The President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, remembers the judge Francesco Ferlaino killed by the 'Ndrangheta 45 years ago. The magistrate was shot to death on Corso Nicotera in Lamezia Terme while returning to his home. Ferlaino was one of the first magistrates in our country to be murdered by organized crime. Even today, after almost half a century, the names of the perpetrators of the heinous crime are unfortunately not known. The Palace of Justice and the courtroom of the Court of Assizes of Appeal of Catanzaro are dedicated to Francesco Ferlaino and also a street in the center of Lamezia.
Mattarella's message for the 45th anniversary of the assassination of Judge Ferlaino
"On July 3, 1975, while he was returning home from work, judge Francesco Ferlaino was shot to death by unidentified hit men, members of the organized crime". Thus the head of state who underlines: “Authoritative judge and appreciated scholar, Francesco Ferlaino, has always been involved in the judicial offices in Calabria. He interpreted the judicial function in an exemplary way, at the service of justice and the country. It is necessary not to lose the memory of what happened and the professional and human teaching linked to this magistrate".
Recalling his murder - underlines Mattarella - recalls the ethical sense of those who have been able to oppose the enemies of civil coexistence in the country, to build the future of our community according to the principles of legality and human solidarity. Forty-five years later, I would like to renew the country's feelings of participation and closeness to its family and to those who have respected it. To all those - concludes Mattarella - who in these long years have reminded him of his passion and commendable commitment in carrying out his professional activity ".
Who was the judge Francesco Ferlaino
Francesco Ferlaino was born in Conflenti, a small mountain town in the heart of Calabria on 23 July 1914. He studied at the Galluppi high school in Catanzaro, and attended the faculty of law in Naples. In 1943 he began his brilliant career in the judiciary. First praetor and investigating judge in the old Nicastro (today Lamezia), he later became president of the Court of Assizes of Cosenza and then of that of Assise d'Appello of Catanzaro. In the Calabrian capital city he directs a historic trial against the Palermo mafia, transferred to Catanzaro for 'legitimate suspicion'.
Furthermore, Ferlaino also inflicts severe blows on the anonymous Calabrian kidnappings which in those years sowed terror. Unfortunately, the kidnappings of representatives of the entrepreneurial bourgeoisie of northern Italy have remained in the annals of the news. Prominent exponents of the productive world that organized crime kidnapped and held prisoners in the Aspromonte woods. Judge Ferlaino remains an eminent example of a statesman, a great jurist as well as a fine Latinist and a man of great culture. An excellent figure, appreciated by all for his upright principles and ethical values that remain a model for generations of all times.
The memory of the national coordination of teachers
For the 45th anniversary of his death, also the national coordination of teachers of the discipline of the rights, wants to remember the judge Francesco Ferlaino. "The commitment of the magistrate was essential in countering the phenomenon of criminal organizations in various economic sectors of society", write the representatives of the coordination. "Ferlaino - continues the association - was animated by a high sense of the state both in public and private occasions. With tenacity he faced a denied underworld reality, sprawling, dark and for this very reason more insidious.
The investigation into his death shows that no one paid - the coordination points out - He was a lonely man in a difficult context. In a context where the life of an honest judge was worth very little, where social and economic relations were marred by collusion and evasion. The state has since reacted thanks to the work of brave men who died while doing their duty. Fortunately, many positive events have also marked the painful but inexorable march of legality ”.
(On the cover the judge Francesco Ferlaino - photo Associazionemagistrati.it)
