The debate on “repentants” relaunched in France? The Italian status of “collaborator” of justice allowed a mafia boss to confess to a crime committed in Corsica and bring down dozens of people. It should be adopted in France, Italian and French prosecutors argued in Marseille on Monday.
The public prosecutor of Marseille, Nicolas Bessone, invited three Italian prosecutors to the press on Monday, after the arrest, at the beginning of December, of four people in Corsica and fourteen in Italy as part of the investigation into the assassination of Paul-Félix Paoli, a beach manager, in August 2023, on the Isle of Beauty.
A first
Arrested in 2024 in Corsica after several months on the run, Marco Raduano, the head of Società Foggiana, a mafia group active in Puglia (south), “agreed to collaborate” and admitted to the Italian authorities to be “the direct perpetrator” of this assassination, reported Nicolas Bessone.
“This is the first time that a foreign collaborator of justice has acknowledged facts on national territory,” indicated Nicolas Bessone, adding: “If Marco Raduano were French, he would not be able to benefit from the status of collaborator since , as you know, our legislation excludes perpetrators of blood crimes and sponsors from benefiting from this status. »
For his Bari counterpart, Roberto Rossi, “it is an error to consider that collaboration for the most serious crimes is scandalous: our collaborators are tools to eradicate organized crime”.
“It helps us win cases”
The Italian deputy national prosecutor, responsible for the fight against the mafia, Michele Prestipino, added: “Nothing beats the declarations of a collaborator of justice”, because “it helps us to build and win the trials but also because their existence demonstrates that mafias can be beaten, are not invincible, and that there is the possibility of getting out of them in another way than being killed. » Prosecutors also indicated that this investigation had revealed links, hitherto unknown, between the criminal circles of Puglia and Sardinia and the Corsican nationalist mafia.
Our Mafia file
Marco Raduano in fact indicated that he had assassinated Paul-Félix Paoli “as part of an exchange of services with members of this Corsican nationalist movement who had helped him to exfiltrate from Sardinia and ensure his escape in Corsica,” said Nicolas Bessone. As part of this investigation, Marc Furfaro, former independence candidate for mayor of Lucciana (Upper Corsica), was arrested, accused of having helped Marco Raduano on the run.
Related News :