Sicilian Vespers, Sicily 1992

In 1992 three glorious units of the Parachute Brigade Folgore, the 185th Artillery, 186th and 187th are reconstituted.

It is therefore an important year. 1992, one year during which the operation begins "Sicilian Vespers which records the arrival in Sicily of Italian Paratroopers with the aim of helping to safeguard the State, after the attacks on judges Falcone and Borsellino.

The context

The presence of the army in Sicily was made necessary in support of the normal police forces after the tragic series of events that bloodied the island in 1992, such as the mafia attack that caused the death of judge Giovanni Falcone, killed together with his escort in the attack on 23 May called the Capaci massacre. About two months later it was followed by another bombing, which resulted in the death of Judge Paolo Borsellino and his escort on 19 July, known as the Via d'Amelio massacre.

A partial attempt to employ military personnel with public order duties was carried out a few days earlier, for a short period in Sardinia with the operation called “Forza Paris” (July 1992), on the occasion of the kidnapping of Farouk Kassam, but it was more a matter of training in patrols and raids in inaccessible environments, a possible refuge for the outlaws.

Operation Sicilian Vespers was the first large-scale intervention, for reasons of public order, carried out by the Italian Armed Forces in the post-war period, and was also numerically the largest.

This was the first intervention in large forces, for reasons of public order, by the Italian Armed Forces in the post-war period, and it was also the largest in terms of numbers.

The dispatch of the Italian Army was decided on 24 July 1992 by the Council of Ministers chaired by Giuliano Amato, with the Legislative Decree “Urgent measures to combat organised crime in Sicily” no. 349 of 25 July 1992, which authorized the use of the military for security and territorial control operations and for the prevention of organized crime, and conferred on military personnel some functions specific to the qualification of public security officers and agents.

The government, after heated parliamentary debates, received the green light from Parliament and the Chief of Staff of the Army, General Goffredo Canino, agreed with the Chief of Police, Prefect Vincenzo Parisi, the operational methods of intervention, including the control of fixed positions.

Coordination was entrusted to the individual Provincial Committees for Order and Security, led by the prefects, in which the participation of an Army officer was foreseen.

The military operation

Sunday 26 July 1992, late morning.

While all of Italy goes to the seaside, four military aircraft of the 46th Air Brigade, two C-130s and two G-222s, await the paratroopers of the Folgore on the scorching runways of Pisa airport.

The amaranth Basques arrive from Siena and Livorno on military vehicles, mingling with the cars and campers of holidaymakers to attack Castiglioncello and Tirrenia.

The airport is swarming with journalists. As per tradition, the Paratroopers are keeping their mouths shut.

Departure around 3pm. Landing at Punta Raisi an hour later.

We go to Palermo, but it is not a trip or a reward trip, it is a military operation, with military paratroopers equipped and with war weapons, on Italian soil.

For the Folgore an extraordinary opportunity to prove its greatness on national territory as well.

Since 26 July 1992, belts, night ambushes, mobile checkpoints, surveillance of prominent personalities, and constant cooperation with the police have been guaranteed by the sacrifice of officers, non-commissioned officers and paratroopers who, by undergoing heavy and continuous shifts, demonstrate an uncommon sense of duty.

In summary, the purpose of combating organised crime was to:

• restricting freedom of action to illegal activities
• ensuring a secure and visible presence of state forces on the territory
• raking of suburban areas
• cordoning off urban areas to allow special police interventions
• carry out roadblocks/checks
• ensure the security of persons and facilities of the state apparatus, potential targets of criminal threats
• enable police forces to perform prevention and repression tasks of a more specialised nature

On 14 August, more than 8,000 soldiers were operating in Sicily, deployed in the various cities.

In Palermo, the most difficult task and in the capital of Sicily, the General Staff deploys its best soldiers: 1,000 Parachutists of the Folgore Brigade and 500 lancers from the 6th Gruppo Lancieri di Aosta in Palermo.

The operation severely affected the operations of Cosa Nostra and contributed to the arrest of numerous bosses.

Operation Sicilian Vespers was an absolute success, the military carried out or participated in:

• 1,647 rakes
• 21,512 patrol activities
• 39,014 roadblocks
• 62,847 building controls
• 665,407 vehicle inspections
• 813,439 persons identified
• 786 target belt activities
• 1,225 people handed over to the P.S. authorities.
• 168 weapons and 3,113 kg of explosives seized

We arrive in December 1992, the Parachute regiments are still in Sicily, but the Horn of Africa calls: they are rotated in order to allow them to be sent to Somalia, land ravaged by civil war and famine. What will be the historic IBIS operations is at the gates.