(see related)
(ANSA) - Palermo, November 7 - Ex-superboss of the Cosa
Nostra mafia Toto' Riina wanted to kill seven-time premier
Giulio Andreotti and his son, State informer and ex-mafia hitman
Francesco Onorato told a Palermo court on Thursday.
Onorato was testifying at a Palermo trial into alleged
secret negotiations between the Italian State and the Mafia two
decades ago.
Cosa Nostra mafia bosses Giuseppe and Filippo Graviano in
Rome were supposed to work on the killings, ''but there were
problems because (Andreotti's) police escorts were beefed up,''
said Onorato.
Andreotti was a leading member of the centrist Christian
Democracy party, which played a dominant role in Italian
government for 50 years until its demise in a corruption scandal
in 1994.
The statesman began his political career after World War II and had been a Senator-for-life since 1991 when he died at the age of 94 in May.
Onorato has confessed to killing MEP Salvatore Lima, a murder that investigators believe marked the beginning of Mafia threats that induced the State to enter secret negotiations with the Cosa Nostra in a bid to stop attacks after a long campaign of violence that culminated in the two 1992 bombings that killed anti-mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, Falcone's wife, and several bodyguards. (photo: seven-time premier Giulio Andreotti)
The statesman began his political career after World War II and had been a Senator-for-life since 1991 when he died at the age of 94 in May.
Onorato has confessed to killing MEP Salvatore Lima, a murder that investigators believe marked the beginning of Mafia threats that induced the State to enter secret negotiations with the Cosa Nostra in a bid to stop attacks after a long campaign of violence that culminated in the two 1992 bombings that killed anti-mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, Falcone's wife, and several bodyguards. (photo: seven-time premier Giulio Andreotti)
