The 6 January 1980 the Mafia organization Cosa nostra kills, in Palermo, the President of the Sicilian region Piersanti Mattarella. The Sicilian politician, Since the youth, dedicates his life to politics trying to fix and heal the problems present in Sicily. After a spent in the ranks of Catholic action, Piersanti enters into the ranks of the Christian Democrats, becoming one of the greatest exponents, sharing the guideline set by Aldo Moro at party. Frank and transparent politician's attitude earned him the nomination before a municipal councillor in Palermo and then, in 1967, a member of the Sicilian Regional Assembly. The activities it carries out first as Deputy and then as head of the region applying for next President, a position he held from 1978. One of the main objectives that plugs into its political agenda of Government Piersanti region is the fight against the mafia: external connection that virtually every Conference and public meeting. The late seventies and early eighties they see within Cosa nostra profound transformations, not only about the arrival on the scene of the Corleonesi mafia clan in Palermo that undermine the foundations of the equilibrium created inside the Organization, but see fight their way to a new form of huge illicit gain, which drug trafficking: not surprisingly, the Sicily will become one of the major centers of processing and refining at European level. The murder of Piersanti Mattarella fits so into the action conducted by Cosa nostra against all those who, members of the policy and law enforcement, You clearly opposed to it.
This reminder of the current President of the Senate, Piero Grasso:
“Piersanti Mattarella was trying to create a new political and administrative project, a real revolution. His radical policy moralization of public life, According to the slogan that Sicily was to appear with the credentials ', He had upset the public procurement system with resounding gestures, never implemented in the island”
Roberto Rossetti