Scarpinato, the "depistaggi" and the political controversy. A point-by-point summary

M5S Senator Roberto Scarpinato has once again found himself at the centre of controversy, entangling politics and the justice system in one of the most dramatic periods in Italian history. However, a step-by-step examination is warranted. At the heart of it all lies the ‘misdirection’ that Scarpinato (a former magistrate) is alleged to have carried out against the former public prosecutor Gioacchino Natoli, according to the investigating magistrate of Caltanissetta, Santi Bologna, who on Saturday filed the order to dismiss the line of inquiry against persons unknown concerning the 1992 massacres (Case No. 2098 of 2022) relating to the so-called ‘Mafia-contracts dossier’.

The reference is to the intercepted conversations between Scarpinato and Natoli – who had been colleagues at the Palermo Public Prosecutor’s Office for years – prior to the latter’s hearing before the Anti-Mafia Commission, of which the senator is a member. This incident, which was already public knowledge, sparked considerable controversy, and the senator was accused of having briefed the former magistrate. The investigating judge clarified that he “cannot (and must not) take a position on whether a member of the National Anti-Mafia Commission (Senator Scarpinato) may agree upon and/or disclose to a person due to be heard (Natoli) the questions he intends to ask him” and that “this is a matter of purely political judgement which falls within the remit of bodies other than the courts”. "What must, however, be pointed out here," he concluded, "is the attempt by Senator Scarpinato to mislead Dr Natoli." Having clarified the most recent development, it is now useful to look back in time and examine, point by point, the key issues of the entire affair.

The starting point is the investigation known as ‘mafia-appalti’, carried out in Palermo between the late 1980s and early 1990s, based on the work of the ROS Carabinieri. The dossier concerned the links between Cosa Nostra, business leaders, politicians and major public works projects, and was of particular interest to Giovanni Falcone and, following his death, Paolo Borsellino. This is borne out by the investigative work carried out and the numerous public statements made by the two magistrates, both of whom operated in a climate of hostility and isolation, sidelined even by their colleagues.

It was in this context, according to the investigating magistrate in Caltanissetta, that the massacres in which Falcone and Borsellino lost their lives took place. However, the judge decided to dismiss – in accordance with the public prosecutors’ request – the line of inquiry against persons unknown in the investigation into the attacks on the two magistrates, in which the ‘Mafia-procurement’ dossier had been cited as a possible motive for their murders. Why? The two magistrates’ interest in the ‘Mafia-contracts’ case “constitutes a contributing factor (not the sole cause), attributable to the preliminary phase, common to both assassinations”. However, there is no evidence to suggest that magistrates or figures from the political or business world should be named as suspects in the murders. 

Despite the attention Borsellino had devoted to the investigation into mafia involvement in public procurement, on 13 July 1992, whilst the magistrate was still alive, deputy public prosecutors Lo Forte and Scarpinato drafted a motion to dismiss the case, which was endorsed by Public Prosecutor Giammanco and filed on 22 July – just three days after Borsellino’s assassination. As we explain here, the investigation was subsequently closed in record time, on 14 August – right in the middle of the August bank holiday period – by investigating magistrate Sergio La Commare. Since then, no further clarifications have been provided, despite the appeals made by Fiammetta Borsellino, the magistrate’s daughter, particularly following the discovery of the momentous cover-up: “An issue that was very close to my father’s heart was the link between the Mafia and public contracts. In fact, I wonder why his case file was closed the day after his murder.”

The crux of the matter is precisely whether Borsellino had been informed of that request and its contents. On 14 July 1992 (five days before the murder of the Palermo public prosecutor), a meeting was held at the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Palermo to discuss various matters of general interest, including Mafia involvement in public contracts, the search for fugitives and extortion rackets. Several magistrates attended, including Borsellino himself, and Lo Forte was called upon to report on the investigation; however, according to the testimonies of those present, the word ‘dismissal’ was never uttered. Moreover, what emerges is Borsellino’s keen interest in the investigation, his dissatisfaction with the way it had been handled, and his deep trust in the work of the ROS Carabinieri.

Investigating magistrate Santi Bologna’s account is clear: Judge Borsellino ‘was not deliberately informed, either before or during the meeting held on 14 July 1992, that a request to dismiss the case’ concerning the Mafia-procurement investigation ‘had been signed the previous day’. In the investigating magistrate’s view, Magistrate Lo Forte “lied” to the High Council of the Judiciary (CSM) when he stated that Falcone had received the Mafia-procurement dossier only two days before leaving Palermo, rather than much earlier, directly from the Carabinieri’s ROS unit, which had compiled this valuable report. Just as he told a ‘lie’ during the trial concerning the misdirection of the Via D’Amelio investigation when he claimed to be completely unaware of the investigations conducted by the Catania deputy public prosecutor Felice Lima into the turncoat Giuseppe Li Pera – whom the authorities in Palermo had chosen to ignore entirely when he began to speak out.

Gioacchino Natoli was a magistrate at the Palermo Public Prosecutor’s Office and, at the time of the events, was part of the team of colleagues working on Mafia investigations. In 2024, proceedings were brought against him and another well-known public prosecutor, Giuseppe Pignatone: surprisingly, they were under investigation for an alleged offence of aiding and abetting, aggravated, moreover, by the intention to facilitate the Mafia, which is said to have consisted of covering up (or, in any case, failing to carry out properly) certain investigations relating to the Mafia-procurement scandal. 

