Italian Senate President Piero Grasso served as a judge for the Mafia trial in the 1980s that yielded convictions for hundreds of mobsters. Grasso told La Stampa newspaper that Mafia turncoats had revealed that Riina - who died last Friday aged 87 in a prison hospital - ordered a hit on him in 1992. Investigators have said Riina commanded the Mafia during 23 years on the run. Grasso said the mob boss targeted him after prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino were killed by bomb attacks that year. He was convicted of some 100 murders, many masterminded by him to eliminate rival Mafia bosses, according to prosecutors.

Source: Irish Independent November 19, 2017 02:26 UTC