Giovanni Spampinato (; 6 November 1946 – 27 October 1972) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

investigative journalist for the Italian newspaper ''

L'Ora ''L'Ora'' (English: ''The Hour'') was a Sicilian daily newspaper published in Palermo. The paper was founded in 1900 and stopped being published in 1992. In the 1950s-1980s the paper was known for its investigative reporting about the Sicilian Maf ...

'' (Translated: "The Hour") in

Ragusa Ragusa is the historical name of Dubrovnik. It may also refer to: Places Croatia * the Republic of Ragusa (or Republic of Dubrovnik), the maritime city-state of Ragusa * Cavtat (historically ' in Italian), a town in Dubrovnik-Neretva County, Cro ...

Province of Ragusa The Province of Ragusa ( it, Provincia di Ragusa; Sicilian: ''Pruvincia 'i Rausa'') was a province in the autonomous region of Sicily in southern Italy, located in the south-east of the island. Following the abolition of the Sicilian provinces, ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, who brought to attention mafioso Roberto Campria's connection to a murder in February 1972, before his own murder eight months later.

Personal

As children, the Spampinato brothers were influenced by the politics of their father Peppino, who had fought in Yugoslavia and was an active communist. Giovanni and his brother Alberto Spampinato both became journalists. Giovanni Spampinato took a job at the newspaper ''L'Ora'' after graduating with a degree in philosophy from the

University of Catania The University of Catania ( it, Università degli Studi di Catania) is a university located in Catania, Sicily. Founded in 1434, it is the oldest university in Sicily, the 13th oldest in Italy, and the 29th oldest university in the world. With a ...

in 1969. He was a member of the

Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) was a communist political party in Italy. The PCI was founded as ''Communist Party of Italy'' on 21 January 1921 in Livorno by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI). ...

and ran for a political office but lost.

Career

Giovanni Spampinato was an investigative journalist for the ''L'Ora'', a communist newspaper. There he reported on fascists in Ragusa and

Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...

. Among his reports for ''L'Ora'' was a connection between the

Sicilian mafia The Sicilian Mafia, also simply known as the Mafia and frequently referred to as Cosa nostra (, ; "our thing") by its members, is an Italian Mafia-terrorist-type organized crime syndicate and criminal society originating in the region of Sicily a ...

and murder, which is how he began to report about the person who confessed to murdering him. While his reporting focused on Roberto Campria's involvement in the mafia, some people believe it was his reporting Campria's alleged involvement in the murder of Angelo Tumino, an antiquity dealer, that pushed Campria to murder him. In 2008, the Spampinato family received an anonymous and previously unpublished letter about the motive of jealousy behind Angelo Tumino's murder 25 February 1972 and was an act out of jealousy. After Angelo Tumino was killed, Spampinato began to investigate the murder and dig deeper into the Sicilian Mafia. He was investigating Roberto Campria involvement with the Mafia and his connection to Tumino's murder. During this time, he was leaking information about the Mafia in great detail. ''L'Ora'' eventually stopped publishing in 1992 after being around since the early 1900s.

Death

Roberto Campria confronted Giovanni Spampinato around the corner from a prison in Ragusa, Italy, and Campria shot him six times with a

Smith & Wesson Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. (S&W) is an American firearm manufacturer headquartered in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States. Smith & Wesson was founded by Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson as the "Smith & Wesson Revolver Company" in 1856 ...

revolver while Spampinato was inside of his white Fiat Cinquecento shortly before 11 p.m., 27 October 1972. Campria then went to the prison and confessed to the murder. He said he acted out in a fit of rage due to Spampinato falsely accusing him of his Mafia work. Although Campria was originally sentenced to 24 years, his sentence was reduced to 14 years on appeal, but he served only eight years.

Context

The Sicilian Mafia, also known as, Cosa Nostra ("Our Thing"), not only killed Spampinato but 12 other journalists as well.

Cosimo Cristina Cosimo Cristina (; 11 August 1935 in Termini Imerese – 5 May 1960 in Termini Imerese) was an Italian journalist killed by the Mafia. Biography Cristina began his career as a journalist in 1955 when he was twenty. Then he founded and ran in P ...

was murdered in 1960 on railroad tracks by the mafia.

