Protection for women who defy the Mafia is changing in Italy.
asserted
who → defy → Italy
Does it go far enough?
asserted
it → go → ?
Practical, emotional toll can be tougher for women who speak out against the Mafia
"Take a map of Italy, tear Sicily from it and throw it away."
That was the advice the late anti-Mafia prosecutor Paolo Borsellino gave a young Piera Aiello in 1991, when she came to him to say she was ready to tell all about the Sicilian Mafia family she had married into.
asserted
she → speak → family
Aiello's husband had been gunned down in front of her in the pizzeria they ran together.
asserted
they → gun → pizzeria
He was the abusive son of the local Mafia boss, and Aiello had been coerced into marrying him as a teen.
asserted
Aiello → coerce → teen
Still, she wanted his killers caught.
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killers → want → ?
"I have already decided," she recalls telling Borsellino about her decision to testify.
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she → decide → decision
"I just need to pack my bags."
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I → need → bags
Three days later, Aiello left Sicily with two suitcases — one filled with clothes, the other with toys for her three-year-old daughter.
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Aiello → leave → daughter
The following year, Borsellino was killed, along with five members of his police escort, in a Mafia car bombing in the Sicilian capital of Palermo.
asserted
Borsellino → kill → Palermo
Aiello would spend most of the next three decades living under another identity, which kept her safe from the Mafia.
asserted
which → spend → Mafia
But cut off from her Sicily and her old life, building a new one was lonely and arduous.
asserted
building → cut → one
"I couldn't find work, and I had to support my daughter," she said, explaining how she found work in the countryside harvesting olives, eventually saving enough to open a small business.
asserted
she → find → business
Aiello's early years in protection reveal a less visible aspect to Italy's long fight against organized crime: what happens after someone speaks out.
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someone → reveal → crime
A new Italian law extending protection from organized crime — and providing social, economic, educational and psychological help — to children and the adults caring for them, often their mothers, is designed to address some of those gaps.
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law → extend → gaps
Limits of protection
Liberi di scegliere — the "Free to Choose" bill — became law in July and entered into force on Aug. 9.
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scegliere → choose → Aug.
Sen. Vincenza Rando spent years pushing for the law and working with women who wanted to break away from Mafia families.
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who → spend → families
Many of them, she says, fall outside the categories around which Italy's traditional protection system had been built.
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system → say → which
"Women who are neither justice witnesses nor co-operating witnesses, I call them 'cultural collaborators.'
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I → operate → them
They leave that environment and build a culture of legality," Rando said.
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Rando → leave → legality
They may not be informants or have any useful intel about a murder, a drug shipment or an extortion racket.
uncertain
They → have → murder
Their act of rebellion, she says, may simply be deciding that their children will not grow up inside a Mafia family and culture.
uncertain
children → say → family
Rando says some leave homes flush with cash, only to end up with nothing.
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some → say → nothing
Others need a new identity just to sign an employment contract without being traced.
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Others → need → contract
Their children are forced to change schools and friends, thrust into a life with entirely different moral codes.
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children → force → codes
"If you move somewhere where nobody knows you and you cannot even say who you are, who can you talk to?" Rando asked.
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Rando → move → who
"Who can you safely tell your story to?"
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you → tell → story
Under the new legislation, people under the age of 25 and relatives who care for them may be relocated outside their home region, provided with education and psychological support and, where necessary, given new identities.
uncertain
who → care → identities
Critics say the law gives the state too much power over family life, allowing for the separation of children from parents, which could be seen as punishing children for their parents' crime.
uncertain
which → say → crime
But Rando and supporters say the law prioritizes keeping mothers and children together when the mother breaks with the criminal group.
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mother → say → group
Aiello supports its aims, but worries short-term intervention will not be enough to permanently break the cycle.
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intervention → support → cycle
She says longer-term support through education and job training is essential.
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support → say → education
"What does it mean for the State to take responsibility for them for two years?" Aiello asked.
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Aiello → mean → years
"It means nothing."
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It → mean → nothing
For Aiello, the lesson from her own experience is that protection has to mean more than physical safety: it also has to provide the tools to build an independent life.
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it → have → life
The 'privilege' of never walking alone
Anti-Mafia prosecutor Nino Di Matteo has spent most of his career seeing the cost of protection from the inside.
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Matteo → walk → inside
He has lived under police escort since 1993, at times under Italy's highest level of security.
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He → live → security
His two children were born while he was already under protection; within days of leaving hospital, he recalls, they too were travelling in an escort car.
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they → bear → car
Now based in Rome, he says people outside Sicily sometimes perceive police protection as a mark of status, which he says irritates him.
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he → base → him
"People can tend to see the protected person as privileged," Di Matteo said.
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Matteo → tend → person
…and 31 more, not listed.
The Aporia
