ROME -- The Italian president, Sergio Mattarella, declared in a statement on Thursday that “the mafia is always lurking but is destined to end”. 

  The statement was released to mark the anniversary of the Capaci bombing, which assassinated anti-mafia magistrate Giovanni Falcone.

  “As Falcone and Borsellino maintained, the Republic has shown that the mafia can be defeated and is destined to end. The commitment to fight it never fails. Attempts to pollute civil society and intimidation of economic operators are always lurking. The Day of Legality we are celebrating is meant to be a sign of communal responsibility.” read Mattarella’s message, released on the 32^nd anniversary of the Capaci bombing.

  The attack took place in the commune of Palermo in 1992, when a bomb was planted on a motorway intending to assassinate anti-mafia magistrate Giovanni Falcone. The explosion killed Falcone, his wife Francesca Morvillo, and three of their security agents. Less than two months later Falcone’s colleague, Paolo Borsellino, was killed by the mafia. 

  “Thirty-two years after the tragedy of 23 May, it is our duty to first of all remember the sacrifice of those who were barbarously murdered: Giovanni Falcone, Francesca Morvillo, Antonio Montinaro, Rocco Dicillo, Vito Schifani. Together we also remember Paolo Borsellino, Emanuela Loi, Agostino Catalano, Walter Eddie Cosina, Vincenzo Li Muli, Claudio Traina.”

“Witnesses of the law, whose names remain unforgettably marked in our history. Their names are an affirmation of commitment for a definitive victory over the mafia cancer and our thoughts go to their families who protect their memories and moral legacy,” the president continued. 

  Mattarella’s own brother, Piersanti Mattarella, was assassinated by the mafia in 1980, whilst he was serving as President of the Regional Government of Sicily. Mattarella had worked to counter the relationships between Sicilian politicians and the mafia.  

  Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also released a message on social media. “Today marks the 32^nd anniversary of the Capaci bombing. Giovanni Falcone taught us that “men pass, ideas remain. Their moral tensions will continue to walk on the legs of other men.”

  “Treasuring these words every day is the best way that we can all honour the sacrifice of those who lost their life in Capaci on 23 May 1992. Do not dispel their teachings, their courage, carry forward those values of freedom, justice and legality that have made them immortal: stronger than the TNT and the bombs of careless and cowardly criminals.”

  “Giovanni Falcone, Francesca Morvillo, Rocco Dicillo, Antonio Montinaro, Vito Schifani and all the other heroes who have fought for a free society from mafia oppression, still live on forever in our hearts,” Meloni concluded.

  “Their ideas walk on our legs and on those who will come after us. Against mafia, always.” 

lw