Georgo li, a street a massacre Preface Translation Rita Borsellino Lisa Clark FEGATO LIBRI EDITORE SAVERIO TOMMA S I Georgofili, a street, a massacre This text is copyleft! Please reproduce and distribute freely, ackowledging the Author. visita www.saveriotommasi.it Georgofili, a street, a massacre Interactive English translation. Dear English-language reader, I have done my best to provide a translation of this text. Obviously, for those who know little about Italian recent history, some parts may be difficult to understand. The aim of the English version, however, is to be of use especially to those who know little about Italy (most of the others can presumably read the text in Italian, anyway). I am asking for your help. I did not want to fill the text with footnotes, or to disrupt the rhythm and style by giving too many explanations within the text. May I ask you, our readers, to request explanations where things are not clear? And, of course, to offer suggestions as to how to make this text understandable for a broader audience. As an example here are some of the explanations I could provide: Mafioso: a mafia boss, but also simply a member of a Mafia family (Cosa Nostra, ‘Ndrangheta, etc.) Pentito: literally this means “Repentant”, but the meaning has noting to do with the religious notion of repenting one’s sins! The Italian law, guaranteeing more lenient treatment (and sometimes protection) to those who give useful information on their erstwhile accomplices, calls these collaborators “Pentiti”. 41bis: the article of the Penitentiary code assigning harsher prison conditions to persons convicted of Mafia crimes. Lisa Clark INDRODUCT I ON A short while after the massacre, a group of students from the Faculty of Architecture in Florence (inclu- ding my daughter) painted a mural at Santa Verdiana, on the university premises. Dario Capolicchio had been part of that group. The mural included a quote from Her- mann Hesse, which I want to suggest as a dedication for this play. Hes- se’s words will be a tribute to all those who lost their lives, or had their lives destroyed by the bomb attack in Via dei Georgofili. It is also my way of expressing my grati- tude to Saverio, and to all those who so tenaciously are committed to finding the truth. Giovanna Maggiani Chelli Association of the Families of the Victims Georgofili, a street, a massacre Where have all his drawings and designs gone? He died young, in tragic circumstances, and I learned of it only after he had been buried. Often, when I think of those joyful and good years, I can see him, standing in front me, and hear his impassioned voice: I have the feeling that he was the real genius amongst us. Still today, when I am tired and about to drop, and tempted to think that our hopes in those years were merely dreams ... all I need to do is think of him. And I become once again certain that we were right, that it is better to stay faithful to yourself and your ideals, to dream of a city of the future, rather than to build houses in isolation. Hermann Hesse Preface by Rita Borsellino Member of the European Parliament) The mission, the purpose of this play is declared quite clearly by Save- rio Tommasi. It is the “effort to remember”. The effort, I would add, to transform memory into future, to make it into something that belongs to us, a common heritage that we can fight for. To demand that the truth be finally uncovered. And also the effort “to connect the dots, link up all the facts and the data,” as Sa- verio writes. “Not allow anyone to put us to sleep by their careful stage-management of memories, with all their disinformation, partial reconstructions, half truths, big lies, ...” The truth which we are still seeking, putting together facts and events, Georgofili, a street, a massacre is the truth about the massacre on Via dei Georgofili, in Florence, on 27 May 1993. But the very title of this booklet, “A Street, A Massa- cre,” suggests all the other stre- ets, all the other massacres per- petrated in Italy over the years. Saverio goes over these, pointing to the red line that links them all to each other, in different places and times in our country: the common ele- ment is that no one has ever found the truth on who commissioned these crimes. So, while we talk about Via dei Georgofili, we are also talking about Via D’Amelio, and also about Piazza Fontana, Via Fauro in Rome, Piazza San Giovanni ... A sequen- ce of violent attacks about which we still do not know the truth. The evidence collected by years of Pro- secutors’ investigations has shown