77 warrants issued as new Falcone probe gets underway

The Capaci massacre

ROME-- New information is emerging about the Capaci massacre which killed Judge Giovanni Falcone, his wife Francesa Morvillo and three bodyguards as the Anti-Mafia Investigation launches a fresh series of probes and searches.

Ten arrest warrants, issued by the investigating magistrate of Calanissetta and conducted by the prosecutor Sergio Lari, will help to piece together the missing information linked to the planning and execution of the 1992 Capaci slaying of Italy's top anti-mafia crusader.  Aided by the repentant statements of Gaspare Spatuzza and Fabio Tranchina, investigators are hoping that new information will unveil evidence previously has yet to be uncovered and cast light on suspected political involvement in the attack, judicial sources say.

 The magistrate is to begin running numerous searches which they hope will pinpoint the massacre’s ringleaders who until today have escaped justice.

 The investigation comes on the same day that restraining orders were issued against 77 people by the investigating magistrate in Catania as part of the ‘white flower’ campaign against Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian Mafia.

 The measures taken were partly based on the statements made by Santo La Causa, a former leader of the feared Cosa Nostra and a name on Italy’s 30 most wanted list before his arrest in October 2009 while he was attending a summit for the Mafia’s elite in Etna.  La Causa began collaborating with police and the District Anti-Mafia Directorate (DDA) as an official witness in May last year, during their investigations into the Santapaolas clan.

Details on the investigation will be announced later today during a press conference with the chief prosecutor of Catania, John Salvi.