Jailed 86-year-old mafia 'boss of bosses' perfectly lucid: Prosecutor

Palermo (Italy), June 9 (IANS/AKI) Ailing Sicilian mafia 'boss of bosses' Salvatore 'Toto' Riina, is "perfectly lucid", prosecutor Nino Di Matteo on Friday told a trial on alleged negotiations between the Italian state and the mafia to halt a deadly bombing campaign in the early 1990s.

The claim came amid heated debate in Italy over whether 86-year-old Riina should be released from prison and put under house arrest due to health problems said to include cancer, heart disease and Parkinson's.

Italy's Supreme Court said on Monday the mobster, known as 'the Beast' had the right to "die with dignity" under house arrest like any other terminally ill prisoner, a ruling that has caused outrage among mafia victims and their families.

The final decision rests with a parole board in the northern city of Bologna, near Parma, where Riina is in jail.

Known for his exceptional brutality, Riina ordered the killings of magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, who were blown up by mafia bombings in 1992.

Riina also infamously ordered the torture, strangulation and dissolving in acid of Giuseppe Di Matteo, the 13-year-old son of a Sicilian mafia informant, after holding the boy captive for two years.

Riina was captured by police in Palermo on January 15, 1993, after 23 years on the run. He was tried and convicted of over a hundred counts of murder, including the slayings of Falcone and Borsellino.

--IANS/AKI

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