CONCRETE POSSIBILITIES
(ANSA) - Palermo, January 4 - The son of a late mafia boss has been granted house arrest because of his academic record and in order to allow him to complete his university degree, the local press reported on Thursday.Francesco Paolo Bontade was in prison serving an 8-year sentence for drug trafficking, which was reduced to three years four months in an appeals trial.According to the judges who granted the house arrest, Bontade's academic performance was evidence that a "concrete possibility exists that he can be reformed".Bontade was convicted of being part of a heroin smuggling operation between Turkey and Sicily.Francesco Paolo Bontade is the son of the late Stefano Bontade, who headed the historic Villagrazia gang and was a leading member of the so-called 'losing Mafia', which was eliminated during the rise to power of the ruthless duo of killers from Corleone Salvatore (Toto') Riina and Bernardo Provenzano.
I have to admit to be slightly amused at the phrase "concrete possibility" when dealing with the Mafia. I had a sudden vision of the newly poured concrete foundations of a bridge with ........ no I had better not go there.
"When the rain comes, you can suddenly see all the snails' horns"
[Old Scicilian proverb quoted in Excellent Cadavers, The Mafia and the Death of the First Italian Republic by Alexander Stille.]
posted by Uriah Robinson at 4:33 AM
1 Comments:
Liquid concrete has at least one certain probabibility, if used correctly. I'm sure everyone knows that one. Was the mafia the first to use this tool? Or did it catch on from somewhere else?
But what a horrible way to die.
UK author Margaret Murphy has an eye opening and gut squeezing illustration of this method of murder in "Now You See Me". Where others mention in passing; she describes. A taut and tense scene it is too!
I remember it well, even though I'd prefer not to. Death by concrete - you can experience it in that novel. A year on, I can still see it in my mind...
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