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Son of Totò Riina Defends Father on Sicilian Podcast, Disputes Role in Notorious Crimes

The interview drew national attention in Italy, raising questions over media responsibility in giving a platform to relatives of convicted mob leaders.

Overview

  • Giuseppe Salvatore Riina appeared on Lo Sperone Podcast and offered an unapologetic defense of his father, the late Cosa nostra boss Totò Riina.
  • He denied that his father ordered the kidnapping and murder of Giuseppe Di Matteo and cast doubt on Riina’s responsibility for the 1992 bombings that killed magistrates including Giovanni Falcone.
  • Riina praised his father as a serious and honest man who “fought the system,” asserting he never witnessed him act violently.
  • He attacked the anti-mafia milieu as a “carrozzone,” citing disgraced figures Silvana Saguto and Antonello Montante as examples of hollow activism.
  • The hosts Gioacchino Gargano and Luca Ferrito received him with applause, while coverage noted prior provocations such as auctioning portraits of his father after returning to Corleone from an eight-year mafia-related sentence.