ABSTRACT: In view of the assassination of Piersanti Mattarella, (1) President of the Region of Sicily, he declares that he is more convinced than ever that Michele Reina, Provincial Secretary of the DC, had been killed by terrorists [on March 9, 1979] and not by the Mafia.

(CORRIERE DELLA SERA, January 7, 1980)

I have been among the very few who believe that Michele Reina, Provincial Secretary of the Christian Democrats, was killed by terrorists. I may have been mistaken at the time, but I do not think that those people were absolutely right who were sure that Reina had been killed by the Mafia. Today, in view of the assassination of Regional President Mattarella, that hypothesis of mine which I had almost been convinced to abandon, now seems to me again to be valid.

In short, I don't feel that I am looking at a Mafia killing, even if no actual facts at the moment can confirm my impression. On the other hand, I do not agree with those who see it as a terrorist crime with Mafia participation. Either it is Mafia or it is terrorism. Or it is Mafia disguised as terrorism or terrorism which, inevitably and comfortably, one stubbornly insists on seeing as Mafia.

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TRANSLATOR'S NOTES

1) Mattarella, Piersanti - President of the Region of Sicily (DC), he was assassinated in Palermo on January 6, 1980. Investigated for the killing were the Fascist terrorists Giusua Fioravanti and Gilberto Cavallini. It has been maintained that they were hired to do the job by the Mafia boss Pippo Caḷ.