In exchange for the information they deliver, pentiti receive shorter sentences for their crimes, in some cases even freedom. In the Italian judicial system, pentiti can obtain personal protection, a new name, and some money to start a new life in another place, possibly abroad. This practice is common in other countries as well. In the United States, criminals testifying against their former associates can enter the Witness Protection Program, and be given new identities with supporting paperwork. The Italian Mafia bosses Buscetta and Francesco Marino Mannoia were allowed to live in the U.S. under new identities in the Witness Protection Program when Italy did not yet have such a program.
Cases
Among the most famous Mafia pentiti is Tommaso Buscetta, the first important pentito. He was helpful to judge Giovanni Falcone in describing the Sicilian Mafia Commission or Cupola, the leadership of the Sicilian Mafia in the 1980s, and identifying the main operational channels that the Mafia used for its business. In Italy, important successes were achieved with the cooperation of pentiti in the fight against terrorism, by Carabinieri general Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa. In the period until the 1990s, there were very few, albeit significant, pentiti such as Tommaso Buscetta, Salvatore Contorno, Antonino Calderone, etc. However, this changed significantly during the early 1990s. From 1992, over a thousand mafiosi have agreed to collaborate with Italian justice.
In some cases, pentiti have invented stories to obtain reductions in jail time. A famous case regarded the popular TV anchormanEnzo Tortora, who was falsely accused of cocaine trafficking and Camorra membership by a pentito named Giovanni Melluso. Tortora was detained for years before being cleared; he developed cancer and died soon after the case was finally solved, some say because of the emotional stress of his imprisonment.
Important ''pentiti'' of the Sicilian Mafia
Leonardo Vitale was the first to become a pentito in 1973, although originally his confessions were not taken seriously.
Tommaso Buscetta was the first high-profile pentito against the Sicilian Mafia. He started to collaborate with the anti-Mafia prosecutor Giovanni Falcone in 1984. His testimony was of crucial importance in the landmark Maxi Trial of 1986–87.
Salvatore Contorno started to collaborate in October 1984, following the example of Buscetta.
Antonino Calderone started to collaborate in April 1987.
Francesco Marino Mannoia started to collaborate in October 1989. He was the first pentito who used to belong to the winning faction of the Second Mafia War.
Giovanni Brusca, the murderer of anti-Mafia prosecutor Falcone, began to collaborate in 1996.
Salvatore Cancemi, another of Falcone's assassins, turned himself to the Carabinieri in July 1993 and immediately began collaborating.
Gaspare Mutolo, started to collaborate in prison in May 1992 and was the first mafioso who spoke about the connections between the Cosa Nostra and Italian politicians.
Other important ''pentiti''
Pasquale Barra, the first pentito and high-ranking member of Raffaele Cutolo's Nuova Camorra Organizzata.
Pasquale Galasso, former high-ranking member of the Nuova Famiglia faction of the Camorra.
Carmine Alfieri, former Boss of Bosses of the Nuova Famiglia.
Carmine Schiavone, former high-ranking member of the Casalesi clan.
In some southern Italian communities, the Mafia is a significant presence, and in these areas becoming a pentito is tantamount to a death sentence. Indeed, the Mafia family of Totò Riina based in the town of Corleone habitually extended this sentence to cover relatives of the pentito. For example, all of Tommaso Buscetta's family was killed in a long series of murders spanning many years. Since the pentito himself is physically protected by the police, retribution on his family is common; therefore, when there are rumors of a mafioso collaborating with the police, the family usually condemns that person immediately to avoid retaliation. For example, when Vincenzo Sinagra began collaborating with the authorities his entire family disowned him.
Commentary on the term
It is often pointed out that the correct term should be collaboratori di giustizia, or "those who collaborate with justice". The word pentito implies a moral judgment that is considered inappropriate for the courts of justice to make.
Criticism
In Italy, pentiti have come under criticism because of the favours they receive and because:
they would invent stories to receive benefits;
they would invent stories to persecute people they do not like;
their employment is seen as a reward for criminals, instead of a punishment;
Criticism comes most often from politicians, especially when they or an associate of theirs is under investigation for connections to the Mafia. It is therefore interpreted by some as an attempt to discredit one's own accusers, instead of a genuine preoccupation of the common citizen's civil rights. Luciano Violante, a politician and former president of the Italian Antimafia Commission, countered that "We do not find information about the Mafia among nuns." Laws have been passed that bar pentiti from obtaining substantial benefits unless their revelations are later deemed new material, and lead to concrete results. There have been proposals to accept revelations only for six months, after which their revelations could not be used in court. This has had the effect of reducing the appeal of becoming a pentito since a single mafia associate does not know whether his knowledge will be useful to the prosecutors at the time of defection. Defection from the mafia in Italy have subsequently sharply reduced from the height reached in the early nineties, and results in the fight against mafia have reduced accordingly.
