(ANSA) - ASSISI (PERUGIA), 11 MAY - Assisi has named two squares to the agents who were victims of the massacres in via D'Amelio and Capaci and to the assistant to the state police Luca Benincasa, killed on the Perugia-Bettolle junction by fleeing robbers , in March 2002. I am in the hamlet of Palazzo and in Santa Maria degli Angeli.
The police chief, prefect Lamberto Giannini, also took part in the day.
Also present were the brothers of Agostino Catalano and Antonio Montinaro, as well as the son of Benincasa, also an agent at the Perugia police station, with his mother.
"I am overwhelmed - said Giannini - by the emotions of those who have felt these tragedies in their own flesh. I want to express gratitude for all those who have lost their lives doing their duty and for Assisi, a symbolic place for the whole world, who wanted to honor them. and remember them. The city has also done something more, it has allowed these colleagues who have given their utmost to allow them to continue their service in terms of example. These plaques and these squares are not mere writings but a warning,
for young people and for those who may not know what happened and maybe they get curious and begin to learn them.
Thus he understands how much the sacrifice of those who dedicate their lives to the State and citizenship is ".
The commissioner of Perugia, Giuseppe Bellassai, underlined "the sacrifice of these people to give others a better life and a society founded on the values of democracy".
"We who are politics - said the mayor of Assisi, Stefania Proietti - have the duty to recognize the mafia which is now hiding among white-collar workers and smiles.
Because it no longer uses weapons but money".
The ceremony was attended, among others, by the president of the Region Donatella Tesei and that of the Legislative Assembly Marco Squarta.
With them also the prefect of Perugia Armando Gradone, the bishop of Assisi, monsignor Domenico Sorrentino, the procurator general Sergio Sottani and that of the Republic of Perugia Raffaele Cantone.
Proietti thanked the police staff for the "service" rendered to the city, highlighting the work done on the occasion of the pandemic.
The mayor of Assisi then explained the decision to name the two squares after the agents killed with the desire to "remember and pay homage to people who gave their lives to serve the state".
He then recalled their names in the silence of the conciliation hall of the municipality where the first part of the ceremony took place: Antonio Montinaro, Rocco Dicillo, Vito Schifani, Agostino Catalano, Emanuela Loi, Vincenzo Li Muli, Walter Eddie Cosina, Claudio Traina and Luca Benincasa, all awarded the Gold Medal for Civil Valor.
Commissioner Bellassai also highlighted the police chief's attention "to the territory".
Then referring to the dead staff on duty, he urged "do not forget the past if you do not want to run the risk of making the same mistakes".
"The police motto 'always be there' - he said - is effective and credible only if accompanied by the knowledge of the history and values defended with life by our colleagues. The mafia massacres have been a watershed. And Luca Benincasa did not think too. that what happened later would have happened but he did his duty to the end ".
"They walk with us, on our legs" then said Tommaso Catalano, Agostino's brother.
"They don't ask for revenge but truth," he added.