The story of Nadia and the old capo

On the night of May 26, 1993, Nadia Nencioni was 9 years old and a sister, Caterina, was barely 50 days old.

Her parents, Fabrizio and Angela, took care of the Academia dei Georgofili, founded in 1753 in the center of Florence, and lived there, right next to the Ufizzi Gallery.

Nadia liked poetry, and a few days before she had written a poem that she called

about a drawing that showed a sun about to go to sleep.

It can be read on Twitter that, last Monday, when the Carabinieri agents took Matteo Messina Denaro to the operations center for questioning, there was a photocopy of the school notebook in which Nadia had written her poem.

“The afternoon is leaving / sunset is coming / a wonderful moment / the sun is going (to bed) / it is already night and everything is over”.

That morning 30 years ago, a car bomb loaded with 250 kilos of explosives destroyed the old building, causing the death of Nadia and her entire family, that of a neighbor named Dario Capolicchio, and also injuring 48 other people.

The attack, a true massacre, was ordered by Messina Denaro, then head of Cosa Nostra,

and for this reason he was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment.

And also for this reason —during the long days, months, years that the search lasted— the agents always kept Nadia's poem in sight, and decided to baptize the capture operation with its title in English:

.

Perhaps it is just a detail, just a few lines at the foot of a historic day, but it is one of those gestures of humanity, of love for the little things, which are the true essence of Italy, so indolent at times, so cynical others — Silvio Berlusconi's tweet in which he congratulates a magistracy that he attacked so many times is a masterpiece of the genre, and also for a blow to an organization in which he always had great friends.

It is not surprising, in any case, that in the case of Italy and Twitter, the mystery and suspicion have not been long in coming.

Has it been a full-fledged police success or perhaps an agreement between the old and sick mobster and the authorities?

But even this is not out of the script of a film shot so many times:

that of the fugitive turned into a legend due to his ability to become a ghost, detained just a few meters from where he was born, with an appearance that has changed over time or due to operations, and that when he is finally captured he always turns out to be an exemplary neighbor.

"What do you want me to tell you!?", a countryman responds to journalists in a Twitter video, "he was kind, he said good morning, good night...".

The tactic of blending in with one's family — where it is easier to surround oneself with an environment of the blind and dumb out of convenience or fear — seems to have been patented by the Sicilian mafia bosses, but ours has sometimes adopted it as well.

When the French police arrested in 2004 Mikel Albizu, better known as

with an appearance that has been changing due to the passage of time or due to operations, and that when it is finally captured it always turns out to be an exemplary neighbor.

"What do you want me to tell you!?", a countryman responds to journalists in a Twitter video, "he was kind, he said good morning, good night...".

The tactic of blending in with one's family — where it is easier to surround oneself with an environment of the blind and dumb out of convenience or fear — seems to have been patented by the Sicilian mafia bosses, but ours has sometimes adopted it as well.

When the French police arrested in 2004 Mikel Albizu, better known as

with an appearance that has been changing due to the passage of time or due to operations, and that when it is finally captured it always turns out to be an exemplary neighbor.

"What do you want me to tell you!?", a countryman responds to journalists in a Twitter video, "he was kind, he said good morning, good night...".

The tactic of blending in with one's family — where it is easier to surround oneself with an environment of the blind and dumb out of convenience or fear — seems to have been patented by the Sicilian mafia bosses, but ours has sometimes adopted it as well.

When the French police arrested in 2004 Mikel Albizu, better known as

good evening...".

The tactic of blending in with one's family — where it is easier to surround oneself with an environment of the blind and dumb out of convenience or fear — seems to have been patented by the Sicilian mafia bosses, but ours has sometimes adopted it as well.

When the French police arrested in 2004 Mikel Albizu, better known as

good evening...".

The tactic of blending in with one's family — where it is easier to surround oneself with an environment of the blind and dumb out of convenience or fear — seems to have been patented by the Sicilian mafia bosses, but ours has sometimes adopted it as well.

When the French police arrested in 2004 Mikel Albizu, better known as

the newspaper sent me to Salies-de-Béarn, a small town where the head of ETA and his wife, Soledad Iparraguirre,

, had lived for four years with their son in a mansion located an hour's drive from the border with Spain.

What struck me then—and now—is that the most elusive terrorist, the quintessential fugitive, felt much safer in his house than many of his victims.

Hence the importance of the detail of the Carabinieri.

The ultimate goal is not to stop the old boss - there will be another one who will hurry to replace him -, but to do justice to Nadia.

Pass the time that passes, whatever the cost.

With the cattura di Matteo Messina Denaro, he won the law, he won the justice, he won the Force of Order, a cominciare dai Carabinieri.

He wins the Magistracy always in prima linea nella lotta alla criminalità.

He wins the State and wins l'Italia.

pic.twitter.com/OeFpZ01OyH

— Silvio Berlusconi (@berlusconi) January 16, 2023