Sicilian procession for Cosa Nostra boss Luigi Sparacio's brother allegedly broke security rules Covid-19 Italian prosecutors are investigating the funeral of the brother of a former Sicilian mafia boss on suspicion of violating Italy's coronavirus blockade.
The photos showed a funeral procession in Messina attended by dozens of people. Family and friends gathered on the street to accompany the coffin held by Rosario Sparacio, 70, Luigi Sparacio's older brother, who was considered one of the most important heads of the Cosa Nostra in the 1990s and eventually returned to police collaborator.
The news, first reported by the newspaper La Gazzetta del Sud, has sparked debate in Italy, where since the beginning of March a government decree has banned all religious gatherings, including funerals and weddings, in order to contain the spread of Covid. 19. In cities hit hardest by coronavirus pandemics, coffins are awaiting burial, held in churches, and the bodies of those who have died at home are being kept in closed rooms.
Claudio Fava, chairman of Sicily's anti-mafia commission, said: "While in Italy there are no funerals and weddings, how is it possible that in Messina dozens of people accompanied the dead body of the brother of a mafia boss to the cemetery?" Fava, commenting on the photos published by the local news website Messina Ora, said that behind the coffin "there were cars, motorcycles and friends". The brother of the late man, Luigi Sparacio, was once considered the most powerful mobster in eastern Sicily and was very close to the head of the Sicilian bosses, Nitto Santapaola. Sparacio was also delegated to maintain Cosa Nostra's relationship with the Ndrangheta Calabrian mafia in Italian territory before, in 1994, that he decided to work with the authorities.
Rosario Sparacio's family criticized the press and politicians after the funeral debate erupted. â??You have to leave us alone in our pain, we havenâ??t received anything from anyone,â? one relative wrote on Facebook. "We are good people. If we were really the mafia bosses you advertise so much, you wouldn't dare attack us.
