Even an intellectual like Leonardo Sciascia falls for it. In December 1986, Paolo Borsellino is elected chief prosecutor of the Public Prosecution Office in Marsala, beating the other candidate, Giuseppe Alcamo. Borsellino’s professionalism, demonstrated in the huge criminal trial against the Mafia, which took place at that time, dubbed the Maxi Trial, prevails over Alcamo’s seniority. It is a strong decision, which goes against the judiciary’s hardened tradition of assigning appointments based on length of service. The event does not go unnoticed. A few days later an article by Sciascia appears in the Corriere della Sera, entitled ‘Anti-Mafia Professionals’; in it the writer takes a critical stance towards those who distinguish themselves through their efforts against the Cosa Nostra, judging this phenomenon to be a kind of professionalism for career advancement purposes. ‘Anti-Mafia Professionals’ will become somewhat of a manifesto for those who revile the anti-mafia pool from that time on. Sciascia later acknowledged the short-sightedness of that assessment and stated that he had been misinformed. The danger he had glimpsed was that of an anti-mafia battle that might be all form and no content.

That’s the kind of thing Falcone and the other members of the pool had to endure for many long years. A scene that has always struck me is the day Antonino Caponnetto retires. His natural successor as head of the Prosecution Office in Palermo would be Giovanni Falcone. Antonino Meli, the public prosecutor in Caltanissetta, a magistrate at the end of his career, also submits his candidacy. A good man, no question, but lacking Falcone’s skills and strength. Once again, as with Borsellino in Marsala, it is merit acquired in the field versus length of service. Victory this time, however, is not awarded to the best candidate: fourteen votes for Meli, ten for Falcone. Five abstentions. Falcone’s disappointment and that of his supporters is enormous. It is not a conflict between two individuals but between two ways of viewing the Mafia. Falcone knows that Caponnetto’s departure means the end of the pool, and on that day he can’t hold back tears. He weeps in public because he can’t stand thinking about all those who had died, the police and carabinieri who had been killed, he can’t stand the idea that everything they had done was coming to an end because of a bureaucratic decision.

Being passed over internally weakens Falcone and encourages an outburst of external delegitimization. The anti-mafia magistrates are treated like superstars on the covers of illustrated magazines. Falcone is described as ‘supermagistrate’, ‘super-escorted’, ‘a legend’, ‘a phenomenon’, ‘Falconcrest’. ‘Dangerous political tendencies of the left’ are attributed to him and he is accused of being a communist supporter.