The Circonvallazione massacre, in

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 ...

''Strage della Circonvallazione'', is a

Cosa Nostra 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 ...

attack that took place on 16 June 1982 on the Palermo ring road. The attack was directed against Catanese

boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, ...

Alfio Ferlito, who was transferred from

Enna Enna ( or ; grc, Ἔννα; la, Henna, less frequently ), known from the Middle Ages until 1926 as Castrogiovanni ( scn, Castrugiuvanni ), is a city and located roughly at the center of Sicily, southern Italy, in the province of Enna, towering ...

to the

Trapani Trapani ( , ; scn, Tràpani ; lat, Drepanum; grc, Δρέπανον) is a city and municipality (''comune'') on the west coast of Sicily, in Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Trapani. Founded by Elymians, the city is still an imp ...

jail, and died with the three escort

carabinieri The Carabinieri (, also , ; formally ''Arma dei Carabinieri'', "Arm of Carabineers"; previously ''Corpo dei Carabinieri Reali'', "Royal Carabineers Corps") are the national gendarmerie of Italy who primarily carry out domestic and foreign polic ...

(Salvatore Raiti, Silvano Franzolin and Luigi Di Barca) and the 22-year-old Giuseppe Di Lavore, the driver of the private company that had the transportation of prisoners, who had replaced his father. The mandator of this massacre was Nitto Santapaola, who was in a years-long war with Ferlito for predominance on the Catania territory.

Attack

Around 10:00 on 16 June 1982 a Mercedes coming from

, driven by the civilian driver Giuseppe Di Lavore and with the carabinieri on board Silvano Franzolin, Salvatore Raiti and Luigi Di Barca as well as the inmate Alfio Ferlito, was walking along the Palermo ring road and was about to take the junction for the Palermo-Mazara del Vallo motorway, when it was reached by a BMW 520 and by a Alfetta 2000 whose occupants opened firing with rifles

AK-47 The AK-47, officially known as the ''Avtomat Kalashnikova'' (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is a gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms d ...

and a shotgun; the driver Di Lavore was killed instantly and, for this reason, the Mercedes swerved, going to invade the opposite lane and violently colliding with a Fiat 500 passing by chance, whose occupant, Nunzia Pecorella, was injured. Franzolin, sitting in the front seat (as Escort Chief), managed to get out of the car holding his pistol in an attempt to return fire but was instantly killed. The killers then approached the Mercedes and riddled the remaining occupants with shots, then fled. The prefect Carlo Alberto dalla Chiesa arrived at the site of the massacre, having taken office for about a month, who barely held back his tears in front of the massacred carabinieri.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Circonvallazione June 1982 events in Europe Massacres in 1982 1982 murders in Italy History of Palermo History of the Sicilian Mafia Improvised explosive device bombings in Italy Massacres in Italy Organized crime events in Italy