"Palermo is ours and not ours" is just one of the choruses of the many Palermitans who gathered in front of the Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa barracks, headquarters of the "Sicilia" Carabinieri Legion in Corso Vittorio Emanuele.
A group of students cheered for the capture of boss Matteo Messina Denaro.
A few dozen young people with flags and slogans wanted to thank the police.
An arrest awaited by the citizens of Palermo for thirty years, ever since Totò Riina was captured on January 15, 1993.
A coup against the mafia that aroused the enthusiasm of the Palermitans.
Among those present at the event, Carlo Madonia, from Addio Pizzo Trapani: "it is a fundamental day which, however, arrives too late compared to what were the needs of this Palermo to get rid of this burden. We hope that the police will also discover any complicity and connivance at high levels compared to those of the more obvious and banal mafia. But the mafia today is not defeated".
Many testimonies of ordinary citizens.
A lady underlines: "We are here as honest citizens and then to reward this operation. We are here to say thank you and remember that the State exists and exists and today it is the result that is recorded".
A lady present with the famous photo of the judges Giovanni Falcone and Borsellino says: "The mafia is not defeated but this is the moment to thank the forces of order. We are putting politics aside today".