CC- DEMOCRACY AND JUSTICE – Mafia victims remembrance Day

On 13 March 2025 the students took part to  the event «Face to Face with Organized Crime
Testimonies from those on the front lines against the mafia and from those who bring its reality to the public’sattention». Speakers at the Event:

Giulio Buttarelli
Lieutenant in the Carabinieri Corps, currently serving in the Investigative Unit of the Provincial Command of Milan, with over 30 years of experience in complex investigations. He is specialized in homicide cases, forensic analysis, and advanced data analysis techniques. Since April 2009, he has served in the Homicide Division of the Milan Carabinieri Investigative Unit, working on 43 homicide cases—all of which resulted in convictions upheld by final judgment (100% case resolution rate).

Christian Persulich
Since 2023, CEO of BITCORP SRL, a company specialized in developing software for institutional intelligence and Cyber Security. He is a technical consultant for various international publications on investigative techniques and a lecturer at IESE Business School in Munich. Until 2022, he was an investigator in the Carabinieri Corps, serving as a non-commissioned officer in the Homicide Division of the Carabinieri Investigative Unit at the Provincial Command of Milan. Among the cases he worked on and helped solve was the murder of Lea Garofalo, a justice collaborator.

Andrea Giambartolomei
Editor at lavialibera, born in the province of Bergamo in May 1985.
He began his journalism career at Giornale di Bergamo. After completing a Master's degree in Journalism at the University of Turin, he collaborated with La Repubblica, Ansa, and Il Fatto Quotidiano.
He has been with lavialibera since its founding, focusing primarily on issues related to crime and justice.

They discussed the case of Lea Garofalo, a symbol of resistance against the mafia: she was a former associate of the 'Ndrangheta, the powerful Calabrian organized crime syndicate. Born in 1974 in Petilia Policastro (Calabria), she was the partner of Carlo Cosco, a known member of the 'Ndrangheta in Milan. After years of witnessing violence and criminal activity, Lea decided to cooperate with Italian authorities as a witness of justice (collaboratrice di giustizia).

In 2002, she began providing critical testimony about internal feuds, drug trafficking, and the inner workings of the Cosco clan. Her decision put her and her daughter Denise in extreme danger, leading to years of life under protection, often marked by institutional neglect and precarious conditions.

In 2009, Lea Garofalo was lured to Milan under the pretense of seeing her daughter. Once there, she was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered by members of the Cosco family, including her former partner. Her body was burned and dissolved in acid in an attempt to eliminate all traces.

Thanks to the courage of her daughter Denise, who testified against her own father and uncles, justice was served. In 2013, six individuals, including Carlo Cosco, were sentenced to life imprisonment for her murder.