of Felice Cavallaro
Lorenza Guttadauro, 44 years old, three children and a husband recently released. The criminal lawyer defends relatives on trial by dodging the restrictions of 41 bis, the tough prison: she is the only relative of the godfather who can see him.
PALERMO – Everyone was waiting for the lawyer-niece of Matteo Messina Denaro to materialize in Caltanissetta. But Lorenza Guttadauro, daughter of a sister of the boss, wife of an accomplice sentenced to 10 years on appeal and sister of another suspect already arrested, did not show up. Like the uncle, the massacre perpetrator who skipped the audio-video connection from the prison of L’Aquila.
Ignorant of the absence of the lawyer just appointed as the sole legal representative. In turn, determined to leave the field of yet another ongoing trial for the massacres of Capaci and via D’Amelio to two public defenders for one more hearing. But, sooner or later, having been indicated by her uncle, she will have to show up and then, besides the public prosecutors, she will find herself facing a colleague linked to a very different family.
On one side, lawyer Guttadauro, tall, dark, with not long hair, three children, a life dedicated to relatives on trial. A life and a profession marked. On the other side, lawyer Fabio Trizzino, the son-in-law of Paolo Borsellino, husband of the eldest of the magistrate's three children, Lucia. His profession is also channeled in a one-way direction, dealing for 25 years on behalf of his in-laws Fiammetta and Manfredi to seek the truth for the Borsellino family in courtrooms where glaring mistakes and cover-ups have been made. Parallel stories and experiences that may intersect as they never have before.
With Trizzino shuttling from Rome because Lucia Borsellino no longer wanted to know about Palermo. And Lorenza remained in her city, 44 years old, home and studio in Palermo, a stone's throw from Piazza Tosti, the same building built by her grandfather where the fugitive Leoluca Bagarella stayed. Intertwined and mysteries, perhaps coincidental. Minimized by her as she continues to deal mainly with family troubles.
Of the investigations that have affected mother Rosalia, one of the boss's sisters who ended up in the Pagliarelli prison, and her husband Girolamo Bellomo, arrested in the Eden 2 operation, sentenced to 10 years on appeal, sentence served, recently released. A woman who remained alone for a long time, seeing her man in court for years as a lawyer and in meetings as a wife.
Same story for brother Francesco, assisted before the judges and visited in the visiting room. Like uncle Gaspare Como, husband of another sister of the boss. And this will also happen with the most famous "uncle" of Sicily. We will see her in court on the defense bench, but she will also be able to overcome the armored gates of the Abruzzo super prison, crossing as if the "41 bis" regime, which prevents direct contact between inmates and family members, did not exist. But not for the lawyer. Even if a direct niece. And this raises some doubts, unsettling many investigators and magistrates who have been engaged in the past in the hunt for the boss. The concern, similar to that of colleagues who are now sifting through the boss's secrets, is summarized by a former deputy of the Anti-Mafia Directorate of Palermo, Massimo Russo: "We fear the mockery and checkmate of the godfather just arrested." Born and raised in Mazara del Vallo, for 13 years a hound of the elusive Messina Denaro, together with police officers of the caliber of Giuseppe Linares, Russo identifies the appointment of the lawyer-niece as "a move that confounds the State, revealing a regulatory void." The reference is precisely to the tight constraints of the so-called "hard prison," as he explains: "Constraints that widen, forcing us to trust the professional ethics of lawyer Guttadauro. But if the 41 bis was born to exclude relationships with the outside world of the prison and, above all, possible underground agreements with relatives even during visits, we should also raise the issue of a relative-lawyer. Something that no one has ever done. Indeed, Matteo Messina Denaro found the 'void' of the norm. And he fills it. Confounding the opponent, the State, at risk of checkmate.
Open question, even if no one can insinuate doubts about the ethics of the lawyer who began her career in the studio of Rosalba Di Gregorio, a criminal lawyer credited with revealing the first mistakes and the cover-up in the Borsellino case. At that time, Lorenza Guttadauro was doing her apprenticeship. Then she went on her own, while her father, Filippo, was serving his 14 years in prison precisely because he was mentioned in the "pizzini" exchanged between Matteo the uncle and Bernardo Provenzano. Cited in code, with a number, "121".