President Meloni addresses meeting of the Provincial Committee for Public Order and Security at the Prefecture of Palermo

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for being here.

I wish to greet and thank Minister Nordio, Minister Piantedosi, President [of the Parliamentary Anti-Mafia Committee] Colosimo, Mayor Lagalla, Prefects Pisani and Mariani, Generals Longo and De Gennaro, Public Prosecutor De Lucia and Police Commissioner Calvino. My thanks and greetings go to all the authorities present. We are here to review the efforts being carried out by the State and institutions at all levels to guarantee the safety and security of this region and to identify the most effective solutions in order to keep tackling and providing responses to the most urgent problems facing the citizens of Palermo.

Minister Piantedosi, whom I thank, already chaired a meeting of this Committee just under a month ago. Today, the Committee is meeting once again and I chose to be here because citizens’ safety and security is above all built by engaging in dialogue with local communities, and especially with those who guarantee security on the ground. I am also here to reiterate, once again, that this city and its citizens are a key focus for the Government and the institutions. We are doing this on a particularly important day for Palermo, and not only for Palermo. We’ll be going to the ‘Museo del Presente’ shortly to unveil the white Fiat Croma that Giovanni Falcone, Francesca Morvillo and Giuseppe Costanza were travelling in on 23 May 1992. Until now, this car had been kept at the Penitentiary Police training school in Rome and has now been temporarily transferred to the Falcone Foundation. This gesture has very, very important symbolic value, for which I must of course thank Minister Nordio. 

This is an important day in an important week which, as you know better than I do, will come to a close with the 34th anniversary of the Via D'Amelio bombing that killed Judge Paolo Borsellino and five of his bodyguards, both men and women. A day that clearly places an even greater responsibility upon us, because this city and its history have contributed to the identity and civic conscience of our nation as a whole. This is a place, perhaps more than anywhere else, where the State has shown that it is not willing to back down when really tough times come along and that it is not willing to back down in the face of mafia violence. We have clearly taken up this message and are trying to carry it forward; we are trying to reiterate this with the same determination today too, not only by celebrating our heroes of the past but also by seeking to understand how we can do our part to live up to that example and lesson.

We are well aware of what has been happening in certain areas of the city recently, especially in the north-western suburbs and several municipalities along the coast, from Isola delle Femmine to Capaci and Carini: bursts of Kalashnikov fire, intimidation of shopkeepers and business owners, petrol cans set alight to terrorise the public. We hadn’t seen such images for a long time and we have no intention of tolerating them. I am therefore also, and above all, here to say thank you, because the State hasn’t just stood by and watched. In the last few hours, Carabinieri from the Provincial Command of Palermo, to whom we would of course like to express our thanks, arrested 22 people – which then became 24 people unless I’m mistaken – suspected of playing a leading role in the rise in crime over recent months; in other words, the perpetrators and instigators of the attacks and acts of intimidation that have been terrorising the district of Tommaso Natale - San Lorenzo since November last year – the same people who put Kalashnikovs back on this city’s streets. This investigation, coordinated by the District Anti-Mafia Directorate headed by Public Prosecutor De Lucia, has led to charges ranging as far as extortion and the possession of military-grade weapons, aggravated by the use of mafia methods. 

In short, I believe this sends out an unequivocal message, which is especially fitting this week. Anyone who thinks they can drag Palermo backwards and terrorise honest workers will find themselves facing a determined State that will react and strike back. For this, I must thank Public Prosecutor De Lucia and all the prosecutors and judges, investigators and public security forces – so, let’s say, this entire committee. 

Furthermore, I wish to highlight that, alongside these investigations, the State has also taken immediate action on the ground. Prefect Mariani, whom I also thank, has ordered the creation of ‘red zones’ in the Sferracavallo and Zen neighbourhoods, which are the most vulnerable to such phenomena. Minister Piantedosi has assigned 90 extra officers to patrol the local area, and those are in addition to the 850 officers already assigned to this area since 2025. The Ministry of the Interior, together with Prefect Pisani, has earmarked further resources to hire more Local Police personnel for special patrols. In addition to the EUR 9 million already allocated to Palermo and the municipalities in its metropolitan area, there will be a further allocation of EUR 6 million – clearly very valuable resources that will be used to fund urban security projects and strengthen local policing. In particular, a trial of investigative video surveillance systems will soon be getting underway in the city’s most at-risk areas. The CCTV cameras in question are directly operated by the Mobile Squad in order to prevent and crack down on crime.

I believe these are important signs above all of our capacity for teamwork and our real and constant focus which, in my view, must be strengthened even further. We are here to discuss how we can further strengthen this together, also in order to continue providing the utmost support for victims of extortion and intimidation. The message must be clear: the State is present and will not let decent people down – the people who, every day, roll up their sleeves to create wealth and jobs in this region.

However, I believe we can succeed in doing even more and even better. I therefore think that this Committee should try and set itself the goal of finding operational solutions as quickly as possible in order to launch a special operation to monitor and maintain a permanent police presence in the area, starting with the neighbourhoods most at risk. I am thinking above all of the Zen neighbourhood, as well as others. This presence can obviously be provided by police forces, but not only – perhaps also with the involvement of military personnel and the army in joint operations; if necessary, we can also take action on the regulations governing ‘Safe Streets’ operations.

I believe this can be our next step in further strengthening the important work that has been done and is necessary to put a stop to the escalation of violence that part of this region is currently experiencing, carrying on the work we should be proud of.

From 2023 to date, 118 high-impact operations have been carried out here in Palermo, including those involving railway stations; more than 3,000 police officers have been deployed; over 14,000 individuals have been checked; including the red zones, around 45,000 individuals have been checked – 3,500 of them foreign nationals – with anyone deemed dangerous and with a criminal record being removed.

Over the last four years, there has been an almost 60% increase in assets confiscated from the mafia in the Metropolitan City of Palermo and returned to the local community – transferred to local authorities: 128 properties have been confiscated and allocated primarily to tackle the housing emergency. In other words, wealth has been seized from mafia organisations and made available to the community in order to help with the problems being faced by households, especially the most vulnerable households.

The State has not lowered its guard here and will keep striking organised crime’s economic interests, structures and ability to intimidate.

We will persist also by evolving, because mafia organisations clearly also change – they invest in the legal economy, exploit new technologies and seek new avenues for infiltration and new ways to influence the production system, which is why it is also crucial to keep strengthening investigative tools and supporting the work of all the institutions involved on this front.

I am therefore here above all to say thank you to all of you and, together with you, to send out a clear message: the State is present in Palermo and intends to be increasingly so, with determination and, certainly, with humility, but also consistently and resolutely, without ever backing down, because this is the most serious way we have of honouring the memory of those who have sacrificed their lives for freedom and legality in regions like this one. 

My sincere thanks.

[Courtesy translation]

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