An army of teachers

For weeks now, news, reflections and interviews on the arrest of the super-fugitive boss Matteo Messina Denaro have been bouncing on television, in the newspapers and on social networks. There are those who have supported the most disparate theories: that he was found because he was ill, that they handed him over or that the state simply managed to carry out justice. What is certain is that - at the level of the big dynamics - this arrest marks a decisive step in the fight against the mafia, also from a symbolic point of view.

The real problem is to try to eradicate a corrupt and mafia mentality even in the smallest and awaken the conscience of individuals. I was very struck by hearing the interviews with the inhabitants of the boss's town, Castelvetrano; the answers were manifold: from "They could have taken him earlier" to "It's a great victory" (some even took to the streets to toast), from "I don't care" to "For me he's a good person". It's shocking to think how deeply rooted certain evils are that you can't get your eyes clean to see reality. And it is one of the great defeats caused by the mafia!

Among all of them also a female entrepreneur, Elena Ferraro (photo), the only one in the area to publicly and convincingly oppose the mafia, specifically Matteo's cousin, Mario Messina Denaro (later arrested in 2013). She recounts: «He made me a particular request: my radiology center was to become a washing machine to clean up the dirty money deriving from illicit business and the money would be used primarily to keep the then fugitive Matteo Messina Denaro in hiding and then also to maintain and support the families of prisoners. I immediately said no and reported it to the Trapani mobile team». And she concludes by sending a message: «I live peacefully and nothing has happened to me; if we have faith in the state, in the forces of order and in the judiciary, it is possible to oppose it".

This rooted evil can only be fought with trust and with education from below; as the writer Gesualdo Bufalino said: «The mafia will be defeated by an army of primary school teachers».

Roberto Lerda
NP February 2023