Gangster who committed 150 murders, dissolved a boy’s body in acid and bombed a judge admits: ‘I’m a monster, but I’m remorseful’ in new book

A gangster who committed 150 murders and dissolved a boy’s body in acid has said he is “remorseful” for his crimes.

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

Brusca, 67, once known as “the pig,” was arrested in 1996. He was given a 30-year sentence and released in early 2021 for five years for good behavior. He was given housing at an undisclosed location and a monthly payout of €1,000.

His victims included anti-mafia prosecutor Giovanni Falcone, whom he killed after detonating half a ton of explosives under a road in Capaci, near Palermo, as he drove past in his car.

He also ordered the strangulation of 12-year-old Giuseppe Di Matteo, the son of a Mafia defector.

Sicilian mafia boss Giovanni Brusca, who committed more than 150 murders, has admitted to being a ‘monster’

The boy was kidnapped and murdered after two years of captivity. His body dissolved in acid.

Brusca was interviewed while still in prison in Rome by anti-Mafia volunteer and parish priest Don Marcello Cozzi for the new book, titled Someone Like That, the Times reported.

Regarding Di Matteo’s murder, Brusca said he knew there was “no forgiveness” for such a crime, but also admitted that he is “often accused of not showing remorse.”

In the book he also reflects on the raid on his childhood home and how he saw the Cosa Nostra’s most fearsome boss, Totò Riina, as ‘God on earth’.

Brusca is escorted to prison by the anti-mafia police in Palermo. The fugitive mafia was sentenced to 30 years in prison, but was released five years early in 2021 for good behavior

Brusca also admits that he owes his early release to his victim Falcone, who ensured that mafiosi received shorter sentences.

Author Cozzi said that while he expected to see “the monster of Capaci” in Brusca, he was struck by the gangster’s “everyday normality.” He stressed that he is “tormented by his past.”

Cozzi wrote what he called a “psychological portrait” and said he wanted to “look the Mafia in the eye,” an organization he said you can’t see “from the outside.”

His work received mixed reactions in the press, with La Repubblica writing that the families of Brusca’s victims had “the right not to forgive.”