State-Mafia hearings postponed in Palermo until mid-November
Former politicians face charges for 'deal-making with Mafia' Palermo, October 29 - Highly anticipated hearings into alleged negotiations between Italian State officials and the Mafia were adjourned Monday until mid-November. Preliminary hearings for 12 defendants, which will be held behind closed doors despite strong public interest, were postponed to November 15 to deal with several procedural requests including a defence demand for time to review new documents filed by the prosecution. The complex case stems from an investigation by Antonio Ingroia, a deputy chief prosecutor in Palermo, into suspicions that high-ranking politicians and police negotiated with Cosa Nostra to try to stop a series of bomb attacks that claimed the lives of anti-mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino in 1992. ...