"On May 23, thirty-one years ago, the Mafia massacre launched a new ferocious and bloody attack against the democratic state. With the death of Giovanni Falcone, Francesca Morvillo, his wife, the magistrates Antonio Montinaro, Rocco Dicillo, and Vito Schifani, who guarded him with dedication, lost their lives. A massacre in Capaci, which was followed a few weeks later by another devastating attack in Palermo's Via D'Amelio, in which Paolo Borsellino died, along with Emanuela Loi, Agostino Catalano, Walter Eddie Cosina, Vincenzo Li Muli, and Claudio Traina. On this day of remembrance, the first thoughts are addressed to these witnesses of the Republic's legality, to the anguish of their families, to the anguish of those who then lost a friend, a teacher, a point of reference." These are the words of President Sergio Mattarella on the anniversary of the Capaci massacre, which took place yesterday. "Those events are forever inscribed in the history of the Republic," Mattarella continued, "and they are accompanied by a sense of closeness and gratitude towards those who fought the mafia, inflicting irreversible defeats, demonstrating that freedom from blackmail is possible, and promoting a civil reaction that has allowed the community to regain confidence." "Mafia criminals planned to subvert the institutions and make the populace subjects of an infamous power," continued the president. "The Republic was prepared to respond with rigor and justice. Magistrates such as Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino have demolished the mafia's presumption of a parallel order, exposing the mafia for what it truly is: a cancer for the civil community, an organization of criminals who are not invincible and who lack honor and dignity. They were murdered by the mafia, but a strong sense of citizenship arose as a result of the mobilization of consciences." "In institutions, schools, and civil society, the fight against mafias and crime has become a condition of civilization, an essential component of a shared ethics. The fight against the mafias must be maintained with vigour and determination. Giovanni Falcone taught us that the mafia can be defeated and is doomed to fail", Mattarella concluded.
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