- Giuseppe Fava
Giuseppe Fava also known as Pippo, (
Palazzolo Acreide ,September 15 ,1925 -Catania ,January 5 ,1984 ) was a Sicilian writer, investigative journalist, playwright and Antimafia activist who was killed by theMafia . He was the founder of theI Siciliani monthly magazine. His motto in life was: "is there any use in living if you don't have the courage to fight?"Fava studied law but became a professional journalist in 1952. He became the editor in chief of
Espresso Sera daily newspaper inCatania — the main city on Sicily's east coast — and in 1980 ofIl Giornale del Sud , where he formed a team of young journalist that turned the paper into an independent, investigative journal. At the time not much was known about the owners but it became clear that some of them had connections with the Mafia. Fava was fired.I Siciliani
In 1983 Fava and his team of independent journalists founded the progressive monthly magazine
I Siciliani — The Sicilians. The magazine denounced the connections between Mafia, politics and business in Catania. Fava also became part of the movement against the deployment of Ground Launched Cruise Missiles (GLCM) by the United States atComiso Air Base in June 1983.However, it were the investigations into Cosa Nostra and its tentacles in politics and business — in particular those of Sicily's biggest Catania-based construction firms, owned by the four famous
Cavalieri del Lavoro , [The honorary titleCavaliere del Lavoro (Knight of Labour) was granted by the Italian government as reward for special merit to the Italian economy.]Carmelo Costanzo ,Francesco Finocchiaro ,Mario Rendo andGaetano Graci (one of the owners of the newspaper that had sacked Fava) — that would determine Fava's fate. Graci went on regular hunting parties withNitto Santapaola , the undisputed Mafia boss ofCatania , who was on the payroll of Costanzo as well. In the first edition of "I Siciliani" Fava published an article "I quattro cavalieri dell'apocalisse mafiosa" (The four horsemen of the Mafia apocalypse), exposing the corruption and political influence peddling by the four Knights that tied together the local Mafia, high finance and political figures. [it icon " [http://www.girodivite.it/I-quattro-cavalieri-dell.html I quattro cavalieri dell’apocalisse mafiosa] ", in "I Siciliani ", January 1983. TheFour Horsemen of the Apocalypse are mentioned in theBible in chapter six of theBook of Revelation . The four horsemen are traditionally namedPestilence ,War ,Famine , and Death.]Killed by the Mafia
On
January 5 ,1984 , Pippo Fava was killed while he was waiting to pick up his granddaughter, who was rehearsing a part in a theatre comedy. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9404E7DE1038F934A35752C0A962948260 Anti-Mafia Campaigner Is Found Slain in Sicily] , Associated Press,January 7, 1984] The week before he had been a guest inEnzo Biagi national TV show on Retequattro where he denounced the sway the Mafia held in parliament.it icon [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAogBSvaSyU "I mafiosi stanno in Parlamento"] (The mafiosi are in parliament), audio-video registration of Fava last interview with Enzo Biagi on December 28, 1983.]In 1994,
Maurizio Avola , a nephew of Santapaola, confessed the killing of Fava, and became apentito . He also confessed some 70 other murders. Avola said that his uncleNitto Santapaola had ordered the killing of the journalist, as a favour for the "cavalieri". [it icon [http://www.reti-invisibili.net/giuseppefava/ Giuseppe "Pippo" Fava] ] In 1998, Santapaola andAldo Ercolano were convicted for ordering the killing of Giuseppe Fava. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/135346.stm Mafiosi jailed for life] , BBC News, July 19, 1998] In 2001 the Court of Appeal in Catania confirmed the life sentences of Santapaola and Ercolano and the actual killer Maurizio Avola, but acquitted Marcello D'Agata, Vincenzo Santapaola and Franco Giammuso who allegedly had assisted the murderer. Avola was sentenced to six years and six months.His son
Claudio Fava is aMember of the European Parliament for the Italian Islands with theDemocrats of the Left (DS).The volumes "Process to Sicily" and "The Sicilians", of 1970 and 1978, collect Giuseppe Fava’s most meaningful journalistic inquiries. Among his novels there are "Gente di rispetto" (1975, Bompiani), "Prima che vi uccidano" (1977, Bompiani), "Passione di Michele" (1980, Cappelli editore).
References and external links
*it icon [http://www.claudiofava.it/siciliani/memoria/copertin/fava00.htm I Siciliani]
*it icon [http://www.girodivite.it/-Pippo-Fava-.html Dossier Pippo Fava]
*it icon [http://www.claudiofava.it/siciliani/memoria/info/info01.htm Alcune cronache su un caso di mafia] , press reactions about Fava's murder, I Siciliani, April 1984
*it icon [http://www.girodivite.it/Cinque-Gennaio.html Cinque Gennaio] by Riccardo Orioles, Girodivite, April 5, 2006
*it icon [http://www.reti-invisibili.net/giuseppefava/ Giuseppe "Pippo" Fava] by Sebastiano Gulisano, Polizia e Democrazia (2002)
*it icon [http://www.fondazionefava.it/HOMEPAGE.html Fondazione Giuseppe Fava]
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