December 9-15, 2001
15.12.2001 > To Chiara, Ornella and Stephania

I am up a blind alley. Why? This morning I received death threats at home, on my mobile and in my e-mail. Either some malicious individual is taking advantage of recent events in this journal to play with my nerves, or I touched someone else's sensitive nerve when I called on my colleagues for assistance.
I would like to dedicate these long months of investigation to the three little women in my life. Thanks to them, I have made the difficult but liberating decision to give up all my investigative work at the age of 41. But I won't be leaving my reader-collaborators completely without news: I'm working on a book for digital publication by www.cenquei.com.

Some truths give you a sense of freedom; others force you to see the horror.
Susanna Tamaro, Va’ dove ti porta il cuore

 

 

December 2-8, 2001
04.12.2001 > NOT FOUND

I just got back from a weekend with friends near Rome. I needed to get my ideas together, to find someone to talk to without subjecting my wife and the girls to the new, irritable, me - the result of too many sleepless nights haunted by somber thoughts.
The change of air had an invigorating affect on my brain cells. I calmly "rebooted" my cognitive apparatus and - lo and behold - retrieved a item of data I had classed as "NOT FOUND"!
Maggioli, I now remember, was the bent police captain who, from 1992 to 1996, offered protection to the henchmen of the mafia group that "offered protection" to the upmarket districts of the city. Four years ago I had established some kind of link between him and Bruno Contrada, the former head of counter-espionage in Palermo, sentenced to 10 years in prison on April 5, 1996. Their paths had crossed several times on the cocaine highway.
It all hung together. And yet, a lawyer friend I spoke to this evening assures me that it wasn't the same Maggioli, and that the murder had the hallmarks of another killer, with an altogether more mysterious modus operandi.
I get the feeling I've stumbled across an amazing story and, for the first time since I began looking into the camorra, I feel out of my depth.

 

November 25 - December 1, 2001
25.11.2001 > Dear Prudence

"Look around, Look around ..."
I woke up with a jolt about 4 this morning, with that Beatles number stuck in my head. Then I skimmed through the morning press, called up a contact at the local TV station and resolved to go and look over the scene of the macabre discovery.
The elements so far are distinctly mysterious: the body was found with strange burns on the torso and a bullet in the head. The man is thought to be one Gianni Maggioli.
I was thinking of the angelic smile of my younger daughter as I got off at Toledo station, not far from the Santa Chiara monastery. That picked me up. At n° 18 (as it happens, the age of my other daughter) Benedetto Croce street, a broken line in white chalk marked the place where Maggioli's body had lain. The worst thing was: the name seemed somehow familiar…

 

November 18-24, 2001
20.11.2001 > A murder in Naples

08:10 - after the shower - an e-mail from my brother-in-law.
He is head of security for the city's bus network. His news made me go as white as the bath-robe I'd pulled on before sitting down at the computer. He knows the company's youngest driver, one Massimo Palacci, very well. Early this morning Massimo discovered the body of a man abandoned in the middle of the street. He tells me this is sure to be of interest to my investigations. The buzz is that it was a settling of scores by the camorra. What's more, he can arrange for me to meet Massimo.
Too good to miss!

 

----- The following archives have been suspended -----

 

November 11-17, 2001
13.11.2001 > Political circles, the camorra and drug trafficking

November 4-10, 2001
08.11.2001 > Luciano Pietro: a judge like no other
06.11.2001 > The illegal earnings of the camorra
05.11.2001 > The arrest of a banker
04.11.2001 > A second look at yesterday's two attacks

October 28 - November 3, 2001
02.11.2001 > News from a magistrate friend

October 21-27, 2001
October 14-20, 2001
October 7-13, 2001
September 30 - October 6, 2001
September 23-29, 2001
September 16-22, 2001
September 9-15, 2001
September 2-8, 2001
August 26 - September 1, 2001
August 19-25, 2001
August 12-18, 2001
August 5-11, 2001
July 29 - August 4, 2001
July 22-28, 2001
July 15-21, 2001
July 8-14, 2001
July 1-7, 2001
June 24-30, 2001
June 17-23, 2001
June 10-16, 2001
June 3-9, 2001
May 27 - June 2, 2001
May 20-26, 2001
May 13-19, 2001
May 6-12, 2001
April 29 - May 5, 2001
April 22-28, 2001
March 18-24, 2001
March 11-17, 2001
March 4-10, 2001
February 25 - March 3, 2001
February 18-24, 2001
February 11-17, 2001
February 4-10, 2001
January 28 - February 3, 2001
January 21-27, 2001
January 14-20, 2001
January 7-13, 2001
December 17-23, 2000
December 10-16, 2000
December 3-9, 2000
November 26 - December 2, 2000
November 19-25, 2000
November 12-18, 2000
November 5-11, 2000
October 29 - November 4, 2000
October 22-28, 2000
October 15-21, 2000