Lirio Abbate (born 26 February 1971, in Castelbuono) is an Italian journalist and editor-in-chief of the Italian weekly news magazine

L'Espresso ''L'Espresso'' () is an Italian weekly news magazine. It is one of the two most prominent Italian weeklies; the other is ''Panorama''. Since 2022 it has been published by BFC Media. History and profile One of Italy's foremost newsmagazines, ''l ...

. Before joining the magazine, he was a correspondent from

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

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 Norweg ...

and the national newspaper

La Stampa ''La Stampa'' (meaning ''The Press'' in English) is an Italian daily newspaper published in Turin, Italy. It is distributed in Italy and other European nations. It is one of the oldest newspapers in Italy. History and profile The paper was fou ...

. He was born in Castelbuono in the province of Palermo, and started his journalistic career in 1990 at the

Giornale di Sicilia ''Giornale di Sicilia'' is an Italian daily national newspaper for the island of Sicily. It is based in Palermo, and is the best-selling newspaper in Sicily. Since 2017, it is owned by the daily newspaper of Messina, Gazzetta del Sud. History and ...

where he remained until 1997 when he moved to ANSA. In 1998 he also started working for La Stampa. In 2003 he was elected Journalist of the Year by Unione Nazionale Cronisti (Unci). He reported on the Mafia and clandestine immigration on the Sicilian coast. He was the only journalist to be present during the arrest in April 2006 of the "boss of bosses" of Cosa Nostra, Bernardo Provenzano, who was jailed after 43 years on the run.Biography on Fazi editore
Abbate angered the Mafia with a book published in 2007 with colleague Peter Gomez called ''I Complici'' ("The Accomplices") about links between politicians and Bernardo Provenzano. When over police wiretaps heard mafiosi were heard discussing how to silence Abbate in revenge for his news reports and book, police decided to give him and his wife a police escort.Living on the Mafia hit list - a journalist's tale
Reuters, October 23, 2007 On the night of September 2, 2007, his police bodyguards surprised two men placing a home-made bomb under his car. This murder attempt came a few days after he had returned to Palermo and after several months of threats following the publication of his book.European Union: Risks faced by journalists
Reporters Without Borders, May 2008Lirio Abbate minacciato dalla mafia
, La Stampa, September 6, 2007
La Repubblica, September 5, 2007 Mafia boss

Leoluca Bagarella Leoluca Bagarella (; born 3 February 1942) is an Italian criminal and member of the Sicilian Mafia. He is from the town of Corleone. Following Salvatore Riina's arrest in early 1993, Bagarella became the head of the stragist strategy faction, opp ...

threatened him publicly during a trial in October 2007. “I have been more worried since this case,” said Abbate. “Bagarella sent a message to his accomplices giving my name in open court. He has been in prison since 1995 and since I work for a news agency, my articles are not by-lined. How did he know that it was me who had written any particular article?” Despite the threats and police escort Abbate has not left Palermo. "If I left after they put a bomb under my car, I would be setting a bad example to other Sicilians," he said. "This way I am showing that I am not afraid, that the state is protecting me, and that I will carry on." In 2009, however, Abbate left Palermo to work in Rome.

Bibliography

* ''Nostra mafia dei monti - dal processo alle cosche delle Madonie al caso Contrada'', Spoleto: Dharba Editore 1993 * ''La storia del giro podistico di Castelbuono - La corsa su strada più antica d'Italia'', Palermo: Promos Editore, 1994 * ''La mafia che ho conosciuto'', Edizioni Espero 1996 * ''I complici. Tutti gli uomini di Bernardo Provenzano da Corleone al Parlamento'' (with Peter Gomez), Rome: Fazi Editore 2007

References

External links

Intervista a Lirio Abbate, giornalista antimafia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abbate, Lirio 1971 births Living people People from Castelbuono Italian journalists Italian male journalists Antimafia Historians of the Sicilian Mafia Writers from the Province of Palermo