Women against the mafia

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Women against the mafia

What would you do if you are a woman and involved in the mafia, but want to get out?

Weakest link?

More involvement = more informants

Protect their children

Cooperate with authorities or disappear

Rita Atria 

 Piera Aiello

Rita: 4 September 1974, Partanna (western Sicily)

Don Vito Atria

Nicolò Atria

Piera was threatened

Rita's father was murdered by Cosa Nostra when she was 11

The illicit interest in the Sicilian mafia was changing

Nicolò wanted revenge

June 1991: Nicolò killed

Rita and Piera talked to anti-mafia magistrate Paolo Borsellino, he offered them help

Mafia bosses were plotting their deaths

19 July 1992: murder of Borsellino

26 July 1992: suicide Rita

                                                                                                Paolo Borsellino

Testimonies led to dozens of arrests in Agrigento and Trapani

Rita became a symbol of the fight against the mafia

Lost respect of her close ones

Piera later

Moved to northern Italy

New identity: Paola

Gave anonymous speeches at schools

Ran for parliament in elections for Five Stars Movement

27 years of hiding and living undercover

Showed her face in Sicily

Maria

Anonymous last name

Told OCCRP about marriage with a powerful 'Ndrangheta boss

Husband got killed

His clan killed Maria's brother and uncle

She wanted to protect her daughter 

"I knew too much."

“I had seen too many things. I decided to collaborate with prosecutors in order to save my daughter's life and mine.”

Maria now

Lives in a secret location under a new identity

 “I'm a dead woman walking.”

“The 'Ndrangheta never forgets.”

Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5yKZXZx9Kw 

Pression groups

In Palermo

Mostly by women

The Women of the Fasting (hunger strike)

The Women of the Cloths

Francesco Francaviglia

22 years later

Sicilian photgrapher

Women of the Fasting: portraits

San Pier Scheraggio in the Uffizi Gallery, in Florence

Some well known faces:

Simona Mafai

Veteran floor leader involved in politics

Michela Buscemi

Brought civil action in the maxi-trial in 1986

Luisa Morgantini

former Deputy Speaker of the European Parliament

Giovanna Marini

Singer

Came from Rome to Palermo to take part

Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQNiCAwAJW0&t=26s 

LIBERA

1994

Coordination of 730 associations

Aim: to educate themselves and to educate others to legality, respect of the other, peace and non-violence

Now: 8000 teaches, 800.000 students

Primary school

Letizia Battaglia

Photographer

Informazione Fotografica agency

Black and white shots

Interrupted after the Capaci massacre

Magazine Mezzocielo

After hearing the stories we have told you, would you still have the courage to leave the mafia?
(answer 'Yes' or 'No')

Bibliography

Salamone, L (2022). Farewell to Letizia Battaglia, the photographer who told the wars of the Mafia in Palermo.

Milan: NSS magazine.

https://www.nssmag.com/en/pills/29574/letizia-battaglia 

Llongo, E. (2022).  Rita Atria, testimone di giustizia/ Suicida a 17 anni dopo attentato a Borsellino.

Rome: Sostienici

Rita Atria, getuige van gerechtigheid / Zelfmoord 17 jaar na de aanslag op Borsellino (ilsussidiario.net)

Mazzin,i S. (2016). Women and the mafia: A traditionalist emancipation?

Doha: Al Jazeera

Women and the mafia: A traditionalist emancipation? | Human Rights | Al Jazeera

Bodrero, L. (2019). The Rise and Fall of Mafia Women.

Sarajevo: OCCRP

https://www.occrp.org/en/blog/9642-the-rise-and-fall-of-mafia-women

Bibliography

Tondo, L. (2018).‘I was tired of covering my face to hide from the mafia’: Italian MP Piera Aiello

London: The Guardian

‘I was tired of covering my face to hide from the mafia’: Italian MP Piera Aiello | Italy | The Guardian

Palma, A. (2022). Chi è Piera Aiello, la deputata vedova del boss Nicola Atria stasera a Insider di Roberto Saviano

Fanpage.it

Who is Piera Aiello, the widowed deputy of the boss Nicola Atria tonight at Insider by Roberto Saviano (fanpage.it)

Faraoni T. (2014) THE FASTING WOMAN AGAINST MAFIA

Amsterdam: Lensculture

Francesco Francaviglia - THE FASTING WOMAN AGAINST MAFIA | LensCulture

Martellozzo, E. (2005). Women With and Against the Mafia. A Case Study of Sicily.

.SIAK

https://www.bmi.gv.at/104/Wissenschaft_und_Forschung/SIAK-Journal/SIAK-Journal-Ausgaben/Jahrgang_2005/files/Martellozzo_2_2005.pdf