Antimafia Commission - The Third Commission

The Third Commission

The third Commission was installed in March 1988 under the presidency of PCI senator Gerardo Chiaromonte. This Commission marked a change in operations: the focus shifted from analyses and knowledge about the Mafia to proposals at the legislative and administrative level. The Commission studied the connections between the four Mafia-type organizations and the links between the Mafia and secret Masonic lodges. It lobbied for the introduction of new legislation such as the reform of the Rognoni-La Torre law whereby asset seizure and confiscation provisions were applicable to other forms of criminal association including drug trafficking, extortion and usury among others.

The third Commission decided to make public the 2.750 files on links between the Mafia and politicians that had been kept secret by the first Commission. Looking ahead to the general elections of April 5, 1992, in February 1992 the Commission urged political parties to apply a code of self-regulation when presenting candidates, a measure intended to mirror the legislative provisions for public-office holders in 1990: no one should stand for election who had been committed for trial, was a fugitive from the law, was serving a criminal sentence, was subject to preventive measures or was convicted, even though not definitively, for crimes of corruption, Mafia association and a range of others.

A week before the election the Commission reported that on the basis of information received from two-thirds of the prefectures in the country, 33 candidates standing in the forthcoming elections were ‘non presentable’ according to the code of self-regulation.