Cesare Terranova

Cesare Terranova
Born	25 August 1921 (1921-08-25) Petralia Sottana, Italy
Died	25 September 1979 (1979-09-26) (aged 58) Palermo
Cause of death	Killed by the Sicilian Mafia
Nationality	Italian
Occupation	Antimafia judge
Known for	Fight against the Mafia
Political party	Independent Left

Cesare Terranova (25 August 1921, Petralia Sottana – 25 September 1979, Palermo) was an Italian judge and politician from Sicily notable for his anti-Mafia stance. From 1958 until 1971 Terranova was an examining magistrate at the Palermo prosecuting office. He was one of the first to seriously investigate the Mafia and the financial operations of Cosa Nostra. He was killed by the Mafia in 1979. Cesare Terranova can be considered the predecessor of the magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino who were also killed by the Mafia in 1992.

Cesare Terranova was born on 25 August 1921, in Petralia Soprana, a small town located at about 70 km southeast of Palermo (Sicily). He entered the judiciary in 1946. In 1958 he became the head of the Examining Office at the Palermo Court. At the time the prosecution was separated in an examining phase (the so-called instruction phase) and a prosecuting phase. Terranova helped bring numerous Mafiosi to trial and subsequent imprisonment. He was a key figure in the Trial of the 114 which saw many prominent Mafiosi on trial for their role in the First Mafia War in the early 1960s that ended with the Ciaculli massacre on June 30, 1963. On 31 May 1965, he ordered the prosecution of 114 mafiosi.

However, despite Terranova’s efforts, the sentence of the Trial of the 114 on 22 December 1968, by the Court of Catanzaro was a disappointment and many prominent mafiosi were acquitted. All but 10 of the 114 defendants were acquitted. Angelo La Barbera got 22 years and Tommaso Buscetta 14 years for two so-called “white deaths” - the so-called lupara bianca which is used to refer to a mafia-style murder in which the victim's body is deliberately hidden.

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