I am a monster and I repent, mafia mass murderer tells priest

Having committed more than 150 murders, dissolved the body of a boy in acid and killed a judge, Giovanni Brusca is one of Italy’s most notorious mafia figures.

Giovanni Brusca following his arrest in Sicily in 1996.

Having committed more than 150 murders, dissolved the body of a boy in acid and detonated the bomb that killed a leading anti-mafia judge, Giovanni Brusca is one of Italy’s most notorious mafia figures.

Now, in a book to be released on Thursday, Brusca has offered one of his most comprehensive expressions of repentance yet, describing himself as a “monster” and explaining how he was haunted by his crimes.

“With me, the state won, and we all came out the losers,” Brusca, 67, who was released from Rebibbia prison in Rome three years ago, says in the book, Someone Like That. “We were on the wrong side.”

It was written by Don Marcello Cozzi, a parish priest with a history of anti-mafia voluntary work, who began interviewing Brusca seven years ago while he was in jail. “I wanted to look at the mafia in the face,” Cozzi told The Times. “I was curious: you cannot see the mafia from the outside.”

Once known as “the pig”, Brusca told prosecutors after his arrest in 1996 that he had killed 150 people but did not remember all of his victims’ names.

His most famous victims include Giovanni Falcone, a prosecutor who helped mastermind one of the biggest crackdowns on the mafia in Italian history. Brusca detonated half a tonne of explosives hidden under a road at Capaci, near Palermo, in 1992, as Falcone’s convoy passed by.

The following year, Brusca helped kidnap Giuseppe Di Matteo, 12, the son of a turncoat who had revealed secrets about the Capaci massacre. After keeping the boy in hiding for two years, Brusca ordered him to be strangled and his body dissolved in acid.

Brusca was given a reduced sentence of 30 years after agreeing to collaborate with prosecutors. He was released in 2021, five years early for good behaviour, with the state providing housing in a secret location and a €1000 ($1600) monthly handout.

Cozzi, who had previously written books on other so-called mafia repentents, first met Brusca at Rebibbia after being approached by the mobster’s lawyer. “I was surprised to discover that Brusca had attentively read one of my books on a turncoat,” Cozzi said of the first meeting. “I didn’t expect that.”

In the book, Brusca, the son of a mob boss, describes police raids at his family home during his childhood, explains how he had previously seen Toto Riina, once the Cosa Nostra’s most bloodthirsty boss, as “God on earth”, and reflects on the perversity of the fact he owes his freedom to Falcone, who introduced reduced sentences for turncoats.

Of Di Matteo’s murder, Brusca says: “I am often accused of not outwardly showing repentance but I know that for a murder like this there is no forgiveness.”

Cozzi said he was struck more than anything by the “everyday normality” of Brusca. “I expected to see the monster of Capaci, the perpetrator of horrible crimes,” he said. The book has drawn a mixed response, with La Repubblica stating that the families of Brusca’s victims “have the right not to forgive”.

However, Cozzi said his interviews were a psychological portrait rather than a pardon. “He reflects a lot on his past,” Cozzi said of Brusca. “He is a person who is tormented by his past.”

THE TIMES