14 DAY TRIAL // Toto Riina and Bernardo Provenzano were two of the most powerful heads of the Italian Cosa Nostra, the name under which the Mafia was invented all those decades ago. They were jailed last month, and already Facebook started producing groups that glorified the two and demanded their release, or even their sanctification. In outrage, people from all around the world joined groups asking for the closure of the ones run by mobsters, and some even threatened the villains themselves.
Groups such as "Free Toto Riina," "Fans of Toto Riina, a misunderstood man," and "For the sanctification of Bernardo Provenzano" numbered up to 200 members each, and the messages posted on their boards were stumbled upon by concerned citizens, who made them public. Both Italian politicians and the relatives of Mafia killings, including Rita Borsellino – the sister of Paolo Borsellino, an anti-Mafia judge who was killed in 1992 by the Cosa Nostra – felt offended by these groups, and thought at first to close their own pages as protest.
"At first I was disturbed by the content of these 'groups'. I thought I would close down my Facebook page in protest, and then I realized it would be important to keep it as a tool for getting rid of these people," Borsellino told the AFP.
What followed amazed even the most skeptic of observers. On Friday, groups such as "Abolition of the Bernardo Provenzano fan club," "No to Riina's Facebook fans," and "All those to whom Riina is not an idol but a criminal" counted anywhere between 3,200 and 6,000 members.
Some of the targeted groups seized their activities permanently or temporary, other ones made the names of their members secret, and closed their discussion boards to outsiders. On the other hand, others displayed messages saying that their activity was suspended until "moralists and infiltrators" would be dealt with. Some are reported to have closed down their activity on account of the thousands of messages they received, threatening even their lives.
"If all mafiosi magically disappeared from the face of the Earth, the Mafia phenomenon would live on, as the Facebook case shows. I'm amazed, you think you've reached the bottom, and then as you can see, the bottom is ever lower." expresses his disappointment Andrea Camilleri, a famous Sicilian writer, who says that the Mafia has now entered deeply into the minds of Italians, meaning that youngsters take matters related to the Cosa Nostra very lightly, which can be very dangerous.
This action proves that indeed the worst thing that someone can do is not to get involved. By a joint effort, people seeking to silence the groups that were promoting crime bosses and boasting their deeds succeeded in doing so. Although it's sad to see that the seeds of evil can be found in the most unexpected places, there is also hope in the fact that good people stand up for what they believe in.