Raffaele Lombardo
Raffaele Lombardo ; is a convicted criminal, formerly an Italian politician who was President of Sicily and former Member of the European Parliament for Islands with the Movement for the Autonomies and has sat on the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs.
In 2005 he split off from the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats to form the autonomist Sicilian-based Movement for Autonomy, after he had accused the UDC leadership of being too centralist. On 2008 he was elected as President of Sicily, obtaining over 65% of the regional votes and defeating Anna Finocchiaro of the Democratic Party. On 31 July 2012 he resigned from the presidency because he was under investigation for external contribution with mafia and pork-barrelling, as it appears that he had relationships with some figure of Cosa Nostra. Nevertheless, in the following elections he managed to have his 23 years old son Toti elected in the Sicilian Regional Assembly. On 19 February 2014, he was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for Mafia association.Education
