Idolising of mafia godfathers on Facebook causes outrage

London, Jan 1 (ANI): The idolising of notorious mafia godfathers from Cosa Nostra on Facebook has caused outrage among relatives of their victims.

The pages posted on the social networking site offered tribute to Salvatore (Toto) Riina, who was jailed in 1993, and to Bernardo Provenzano, his successor, who was arrested two years ago, both from Corleone.

The pages also mentioned Matteo Messina Denaro, the Mafia boss from Trapani in Sicily who is said to be the current capo dei capi (boss of bosses).

The honour given to the Godfathers caused dismay amongst the people who had lost their dear ones to the Mafia, and for Maria Falcone, the sister of Giovanni Falcone, the respected anti Mafia judge murdered in 1992, she was outraged by the tribute.

"Unfortunately, evil still fascinates our young people," Times Online quoted her as saying.

Denaro, 46, has been on the run since 1993 after murdering a rival Trapani boss and strangling his girlfriend, who was three months pregnant.

The tributes are said to reflect the lack of public and state support for the victims of Mafia crimes, while at the same time glamorising the terrible deeds done by them.

Giovanna Maggiani Chelli, of the Victims of Via Georgofili Association, named after the site of a Mafia bombing in Florence in 1993, sees the tributes made to the Mafia as a taking their crimes lightly.

"Subscribers to these groups are going crazy over the Mafia bosses and laughing at extremely serious crimes," Chelli said.

Maggiani Chelli told ANSA that given the indifference toward Mafia victims and the isolation in which they found themselves, it was quite logical for subscribers to Facebook to write 'Riina is great' or to look for Bernardo Provenzano clones.

"At the end of the day, they've won," she added. (ANI)