor Paolo Borsellino's red diary. According to prosecutors, those searched include former police chief Gianni De Gennaro, mafia turncoat Salvatore Contorno and other people close to De Gennaro. Chief prosecutor Salvatore De Luca states, as both outlets report, that none of them is under investigation for the massacre: the searches belong to a case against unknown persons.
According to the DIRE news agency, which quotes chief prosecutor Salvatore De Luca, Caltanissetta's prosecutor's office had ROS carabinieri carry out six searches in the province of Rome: the inquiry, DIRE says, is meant to shed light on 'further responsibilities of unidentified people belonging to state institutions'. Il Fatto Quotidiano reconstructs the same measures with the names of those involved: former police chief Gianni De Gennaro, mafia turncoat Salvatore Contorno, Donatella Peruzzi, Massimo Carnicelli and Francesco Pacetto, alongside other individuals described as close to De Gennaro.
What the investigation is looking for
According to prosecutors, as quoted by both outlets, the aim is to establish responsibilities of people senior to Arnaldo La Barbera, then head of Palermo's flying squad, who died in 2002, over what investigations have described as an obstruction. DIRE says the subject is the cover-up of the inquiry into the via d'Amelio massacre of 19 July 1992 and the disappearance of Paolo Borsellino's red diary. Il Fatto recalls that back in 2023 prosecutors searched the homes of La Barbera's relatives precisely in search of that diary.
The point that comes first
Prosecutor De Luca's note, as reported by DIRE, contains a statement that must stay firm: De Gennaro, his staff and Contorno 'are not under investigation for the massacre', and the searches were carried out in a case against unknown persons. Il Fatto writes that the same clarification does not rule out other names appearing in the register under different charges.
Prosecutors' hypothesis
The reasons for the searches are in that note, as DIRE and Il Fatto report it. According to prosecutor De Luca, and to the hypothesis he appears to set out, De Gennaro 'actively worked' to stop Salvatore Contorno from giving statements to the judiciary, and, per the prosecution, part of the documentation was 'partly recovered' by carabinieri. Prosecutors' account starts, Il Fatto says, from Contorno's arrest at dawn on 26 May 1989 in San Nicola l'Arena, in circumstances the prosecutor calls 'anomalous and never fully clarified', and touches on references to the 'crow' that preceded the Addaura attack on Giovanni Falcone.
What is not there yet
In the two outlets read there is no measure naming suspects for the massacre, nor any statement from the lawyers of those searched: if they come, they will be read then. For readers following the story, the network has also covered the story of anti-mafia magistrate Rosario Livatino.