Domenico Papalia dead, 'ndrangheta boss released after 49 years
Domenico Papalia, regarded as one of the leaders of the 'ndrangheta in the North, has died aged 81 at San Paolo Hospital in Milan after being released in July for health reasons.
Farewell to Domenico Papalia, Italy's longest-serving life prisoner
Domenico Papalia, originally from Platì and considered one of the principal bosses of the 'ndrangheta transplanted to the North in Buccinasco, died aged 81 at San Paolo Hospital in Milan, where he was hospitalised with a tumour. According to ANSA Cronaca. He was released last July after forty-nine years in prison, following a decision by the Bologna Surveillance Court, which had granted his release for serious health reasons.
Together with his brothers Rocco and Antonio, Papalia was considered one of the leaders of the Calabrian criminal family active in the southern belt of Milan. His judicial history began in 1976 with his conviction for the murder of boss Antonio D'Agostino, committed in Rome. This was followed in subsequent years by further convictions: for the murder of lawyer Pietro Labate in Milan in 1983 and as the instigator of the killing of prison educator Umberto Morbile, which took place in 1990 in Carpiano, in the Milan area.
In 2017 the Perugia court acquitted him in full on one of the charges, but the other convictions remained in force. Papalia, who always maintained his innocence, thus became the life prisoner with the longest period of detention in Italian history. During the years spent in a cell, he had undertaken a path of study and restorative justice.
News of his death was announced by Elisabetta Zamparutti, treasurer of the association Nessuno tocchi Caino, in a Facebook post. "This evening Domenico Papalia has passed away, condemned to life without possibility of parole and to a sentence that, after half a century in prison, had also become corporeal suffering," Zamparutti wrote. "We take comfort in the fact that he did not die in the grave of the prison of the living, which prison is, but in a different place where he was able to be surrounded by the affection of his loved ones."
The association had supported his release not only for his health conditions, but also for what it defines as his "innocence", understood as the profound change that occurred over the decades. "His kindness, not only that of good prison conduct, but of the charitable works that he carried out, even from prison, for others, starting with the most vulnerable, makes him an exemplary man," Zamparutti added. Papalia will be remembered on 1 September at the Spes contra spem workshop in Parma prison together with his fellow inmates.
Source: ANSA Cronaca