Giacomo Montalto

Transcription

Earth Wind Water Fire Internet On June 12th 2005, Steve Jobs made his famous speech at Stanford University, making the statement "Stay hungry, stay foolish". On hearing that statement, I thought about three things. One, how cool Steve Jobs is. But really, really, really cool. The astonishing thing is that he took his coolness and he put it inside a cellphone. The iPhone is cool. It looks like Steve Jobs. I still have a Blackberry because for me it was too cool. Now not so much, because everybody has one. (Applause) Even the Blackberry looks a lot like the founder of Blackberry. (Laughter) He's kind of a living Blackberry. But Steve Jobs was cool also because -- I'll briefly tell you his story. He founds Apple, gets kicked out from Apple and founds Pixar, which becomes another important company. He goes back to Apple. I have the feeling that Steve Jobs used to wake up saying: "Today I'm going to change the world, I want to change the world." He wanted to change it even when part of it was against him. I admired him for that. The second thing I thought, was that people who want to change the world are always on the other side of the world, on the other side of the ocean, in the United States, because in Italy changing the world is not part of our education. The third thing I thought is that I don't understand what happens when I connect my iPad to iTunes, I don't understand syncing. Not sure if it happens to you. (Applause) I don't understand "Stay hungry, stay foolish". When I connect, I hide under the table in fear. I'm from Palermo, and in Palermo, in case you don't know, there's the Mafia. A while back, some Mafiosi took the map of Palermo and they divided it into zones. They said: "This is where I command and make money." They make money with drugs, bribes, illegal contracts and blackmail ('pizzo'), because in Palermo that is culturally accepted. Grandma has a shop? She pays pizzo. Dad has a shop? He pays pizzo. Dad passes grandpa's shop on to you? You pay pizzo, it's always been like this. But something happened. For example, a group of guys wanted to create a cultural association. They called a friend accountant of theirs for the expenses, and he added taxes, electricity... and pizzo. Just to give you an idea. They said, "It is not possible!" They founded an anti-racket association, 'Bye Bye Pizzo', now a point of reference. I'd like to show you a picture of the Biondo Theatre in 2005. This is a piece I did for 'The Hyenas'. This is the gathering of the business owners of Palermo to talk about blackmailing. The situation is rather dramatic. But I'm not going to show you the second one, because there's another photo of the Biondo Theatre, in 2007. Here it is: this is what happened in 2 years time. The theatre is rather full, discussing the same topic, blackmailing. I'm going to change the subject. I'm going to talk to you about 3 people. There are many more, from my city and region. Rocco Chinnici was a magistrate who created the anti-Mafia pool. He was 50 years old here. He looks like 70. But changes occur over time. Rocco Chinnici was a magistrate who created the anti-Mafia pool. He used to say, perhaps due to his experience with terrorism, "If I'm a magistrate and I investigate on the Mafia, they kill me and my work is wasted. If there's 5 of us, they kill me but you keep going and my work is not lost." And so he called Falcone, Borsellino, Di Lello. He didn't want to have home protection, because he didn't want to disturb the other residents, He was killed on July 29th 1983, with a car bomb in front of his house. Next up is Giangiacomo Ciaccio Montalto, who I know very little of, because he was from Trapani. He was from Milan, but he had Sicilian roots and he had moved to Trapani. He had asked to be posted there because in those years Trapani held 40% of bank deposits of all Sicily. It was the Zurich of Sicily. He was also killed by the Mafia, in 1983. Then there's Giovanni Falcone, who's probably the most famous. The other day, I was in Palermo for the 20th anniversary of his death. I'm not going to tell you who Giovanni Falcone is. Thanks to him the magistrature got to know the Mafia, its structure, that there was a boss and a second-in-command. Thanks to him we had the Maxi Trial. After 30 years of efforts, Totò Riina and the others were sentenced. It's a unique case. The thing that always got me was the creation of a relay. I'm a magistrate. I investigate.They kill me. A colleague of mine takes over my work. He continues my investigation. They