links to the Free Masons, to obscure Preface elements in the secret services, to rightwing terror groups, to the Red Brigades. Each of these links has appeared on the horizon, and then disappeared. Constantly, over the years. Like a curse, throughout our 20th century history: “from Portella delle Ginestre to the Bologna Rail- way Station, to Genova, Milan, Rome, Brescia, etc.” Saverio’s style is gripping. He has put together the words of witnesses, extracts from trial documents, new- spaper articles. He reconstructs and presents to his audience a vision of Italy with all her mysteries: from the Mafia bosses’ papello, delivered to 39 members of Parliament – none of whom has ever confirmed having re- ceived it – to the disappearance of Paolo Borsellino’s red diary, to the terror attacks that failed, to the hypothesis of a coup d’état to in- Georgofili, a street, a massacre state a dictatorial regime in Italy or, as Pietro Mannoia would have it, “to separate Sicily from Italy, cre- ating an independent State.” The narrator blends wisdom and iro- ny, provides the audience with evi- dence on crucial elements of the in- vestigation, as well as information on the Prosecutor who worked himself to death on this case, Gabriele Che- lazzi. But he also assigns each one of us a task. To keep the tension high, to demand that the truth be found, uncovering all those hidden facts that buried our First Republic and on which the Second is founded. To heal the wounds of our country. To be able to truly start building our future. Saverio Tommasi THE ACTOR IS ALONE ON STAGE. TO HIS RIGHT, A TABLE WITH A GLASS OF WINE MUSIC “Incontrovertible logical arguments lead us to conclude that the criminal actions that are the object of this trial were thought up and decided by persons who were organically included in the criminal organization known as ‘cosa nostra’. DISSONANT CHORDS ON A GUITAR In particular, the persons belonging to this orga- nization who are to be considered responsible for this massacre are: Salvatore Riina, Bernardo Provenza- no, Leoluca Bagarella, Matteo Messina Denaro, Gio- vanni Brusca, Giuseppe Graviano, Filippo Graviano and, only partially, Giuseppe Ferro.” THE ACTOR SWIRLS THE WINE AROUND IN THE GLASS, LOOKING AT IT INTENTLY. WHEN THE MUSIC ENDS HE DRINKS THE WINE AND PLACES THE GLASS ON THE TABLE 12 GEOR G OF I L I , A STREET , A MASSACRE From the verdict of the Court of First Instance in Florence. This evening I shall try to recount to you a pie- ce of Italian history. Actually, I shall be obliged to tell you only a part of a part of this history, since time is limited and I shall not be able to share everything with you. Time is tyrant and many parts of the story will remain untold. Actually, I shall be forced to recount only a piece of a pie- ce of the story, since we do not know the entire truth. There are parts of the truth - and we do not even know how large those parts are - that are still unknown to us. The story will take about an hour. Diego, Giacomo and Lorenzo have composed the music that will accompany our story. BLUES MUSIC. THE ACTOR POURS MORE WINE INTO THE GLASS 13 Saverio Tommasi It may not be necessary to ask, but I shall do so nonetheless. I ask you to listen to the story in silence, trying to grasp the details and the nuan- ces. Turn off your cell phone, if you have one. We shall give you an overview: the historical pe- riod, the massacres of 1993-’94. And we shall con- centrate on the massacre in Via dei Georgofili. MUSIC. THE ACTOR ROLLS UP HIS SHIRTSLEEVES Let’s start with a name: Gabriele Chelazzi (who?). The prosecutor investigating the massa- cre in Via dei Georgofili. He said he was satisfied with the verdict – I just quoted a piece from it – and he said this also in his hearing in front of the Parliamentary Anti-Mafia Committee. “As far as the organization, the preparations and the execution of the massacre is concerned; 14 GEOR G OF I L I , A STREET , A MASSACRE and also as far as the involvement of Cosa Nostra is concerned: I believe that all those responsible have been identified, one by one.” GUITAR MUSIC Chelazzi was a man who loved his work. The last ten years of his life were spent, in his own words, living “on bread and massacres”. That is not a rhetorical statement: he died of overwork, of fatigue. GUITAR MUSIC Giovanna Maggiani Chelli, Vicepresident of the Association of the Families of the Victims of the Via dei Georgofili Massacre, in a public mee- ting in Genova revealed that in October 1997 Pro- secutor Chelazzi confessed that he had not given her any answers.