Giovanni Falcone was a Sicilian prosecuting magistrate born in Palermo, Sicily in 1939.
He spent most of his professional life trying to overthrow the power of the Mafia in Sicily. After a long and distinguished career, culminating in the famous Maxi Trial, he was killed by the Mafia in May 1992, on the motorway near the town of Capaci.
Son of Arturo Falcone, director of a chemical laboratory, and Luisa Bentivegna, Giovanni studied Law after a brief period of study at Livorno’s naval academy. He graduated in 1961 and began to practice law before being appointed a judge in 1964.
Falcone moved to penal Law after serving as a district magistrate. Shortly after the murder of Judge Cesare Terranova, Falcone started to work for the investigative branch of the Prosecution Office (Ufficio istruzione) in Palermo. In May 1980, the chief of the office, Rocco Chinnici appointed Falcone to investigate a major heroin-trafficking network.
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