Mafioso plotted to cut jugular of female prosecutor with blade hidden in his rectum, police claim
An Italian mafioso who falsely claimed he wished to become an informer actually wanted to attack a prosecutor with a ceramic blade hidden in his rectum, police claimed.
Pancrazio Carrino, 42, allegedly developed a burning hatred of prosecutor Carmen Ruggiero after she led an operation, codenamed The Wolf, that dealt a crippling blow to a leading clan within the Sacra Corona Unita mafia, which is based in the southern region of Puglia.
Ms Ruggiero’s investigations led to the arrest of 22 suspected mafiosi including Carrino, whose nickname of Stellina or Little Star derives from a tattoo of a star on his forehead.
Prosecutors accused him of being a member of the Lamendola-Cantanna clan, one of the most powerful within Sacra Corona Unita, claiming he was involved in supplying drugs to pushers and carrying out “punitive expeditions” against rivals.
He allegedly became bent on revenge and hatched what one Italian newspaper described as “a diabolical plan”.
“I was angry with everyone who represented the State,” he is said to have later told investigators.
Two weeks after his arrest, on July 31 last year, he told the authorities that he was prepared to become a “pentito” or informer, dishing the dirt on mafia clans in return for reduced time behind bars.
He said he wanted to talk to Ms Ruggiero, who was a senior prosecutor in the city of Lecce.
He allegedly fashioned a makeshift blade from a piece of ceramic that he took from the inside of the toilet in his isolation cell and hid it in his rectum just before he went into a meeting with the prosecutor.
During the interrogation he asked to go to the toilet, extracted the blade and hid it in his trousers, ready to use.
“I was seated in front of the prosecutor. I was keeping my eye on a Carabinieri officer to check whether I was close enough to be able to cut the prosecutor’s throat without him blocking me,” he allegedly told investigators afterwards.
Living under police protection
But the Carabinieri lieutenant, named Alberto Bruno, realised something was amiss. Confronting Carrino and frisking him, he found the makeshift blade.
“If I had been as clear-headed that day as I am now, Carmen Ruggiero would be history,” the mafioso, who is now under investigation for attempted murder, is said to have told investigators.
Ms Ruggiero lives under police protection because of the threats she has received from the mafia, as does another female prosecutor in the region, Maria Francesca Mariano.
She was given a police escort and a bullet-proof car after a goat’s head with a knife embedded in it was left outside her home.
She also received a letter, written in blood, that referred to satanic rituals and death threats.