Mauro De Mauro Mauro De Mauro (; 6 September 1921 – disappeared 16 September 1970) was an Italian investigative journalist. Originally a supporter of Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime, De Mauro eventually became a journalist with the left-leaning newspaper ...

was disappeared in 1970 after uncovering details about the death of politician

Enrico Mattei Enrico Mattei (; 29 April 1906 – 27 October 1962) was an Italian public administrator. After World War II he was given the task of dismantling the Italian petroleum agency Agip, a state enterprise established by the Fascist regime. I ...

. Cristina, De Mauro and Spampinato worked also worked at ''L'Ora''. This newspaper, under the leadership of Vittorio Nisticò, published anti-Mafia information. Other journalists killed by the Sicilian mafia were

Giuseppe Impastato Giuseppe "Peppino" Impastato (; January 5, 1948 – May 9, 1978), was an Italian political activist who opposed the Mafia, which ordered his murder in 1978. Childhood Giuseppe "Peppino" Impastato was born in Cinisi, in the then province of Pa ...

, murdered in 1978, Carmine "Mino" Pecorelli in 1979,

Mario Francese Mario Francese (; 6 February 1925 – 26 January 1979) was an Italian crime reporter of the ''Giornale di Sicilia''. He was the first journalist to expose the role of Toto Riina and the Corleonesi within the Sicilian Mafia, and because of this he ...

in 1979,

Giuseppe Fava Giuseppe "Pippo" Fava (; 15 September 1925 in Palazzolo Acreide – 5 January 1984 in Catania) was an Italian writer, investigative journalist, playwright, and Antimafia activist who was killed by the Mafia. He was the founder of the ''I Sicilia ...

in 1984,

Giancarlo Siani Giancarlo Siani (; Naples, September 19, 1959, - Naples, September 23, 1985) was an Italian crime reporter from Naples, who was killed by the Camorra, the Neapolitan mafia. He started to write in the magazine ''Osservatorio sulla camorra'', and l ...

in 1985,

Mauro Rostagno Mauro may refer to: Given name * Mauro (footballer, born 1932), Brazilian footballer * Mauro Silva (footballer, born 1978), Brazilian footballer * Mauro (footballer, born 1984), Portuguese footballer * Bruno Mauro (born 1973), Angolan footballer ...

in 1988, and Beppe Alfano in 1993. Those journalists were primarily working at the local level and were not nationally known.

Impact

Alberto Spampinato, inspired by his brother's murder, founded Ossigeno per l'informazione Osservatorio (Translated: Oxygen for Information Observatory) that is aligned with

Freedom House Freedom House is a non-profit, majority U.S. government funded organization in Washington, D.C., that conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom, and human rights. Freedom House was founded in October 1941, and Wendell Wil ...

and

Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RWB; french: Reporters sans frontières; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization with the stated aim of safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its advocacy as found ...

and monitors the journalistic environment in Italy and safety and security issues.

Reactions

Alberto Spampinato, journalist for the news agency ''

Ansa Ansa (Latin for "handle") or ANSA may refer to: Organizations * Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata, Italian news agency ** Ansa Mediterranean or ANSAmed, section of the above * Applied Neuroscience Society of Australasia * Association of Norw ...

'' and co-author of ''Vite ribelli'', describes his brother: "A boy slim, slender, who by his looks seemed mild and harmless. Behind his glasses for short-sightedness, his eyes shined with curiosity, and intelligence and desire emerge." A few local newspapers described him as "a torturer," "a communist blinded by class hatred" that had begun to target "that guy from a good family," destroying his life and reputation. After Spampinato's death, he started being recognized as a journalist who was murdered while doing his story.

Awards and recognition

In 2007, Saint-Vincent Journalism Awards presented a posthumous Special Jury Award to Giovanni Spampinato. Every year, the city of Ragusa has sponsored a forum about Spampinato and the facts surrounding his murder.

Media about Spampinato

* ''C'erano bei cani ma molto seri'' (2009) * ''L'ora di Spampinato'' (2012 film)