Notorious Italian Mafia killer is known as the ‘people slayer’ released from prison

A notorious Sicilian Mafia killer dubbed the “people slayer” — who admitted to a role in more than 100 killings, including a boy who was dissolved in acid — was freed from Italian prison Monday after serving just 25 years.

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Giovanni Brusca, 64, who turned from La Cosa Nostra hitman to government informant was cut loose from Rome’s Rebibbia prison, sparking outrage from elected officials and the families of his victims, the BBC reported.

The notorious killer had a hand in several of the Italian mafia’s most infamous slayings, including the 1992 rubout of anti-mafia Judge Giovanni Falcone, who was blown up along with his wife and three bodyguards as they were driving near Palermo.

Brusca also ordered the killing of 11-year-old Giuseppe Di Matteo, the son of a rival gangster. He had the boy kidnapped, tortured, strangled and his body desolved in acid, the BBC reported.

The wife of one of the bodyguards killed in the 1992 bomb blast told the Repubblica newspaper that she was incensed by his release after more than two decades behind bars.

“The state is against us — after 29 years we still don’t know the truth about the massacre and Giovanni Brusca, the man who destroyed my family, is free,” Tina Montinaro told the outlet.

An undated photo of Giovanni Brusca (C) in Sicily, Italy (issued 01 June 2021). Brusca, 64, was released from Rome's Rebibbia prison on 31 June 2021 after 25 years in jail, having served all but 45 days of his sentence. Brusca was arrested in May 1996 and sentenced to life for over 100 murders, including that of anti-Mafia prosecutor Giovanni Falcone, his wife Francesca Morvillo and three police officers in May 1992.
Giovanni Brusca was notorious for killing rival gangsters and their families.
MIKE PALAZZOTTO/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Political leaders from across the spectrum also condemned his release.

“This is not the ‘justice’ that Italians deserve,” said Matteo Salvini, leader of the right-wing League party, according to the BBC.

“It is a punch in the stomach that leaves you breathless,” Enrico Letta, the leader of the country’s Democratic party, added to a local radio station.

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