CALTANISSETTA, Italy - The assassination of the anti Mafia judge Mr Giovanni Falcone in May 1992 was carried out to prevent Mr Giulio Andreotti becoming president of Italy, a Mafia suspect told a court in Caltanissetta yesterday.
Giovanni Brusca (39) said he detonated 500 kg (1,100 lb) of TNT on the road on which Mr Falcone and his entourage were travelling. The huge blast killed the judge, his wife and three bodyguards.
"That served to block Andreotti's little political games and so prevented his election to the presidency," Brusca told the court.
Brusca was arrested last May and has agreed to co operate with magistrates.
Mr Andreotti (78) currently faces charges of complicity with the Mafia, and of ordering the murder of a journalist.
According to Brusca the killing in March 1992 of Mr Andreotti's right hand man in Sicily, Mr Salvo Lima, was also part of the strategy of Toto Runa, Mafia "boss of bosses". He said "this homicide was a clear message from our opposition".
"We wanted to close our relations with part of the political world in the hope of opening others with different movements," he added.