Mafia hitman who killed 150 people admits: ‘I’m a monster’

Notorious Sicilian mafia figure Giovanni Brusca describes himself as a “monster” in a new book out today.

Brusca, who is 67 and was once nicknamed “the pig,” was arrested in 1996. He was eventually given a lighter sentence of 30 years, but was released five years early in 2021 for good behavior. He now lives in a hidden location and receives €1,000 a month.

In the family

Born in 1957, the Sicilian mafioso was a former member of the Corleonesi clan of the Sicilian Mafia. His grandfather and great-grandfather, both farmers, joined the Mafia. His father Bernardo Brusca (1929-2000), a local patriarch of the Mafia, was serving concurrent life sentences for multiple murders.

Judge Murder

With more than 150 murders to his credit, including that of anti-mafia prosecutor Giovanni Falconewhom he murdered by detonating half a ton of explosives under a road in Capaci, near Palermo, while Falcone’s car drove over it. He is also known for having strangled 12-year-old Giuseppe Di Matteo, the son of a Mafia informant.

Acid killer

The child, Giuseppe Di Matteo, was taken and, after more than two years of captivity, tragically murdered, his remains dumped in acid. Brusca spoke to anti-mafia volunteer and parish priest Don Marcello Cozzi while he was still in prison in Rome for a new book called Someone like thataccording to the Times. Discussing Di Matteo’s murder, Brusca acknowledged that he understood there was “no forgiveness” for such an act, while also admitting that people often say he doesn’t show enough remorse. In the book, he shares memories of the raid on his childhood home and how he once saw notorious Cosa Nostra leader Totò Riina as “God on earth.”

Arrest and Prison

On May 20, 1996, Brusca, then 39, was arrested in a small house in the Sicilian countryside near Agrigento. He was having dinner with his girlfriend, their young son, his brother Vincenzo, his sister-in-law, and their two children. Police discovered his whereabouts thanks to the sound of a plainclothes officer riding past on a motorcycle, which was picked up from a call they had intercepted from Brusca’s cell phone. When Brusca was taken to the Palermo police station about 90 minutes later, a crowd of police officers erupted in cheers, honking their horns and hugging each other. When Brusca, looking unkempt with a beard, dirty jeans, and a rumpled white shirt, got out of the car, several officers removed their ski masks, indicating that they felt safe from the Mafia now. One officer even managed to slip past the guards and slapped Brusca.

Italian Justice and Release

Brusca credits his early release to his victim Falcone, who played a role in obtaining shorter sentences for fugitive mafia members. Author Mr. Cozzi has noted that while he expected to encounter “the monster of Capaci” in Brusca, he was instead surprised by the “everyday normality” of the mafia, claiming that Brusca is “haunted by his past.” In what he describes as a “psychological portrait,” Mr. Cozzi expressed his desire to “directly confront the mafia,” an organization he believes is not easy to understand “from the outside.” His work has received mixed reactions from the media, with La Repubblica declaring that the families of Brusca’s victims “have every right not to forgive.”