kill him. There was always someone else. This is a impressive picture, which I saw at the funeral of Dalla Chiesa. This is 1982. This is Dalla Chiesa's coffin. Behind, this man here, next to the mariner, or whatever he is, is Rocco Chinnici. He will be killed a year after Dalla Chiesa. Behind that pseudo-maniner, there's a man with a beard, Giovanni Falcone, who will be killed 20 years later. The funeral will be held in this same church, San Domenico. I had the fortune and honour of being there. So, what was going on in Palermo in those years? When a Mafioso was killed, they used to say: "As long as they kill each other, we don't care." This was the common Palermitan, who had nothing do to with the Mafia, but didn't fight it either. When someone who had nothing to do with the Mafia was killed, they said that he was a womaniser or he had gambling debts. In other words, he asked for it. They didn't want to acknowledge the fact. And the fight against the Mafia was the magistrates' concern. I'm going to show you myself while reading a letter of Mrs. Santoro, a neighbour of Giovanni Falcone, published in the Giornale di Sicilia a few years after the murder of Rocco Chinnici. "Regularly, every day, in the morning, early in the afternoon and in the evening, I'm literally tormented by the ongoing deafening sirens of the police cars escorting the judges. Now, I ask myself, how is it not possible to rest a little during a break, or at least watch a TV program in peace, when, even with the windows closed, the sound of the sirens is still loud?" The lady suggested also that the magistrates of the anti-Mafia pool could have moved to houses on the outskirts of the city, so as to maintain the tranquillity and the safety of us working citizens who, in the event of an attack, are always needlessly involved. Just think of the tragedy of Mrs. Santoro. While enjoying the theme song of 'Al Paradise', sung by Bonnie Bianco, (Music) she was disturbed by those assholes, magistrates of the anti-Mafia pool, who were having fun whizzing around in their car near her house, with the sirens at full blast. (Music) (Sirens) Well, this was a rather poor performance of mine, a little cheap. (Applause) But the problem was that this letter did not cause a scandal. I will now read to you - sorry. I shot a film about this. For 2 years, I did nothing but reading books on Mafia, even more than I used to do. I remember a friend of mine, here in Milan, at a restaurant, during umpteenth dinner in which I brought up the Mafia, he said, "Listen, let's do like old times, let's talk about women, about..." I'm going to read to you a couple of sentences that will make you understand the situation in which judges Falcone and Borsellino were fighting the Mafia. For example, the Cardinal of Palermo, Ernesto Ruffini, stated in the '50's: "The Mafia is a slanderous conjecture spread around by social-communists." "Good Lord!", he might have said after. (Laughter) The 'Europeo', April 16th 1982. (Applause). Andreotti wrote in the magazine 'Europeo' - unfortunately, I can't imitate the voice - "General Dalla Chiesa has been appointed prefect of Palermo, indicating a clear anti-Mafia action. Very good. But since the crime warning comes from Calabria and Campania, one might suspect an inconsistency of time and place." He concluded by writing: "In any case, good luck with your job". (Laughter) I don't know if they took -- Never mind. 1982, the opening of Carmela Minniti's Pamcar car dealer, in Catania. Two police officials, Francesco Abatelli and Agostino Conigliaro are present. The problem is that Carmela Minniti is the wife of boss Nitto Santapaola, who had killed Dalla Chiesa. In Palermo, not in Calabria. Four days before the murder of Dalla Chiesa, the mayor of Palermo, Nello Martellucci, states, "Fighting the Mafia is not the institutional duty of a mayor." In 1983, the Minister of Justice, Clelio Darida, states that instead of trying to defeat the Mafia, it's best to do whatever is possible to contain it within physiological limits. (Laughter) In 1983, the Prefect Emanuele De Francesco states, "The clans will not be eradicated until 2008." A bit of patience. (Laughter) De Gennaro, magistrate, "One or two years will be enough." In 1984, Easter Day, the Mafiosi Montalto, Guttadauro, and Greco indulge in an unforgettable feast in Section 7 of Palermo's Ucciardone prison. They were in jail, and the food came from the La Cuccagna restaurant, very famous in town, because Easter has to be celebrated. I could go on for hours, but I'm afraid of the