Pino Masciari, target of the Mafia, abandoned by the State

LONDON (Herald de Paris) - This morning Italian entrepreneur Giuseppe Masciari, 50, has started the hunger and thirst strike in front of Palazzo del Quirinale, office of the Presidency of the Republic, in the heart of Rome.

Mr Masciari is from southern region Calabria and has been under special protection since October 1997 after reporting to the Judicial Authority the threats of local politicians and ‘Ndrangheta (Calabria’s version of the mob) that managed to destroy his business of building contractor when he refused to pay the racket they had imposed.

For almost twenty years, Mr Masciari, his wife Marisa and their two children have been moved away from their hometown and constantly lived with the fear of being the target of the Mafia and corrupt politicians, far from their family, without the possibility of starting a new life.

Being a building contractor, he was under the pressure of the Calabrian Mafia that threatened him to block his activity if he’d refused to comply with their requests of “favors”. Mr Masciari has tried to resist to the abuse of power he was victim, such as the “pizzo” (racket) to pay to both politicians and members of the local Mafia.

The ‘Ndrangheta, colluted with local institutions, has destroyed Mr Masciari’s business, blocking his activity within both the private sector and the public works, hundering his requests to the public administration agencies and intercepting his relationships with the banks he conducted business with.

In a country brought to its knees by the collusion between the Mafia and the State, Giuseppe Masciari was meant to pay six per cent of his earnings to the local politicians and three per cent to the mob, but also submit to all kinds of harassment, such as controlled hiring of employees, building offices and edifices without receiving any compensation and offering apartments to specific bosses and their friends.

Since 1997 Mr Masciari has been testifying in the main court trials against the ‘Ndrangheta, to the extent that Attorney General Pier Luigi Vigna spoke about him in terms of “the most important witness of the Italian justice.”

During the seven years of tottering protection, the Masciari’s family has been constantly in danger because of the leaks of the system that put him in close contact with the criminals he was testifying against, registered him with his full name when checking in different hotels and left him without escort in several occasions. In addition to all that, in 2004 the Home Office calls off his protection scheme, announcing that the trials he was involved with were finally closed.

With the trials still taking place and the risk of being the target of the Mafia still present, Mr Masciari appeals to the TAR of Lazio (local court of the Region Lazio) to have the protection scheme back. Although the TAR’s sentence of January 2009 provides for the re-integration of the Masciari’s family under the security program, the Minister of the Interior fails to comply with these orders.

At 10 am today Giuseppe Masciari has started the strike, demanding an immediate intervention of protection for him and his family and asking to be given audience by the President of the Republic, Giorgio Napolitano. Hundreds of people gathered with him, announcing that in case of further silence from the institutions they would all have began the hunger and thirst strike, too.

This evening, at 6.45 pm, Mr Masciari has stopped the hunger and thirst strike after being scheduled for a meeting at the Viminale, head office of the Minister of Interior, with the aim to finally fulfil the terms stated by the TAR of giving him and his family protection, social and working re-integration and consistent indemnification.

Full support to Giuseppe Masciari has been expressed by Dario Franceschini and Giuseppe Lumia, representatives of the Democratic Party, Leoluca Orlando from IDV Party and Salvatore Borsellino, brother of Paolo Borsellino, the judge killed by the Mafia in Palermo in 1992.

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