Mafia gangster hands priest poisoned chalice
A suspected mafia gangster added bleach to communion wine in a brazen attempt to poison a parish priest known for speaking out against organised crime.
Father Felice Palamara noticed a strange smell from the flasks that contained water and wine while he was leading Mass in the town of Cessaniti, in the southern region of Calabria – the stronghold of the powerful ’Ndrangheta mafia network.
He immediately suspended the service and called the Carabinieri police. Tests revealed that the flasks contained bleach.
Police are analysing security camera footage to try to identify who entered the church and contaminated the water and wine with the chemical.
Swallowing the bleach would have been particularly dangerous for the priest because he suffers from asthma and heart problems.
‘Act of intimidation’
The apparent assassination attempt appears to have been carried out in retaliation for him denouncing the ’Ndrangheta’s presence in the town.
The criminal organisation makes millions of euros a year from cocaine trafficking and other criminal activities.
“I’m sure that this act of intimidation has nothing to do with my parishioners because I have been here for 10 years and I have always had good relations with the people of the parish,” he told the Corriere della Sera newspaper.
“We won’t allow anyone to do harm to the parish. Nobody can stop a town that deserves redemption and that wants to grow.”
In August last year, the local town council was dissolved amid suspicions of mafia infiltration – a measure that is often taken in settlements in Italy’s south, where the influence of mafia groups remains strong.
Death threats
The incident is not the first time Father Felice has been threatened. A few weeks ago, his car was scratched and he has also received threatening letters.
“I feel calm, although I hope that the forces of justice manage to get to the bottom of these criminal acts,” he said.
Earlier this month, after his car was damaged, Father Felice had criticised “those who are troubling us”, in an oblique reference to the ‘Ndrangheta.
“But I will continue to pray for them, until we see in them a change. I continue to love them, even if every gesture of theirs is impregnated with hatred and anger. I will get my own back with love and mercy because the only weapon that I know is forgiveness.”
Other priests in the town and civil society organisations have also been terrorised, including Father Francesco Pontoriero, who received death threats and found a dead cat on the bonnet of his car.
In another attack, a priest named Gianni Rigoli, who comes from the parish of Varapodio near the city of Reggio Calabria, had his car torched and destroyed earlier this month.
The Bishops Conference of Calabria condemned what it called “an act of vandalism” and said that Calabria “cannot and must not be represented by criminals who are blinded by a mafioso mentality. This kind of behaviour does not represent Calabrians.”
The bishops insisted the Church was working for “the promotion of peace and legality” in the region, which forms the toe of the Italian boot.
Father Pino de Masi, a priest who is involved in an anti-mafia association called Libera, expressed solidarity with targeted priests, saying the Church would continue to press for “liberation from subjugation by the mafia” while promoting “the education of the next generation with an alternative culture to that of the mafia.”
The campaign against the priests was condemned by the local Catholic bishop, Attilio Nostro. “The diocese is going through a period of suffering as a result of these acts of intimidation, which have nothing to do with the normal Christian life of the parishes. We must not give into this mentality.”
Anna Sergi, a professor of criminology at Essex University and an expert on the ‘Ndrangheta, said the priests were targeted because they had denounced the mafia and spoken out in favour of law and order.
“These priests, in the past couple of years, have started to become a little bit more vocal about the need to reconstitute the social bonds of the territory, to resist and denounce the clans’ power.
“It’s not the first time that Father Felice has suffered intimidation – he and other clergy members in the area have been targeted in the past few months. Local ‘Ndrangheta clans have influence on the life of his village and on other villages in the province.”
The ‘Ndrangheta was dealt a blow in November when more than 200 mafiosi, politicians, public officials and businessmen were sentenced to a total of 2,200 years in prison for mafia-related crimes at the culmination of Italy’s biggest criminal trial for more than 30 years.
The long-running “maxi-trial” lifted the lid on the deep level of collusion between the ‘Ndrangheta and white-collar elements of the economy and the state. The defendants were convicted of a wide range of crimes, from murder and arms trafficking to extortion, loan sharking, drug trafficking and money laundering.
The accused boasted a colourful assortment of nicknames, from The Wolf and The Musician to Fatty, Shorty, Sweety and Giuseppe the Stick.
The trial was so big that a special courthouse had to be constructed inside a former telephone call centre in the Calabrian town of Lamezia Terme.
But analysts warned all along that the trial involved mafiosi from just one part of Calabria and that there was zero chance of it leading to the death of the ‘Ndrangheta, which has spread far beyond its Calabrian roots and now has interests across the world, from Canada and South America to Australia.
It is believed to have an annual income of around €50 billion euros, much of which is made from cocaine trafficking.
