Word: pentiti
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...Cosa Nostra?" his defense attorney, Franco Coppi, shouted to the Palermo courtroom. The 76-year-old Andreotti, a reputed crime-fighter who served as premier seven times, is the highest Italian official ever to be tried on mob charges. "Much of the testimony against Andreotti is supplied by pentiti -- repentant Mafiosi -- and 26 are scheduled to testify against him," Greg Burke reports from the trial. "There's considerable debate about how reliable the testimony of ex-Mafiosi is." To shore himself up, Burke adds, Andreotti wants to bring in former U.S. ambassadors to talk about his commitment in fighting...
...henchmen who specialized in murder and mayhem rather than the silkier arts of persuasion and blackmail once favored by the Mafia. Unlike tradition-bound gangsters who obeyed the vow of silence when arrested, some of these lieutenants cut deals with the law. Over the past year, 270 so-called pentiti provided unprecedented details of the Mob's workings and helped investigators tighten the net around its chief. According to some sources, the tip that led to Riina's arrest came from at least one such stool pigeon who put more faith in the authorities' promises than in Riina's forgiveness...
Some of the pentiti brought before the bench in Palermo have been impressive. Tommaso (Don Masino) Buscetta was known as the "Boss of Two Worlds" because he used to control extensive operations in both Italy and Brazil. Buscetta, who testified in New York's "pizza connection" trial about heroin smuggling between U.S. and Sicilian mobsters, provided new evidence about the operations of the Mafia's ruling Commission. A second pentito, the mid-level Mob executive Salvatore (Toto) Contorno, made detailed accusations against defendants based on his firsthand knowledge of the Mafia's internecine warfare over the drug market...
...Palermo, much of the evidence in the original Naples case was based on the testimony of pentiti (repentant) or vengeful organized-crime members who have decided to turn state's evidence. Prosecutors are worried that convictions based solely on the testimony of former Syndicate lieutenants will not stick...
...kidnaping U.S. Brigadier General James L. Dozier awaited the first day of their trial in two adjoining steel cages. In one were the duri (hard-liners), who have stubbornly maintained their silence during interrogation. In the other, for their own protection as much as anything else, were the pentiti (repentant ones), whose surprising willingness to betray their comrades has given Italian authorities reason to believe that they may be close to unraveling the once tight Red Brigades terrorist network...
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