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Focus on victims as 50,000 march against mafia in Milan
Two months after the arrest of fugitive Matteo Messina Denaro shone a spotlight on Italy's mafia bosses, more than 50,000 people marched Tuesday in Milan to remember their innocent victims.
On a national day of remembrance, hundreds of bereaved relatives joined a march that culminated in front of the Duomo cathedral, some carrying photos of their dead loved ones -- and many of them still waiting for justice.
"It will be 28 years at the end of this month, and we are still searching for the truth," said Paolo Marcone, 50, whose father was killed in 1995 by the mafia in Foggia, in Italy's southeastern region of Puglia.
Francesco Marcone, a local official, had just returned home from work when he was shot in the back.
"Dad died on the stairs of the house. My sister found the body," his son recalled.
The family believes he discovered something at work that he should not have, but "sadly the truth has not come out", Paolo Marcone told AFP.
"We need these days to keep the memories alive and at the same time to keep calling for justice and truth," he said.
After all this time, "we are a bit disappointed and tired, but we never lose hope".
Police estimated the crowd at 50,000 people in Milan where, at the foot of the Duomo, a white sheet was laid out bearing the names of 1,069 victims.
Elisabetta Di Caterina, 52, joined the march in memory of her brother-in-law, Riccardo Angelo. She said he was killed in an ambush by the Camorra mafia in 1991 outside of Caserta, near Naples. He was 21.
The killer was caught and died in prison, she said, but added: "We ask for justice and the truth for all the families who are still waiting."
Vincenzo Luciano, 55, lost his two brothers, Aurelio and Luigi, to the Foggia mafia in 2017, who "found themselves in the middle of a shoot-out".
"It took the deaths of another two innocent people for the state to wake up and understand that the mafia was here," he told AFP.
The Foggia mafia is considered Italy's newest and, currently, its most violent.
Messina Denaro, a Sicilian mob boss implicated in some of the Cosa Nostra's most heinous crimes, was arrested on January 16 after 30 years on the run.
This is the 28th year that Italy has celebrated its national day of remembrance for mafia victims.
A. Bogdanow--BTZ