In a wiretap recording dated 18 January 2024, Senator Scarpinato (who, it should be noted, is a member of the Anti-Mafia Commission) speaks with Natoli, who is due to be questioned. According to the account set out in the decree, Scarpinato invited Natoli to report to the Commission on the meeting of 14 July 1992 and, in particular, on the fact that, at that meeting, Lo Forte had spoken about the request to dismiss the case, outlining its contents and characteristics.

One of the quotes attributed to Scarpinato is as follows:

On 1 February 2024, during the Commission hearing, when asked whether Borsellino was aware of the case being dismissed, the reply was: "Of course". The Bologna investigating judge clarified that he could not, nor should he, assess whether it is lawful for a commissioner to disclose questions to a witness in advance. This is "a judgement of expediency that is purely political", which falls within the remit of bodies other than the courts. However, he merely points out “the attempt to mislead carried out by Senator Scarpinato against Dr Natoli”. For the investigating judge, this therefore constitutes “an attempt to distort the reconstruction of the facts (in his own favour)”, carried out by the very person who had signed that decision to dismiss the case and who sat on the Commission tasked with shedding light on the matter. And it “actually took place”.

The senator rejected the investigating judge’s account in its entirety. He branded the accusation of a cover-up as “grossly false”, adding that, paradoxically, it was precisely that wording that was “misleading”.

Scarpinato also contested the use of wiretaps. He said he had been wiretapped 33 times during conversations with Natoli and claimed that these conversations had been used in court proceedings without the Senate’s authorisation. “It is clear that any means are deemed acceptable in an attempt to silence critical and inconvenient voices,” he concluded. “But let them not delude themselves into thinking they can intimidate me; I will never give up and will continue my commitment to seeking the truth, whatever the cost.”

The investigating magistrate’s remarks provoked an immediate reaction from the centre-right, particularly within the Anti-Mafia Commission. “What emerges from the Caltanissetta investigating magistrate’s decision to dismiss the case regarding the ‘Mafia and public contracts’ affair is of such gravity that it cannot be ignored, particularly in light of the role that Roberto Scarpinato currently holds within the Parliamentary Anti-Mafia Commission,” stated Raoul Russo, leader of the Fratelli d’Italia group in the Parliamentary Anti-Mafia Commission. “For this reason,” he continued, “we believe he should step down from the Anti-Mafia Commission, so that he can finally be questioned and provide all the necessary answers to the Italian people.” A call for clarity also came from Maurizio Gasparri. “The document produced by the investigating magistrate in Caltanissetta has historical significance that cannot be ignored under any circumstances,” said the Forza Italia senator and member of the Anti-Mafia Commission. Sara Kelany, a Fratelli d’Italia MP, was even harsher: “Get Scarpinato out of the Anti-Mafia Commission,” she said. Free the Anti-Mafia Commission from a presence that calls its authority into question and put an end, once and for all, to his theories and conspiracies.” 

These positions have been set out in a letter in which the FdI group leaders in the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, Lucio Malan and Galeazzo Bignami, call on the Five Star Movement to replace the senator on the parliamentary Anti-Mafia Committee. The letter is addressed to their Five Star colleagues Luca Pirondini and Riccardo Ricciardi and, for information, to the chair of the Anti-Mafia Committee, Chiara Colosimo, and to all members of the committee. “It is entirely evident that it is impossible to work with peace of mind, let alone safeguard the commission’s full institutional credibility”, if among its members sits someone whom “a judge of the Republic has identified as the perpetrator of a cover-up precisely concerning the facts the commission is investigating”, argue the two FdI representatives, calling for “the senator to be replaced by another member of your group. You have always declared your respect for the words of the magistrates engaged in the fight against the Mafia. This – the letter states – is your opportunity to demonstrate that through your actions.”

The Five Star Movement reacted in the opposite way. “You presume to lecture us on respect for the institutions whilst your majority keeps Delmastro’s chat logs and a Camorra frontman like Caroccia under lock and key. Any sensible person would have exercised greater caution; evidently, shame is not a sentiment cultivated in Via della Scrofa,” wrote Pirondini and Ricciardi. "Let’s get to the point. You have suddenly discovered ‘respect for magistrates’ – the very same magistrates you attack whenever it suits you. In light of your letter, we eagerly await a show of consistency from you: the resignation of all FdI members of the Anti-Mafia Commission who voted to conceal the chat logs between Andrea Delmastro and Mauro Caroccia, who has been definitively convicted of fictitious ownership of assets with the aggravating circumstance of having aided the Senese clan – the letter reads – ‘We urge that these resignations should specifically include the chair, Chiara Colosimo, not least in light of her publicly documented links with the former far-right terrorist Luigi Ciavardini.’

Giuseppe Conte also responded. “Dear Fratelli d’Italia, allow me to be frank: you are truly shameless! You are calling for Scarpinato’s resignation because the Caltanissetta Public Prosecutor’s Office eavesdropped on around thirty of his conversations with his old friend and colleague Natoli, during which he urged him to tell the Anti-Mafia Commission everything he knew – and had already told him – about the famous meeting at the Palermo Public Prosecutor’s Office on 14 July 1992.”– read a statement from the leader of the M5S. “I would remind you,” he added, “that all those wiretaps on a senator were carried out without authorisation from the Senate.” Conte then put a question to FdI: “Why have you shielded the chats between your own Delmastro and the front man for the Senese Camorra clan? Why are you obstructing an investigation into a Camorra clan?”