Paolo Borsellino

Lore & Background

Paolo Borsellino was a Sicilian judge and prosecuting magistrate whose entire professional life was dedicated to dismantling the Sicilian Mafia from his office in Palermo’s Palace of Justice. He was born in the Kalsa neighbourhood of central Palermo, a middle-class area that had suffered heavy destruction from aerial bombing during the Allied invasion of 1943. His father was a pharmacist, and his mother ran the family pharmacy next to the house where Paolo was born. As a boy, he played football on the Piazza Magione with his close friend Giovanni Falcone, who also grew up in the same neighbourhood. Though many of their childhood classmates later became mafiosi, both men chose to fight on the opposite side of the law. Borsellino studied law at the University of Palermo, graduating with honours in 1962, and after his father’s death he passed the judiciary exam in 1963. He worked in several Sicilian cities—Enna, Mazara del Vallo, and Monreale—before transferring to Palermo in 1975. There he joined the Antimafia Pool, a group of investigating magistrates created by Rocco Chinnici that included Falcone, Giuseppe Di Lello, and Leonardo Guarnotta. The pool shared information and responsibility to prevent any single magistrate from becoming a solitary target. Borsellino’s work culminated in the Maxi Trial of 1986–1987, which indicted 475 mafiosi and judicially confirmed the existence of Cosa Nostra. He was killed by a car bomb on 19 July 1992 in Via D’Amelio, near his mother’s house in Palermo, just weeks after Falcone’s assassination. Both men were posthumously awarded the Gold Medal for Civil Valor and named heroes of the last 60 years by Time magazine in 2006.

Reader's Guide

Borsellino’s significance is rooted in his decades-long career as a prosecuting magistrate in Palermo, where he dedicated himself to dismantling the Sicilian Mafia. Alongside his close friend Giovanni Falcone, he grew up in the same middle-class Palermo neighbourhood, where many childhood acquaintances later became mafiosi. Despite their differing political leanings—Borsellino was associated with a right-wing university group linked to the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement, while Falcone leaned toward communism—their shared opposition to the Mafia and their decision to join the magistrature forged a lasting partnership. Borsellino’s early investigations included the arrest of six Mafia members in 1980, among them Leoluca Bagarella, brother-in-law of boss Salvatore Riina. After his close collaborator, Carabiniere captain Emanuele Basile, was murdered that same year, Borsellino pursued the case and signed the arrest warrant for Francesco Madonia, making him a specific target. He became part of the Antimafia Pool, a group of magistrates created by Rocco Chinnici that shared information to diffuse risk. This pool’s work culminated in the Maxi Trial (1986–1987), where 475 mafiosi were indicted and most convicted, judicially confirming Cosa Nostra’s existence. Borsellino later headed the Public Prosecution Office in Marsala, continuing his campaign. His death by car bomb in 1992, weeks after Falcone’s assassination, underscored the mortal danger faced by anti-Mafia judges. Both men received the Gold Medal for Civil Valor and were named heroes of the last 60 years by *Time* magazine in 2006.

Did You Know?

• Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone played football together as boys on the Piazza Magione in Palermo.
• He was a member of the right-wing university organization FUAN, while Falcone drifted towards communism.
• Five police officers died alongside Borsellino in the Via D'Amelio bombing; the driver was the only survivor.