May 9 marks the 76th anniversary of the journalist’s murder Peppino Impastato, director of “Radio Out” Of Cinisi. Impastato was a courageous man to the point of knowing that sooner or later he would pay with his life for the fight against the Sicilian mafia and organized crime. The radio directed by Impastato was a free and democratic broadcaster. A handful of local young people collaborated with Peppino in the daily denunciation of crime. Until the murder, initially disguised as a train accident, the radio’s collaborators were aware of being inconvenient to the mafia in general and, in particular, to the godfather Tano Badalamenti whose house was located opposite the radio headquarters.
On 9 May 1978 Peppino Impastato was absent from the radio and nowhere to be found in Cinisi. A group of friends started looking for him. The lifeless body of Peppino Impastato lay on the railway tracks not far from the town centre. The criminals, in the service of Don Tano Badalamenti, after kidnapping Peppino Impastato took him to a farmhouse close to the railway. They killed him using a large stone which fell forcefully on the head of the heroic Peppino Impastato. The body was then transferred to the tracks and exploded to simulate either a suicide or an accident. The family members never believed the accident and accused Tano Badalamenti as the instigator.
Very recently the farmhouse where the cruel murder took place was given on loan for use to the Impastato family and to all those people who fight against the mafia. Inside the farmhouse the heroic behavior of Peppino Impastato was officially remembered. A journalist with the “straight back” with the awareness of the unequal fight against the powerful boss of Cinisi. Having taken refuge in the USA, with the help of the godfathers of “cosa nostra”, “Don Tano” he had no luck. He was arrested by the FBI for serious crimes and locked up in a maximum security prison. All rights reserved
#Peppino #Impastato #fearless #journalist
– 2024-05-07 13:00:05