clock. So, the question is, I ask myself, what drove them to become magistrates and fight the Mafia? I'll show you an interview with Giangiacomo Ciaccio Montalto. I hope you can hear it. It really got me. I didn't know him very well. I'll show it to you. GCM: "Since there are few of us who can spend time for this, and who have specific knowledge, the support of historical memory, if you will, and we don't have any means, in the end, our knowledge, which is not individual, but which stems from staying in office for a set period of time and in the end, these become our assets. This because no means are given to us, means that are used everywhere nowadays, which we don't have, and as a result the fight against the phenomenon is individualized." Interviewer: "And should this defeat the Mafia?" GCM: "We do not even remotely think that." So, when I heard those words, "we do not even remotely think that", I got chills. Because the question becomes: "But why on earth would you do that?" Montalto was born in Milan, had studied in Milan, and had moved, he had asked to posted at Trapani. Why on earth would you do that? A journalist asked Falcone a similar question. I've always envied this journalist, because had I had the chance to interview him for 'The Witness', I would have -- I always ask rather dull questions, but I ask them in such a sincere way that people don't say to me, "What kind of question is that?" They reply to me. And he asked him that question. I want to show you this famous interview. Interviewer: "Why on earth are you doing it?" Giovanni Falcone: "I just follow my sense of duty." Interviewer: "Have you ever had moments of demoralization, any doubts perhaps, the temptation of giving up this fight? GF: "No, never." It's striking, because he's always - (Applause) It's striking, because he's always formal, but obviously, this question -- he wasn't expecting it. Something that always got me about Falcone is that when he was thinking, he would always put himself like this. So why on earth did he do it? I still have time left to tell you. Falcone and Borsellino are preparing the Maxi Trial in the '80s. There's the risk of an attack. They take them to the prison on Asinara, it's a small island, in case you don't know. They work without computers, because they didn't have the means, like Montalto. Falcone and Borsellino were the historical memory. They go back to Palermo for the Maxi Trial. And there comes the bill, from Rome I think. "Did you go to Asinara? Did you stay in a room? Did you eat?" Borsellino and Falcone paid their stay at Asinara. That's how it was. The question really was, "Why on earth did they do it?" In those years, defeating the Mafia is like saying to an Italian -- I mean, it was impossible, it was really a crazy situation, it really was like saying to an Italian: "Don't follow the soccer league anymore, and follow the league of rock-ball throwing." Which exists, by the way. Meet the Lithuanian Žydrūnas Savickas, who won the final in Russia, though the champion is Mariusz Pudzianowski, Polish. (Laughter) I wanted a lighter touch with this joke. I've told you all of this just to say that I've always been looking beyond, to the other of the ocean for my Steve Jobs to admire, to follow, the man who wanted to change the world, and, in a way, he did. I realised only a few years ago that I was born in a city full of Steve Jobs, no offence -- (Applause) -- of people who got up -- (Applause) -- got up in the morning and said, "I want to change the world", even if the world, most of that world, was against them. Or at least, this is true for me, and maybe for all -- perhaps there is no need to look over the ocean to see that, fortunately, these people are everywhere, maybe even near our house, maybe in our family, I don't know. I shall end with a joke, just to defuse, since that is why I'm here, but, pardon me, I see that I still have minutes, I could shut up. It's the TED rule. I could've said something less stupid than this. (Laughter) Anyway, the sense was that, even if Falcone had had a Mac (Laughter) to fight the Mafia, the investigations surely would have been quicker, but I don't think that even he, a very intelligent man, would've understood syncing. (Laughter and applause) I want to finish by saying that, in 2007, the Biondo Theatre was full. Perhaps they paid a high price, perhaps it's not right, but something has changed. Not everybody died. Some people fought and did not die. What can I say... We're full of Steve Jobs. Never mind. I've ruined the ending. (Applause)