AGI – The Caltanissetta prosecutor’s office requested, during the preliminary hearing, the indictment of the policemen Maurizio Zerilli, Giuseppe Di Gangi, Vincenzo Maniscaldi and Angelo Tedesco, accused of having sidetracked the investigations into the Via D’Amelio massacre. “This is a trial based on false declarations and reticence”, said prosecutor Maurizio Bonaccorso in front of the preliminary hearing judge David Salvucci who postponed the decision until November 13th. The public prosecutor spoke of “pollution” of the evidence and of “reticence”.
“There is a direct proportionality between the I don’t remember”, added the representative of the prosecution, according to whom there were progressive declarations over time in a “bad faith attitude of witnesses at Borsellino quater and al misdirection process. In the first three trials we have witnesses who are calm, serene. Then there are Spatuzza’s declarations and the nerves explode.”
The preliminary hearing judge, meanwhile, rejecting the request of the State Attorney’s Office, accepted the summons as civil manager of the Ministry of the Interior and the Presidency of the Council. A significant fact in the proceedings.
“The screening began at 5pm on 19 July 1992″, a moment after the massacre in via D’Amelio, he accused the lawyer Fabio Trizzino who represents the children of Paolo Borsellino, in associating himself with the request made by the prosecutor’s office for the indictment of the four policemen of the “Falcone Borsellino” group of the Flying Squad of Palermo.
“It was clear that Scarantino was anthropologically inadequate to play a role in the Via D’Amelio massacre – he continued -. When the imposture was revealed you should have told us what you saw and what your colleagues committed. Explain to us what happened. Some have lied shamelessly.”
And again: “There are many ways to humiliate survivors, with your attitude humiliated the memory of your colleagues. You knew how to do the job and you couldn’t help but notice that everything was eccentric. Who gave birth to the misdirection he did it when he decided to accelerate the massacre. The red agenda has been made to disappear from those who feared something. You didn’t help us, you humiliated us. I like to think that inside you you have realized that something bigger has passed through your head.”
At the beginning of the hearing, the retired policeman Maniscaldi, answering the questions of the defender Giuseppe Panepinto, had told of his activity within the special team. The prosecutor accuses the former head of the wiretapping office of having said falsely regarding the report made by Giuseppe Orofino for the theft of the Fiat 126 used for the massacre. He saw a document from August ’92. “I was never heard at the Borsellino quater trial. I never hid or misrepresented anything”, he assured.
The former policeman spoke of the work he carried out in the summer of 1995 when he reached the town of San Bartolomeo al mare where Scarantino was located. Responding to the questions of the lawyer Trizzino, he confirmed that the ex-convict was intercepted, but in fact there was no investigative activity: “He was intercepted to prevent his family members from convincing him to recant”.
