'Free to choose' bill for mafia wives and kids to opt out becomes law

A so-called 'free to choose' bill

offering legal and fruitful alternative lives to the children

and wives of mafiosi became law when it won final approval in

the Senate Wednesday.

The law, the fruit of a move by a minors' court chair in the

Sicilian city of Catania, will enable Mafia offspring up to the

age of 25 and the female partners of mafiosi to opt out of Mob

life and be free to build legal futures for themselves instead

of following their father's and men's footsteps into organised

crime.

The President of the Parliamentary Anti-Mafia Commission, Chiara

Colosimo, said:

"Today, Parliament is translating into law a dream that for

years seemed impossible. That dream is called Free to Choose. It

is a strong, just law, born from the courage of those who

decided to break the fate that crime sought to impose.

"Today, I think of the faces, the gazes, and the stories I have

encountered over the years. Stories of pain, tears, and fear,

but also of an extraordinary thirst for freedom that have

remained imprinted on my skin and in my conscience.

"They are the ones who have given strength to this battle. "This

law is born from listening, from suffering transformed into

responsibility, from the idea that the State must be present

precisely where crime claims to decide people's fate.

"Today, we don't just celebrate the approval of a law; today, we

celebrate the victory of freedom."

Don Ciotti, an anti-mafia priest and campaigner, voiced

"enormous joy for a law protecting those who leave mafia

environments".

Father Ciotti also spared a thought for the late Pope Francis,

who had encouraged some women in this situation.

"There are laws that speak the language of human relationships,"

he said.

"Every good law should do so, but some are created precisely to

reconnect the legal system with people's lives, when the

regulatory framework has become too narrow to contain what

happens within it.

"The law approved today is a source of enormous joy for those of

us who, for years, have experienced the problems of women,

children, and young people seeking their freedom and dignity far

from their original mafia environments, even at the cost of

facing real threats and risks."

Ciotti, the president of the anti-Mob Libera and Gruppo Abele

groups, went on:

"We are pleased with the great political consensus reached on

this civilized law, which will have significant implications for

the lives of so many people.

"The possibility of changing one's registry, in particular, will

be a valuable protection that we hope will encourage those who

wish to leave certain criminal environments but fear being

hunted down and persecuted," Don Ciotti emphasized.. "Our

thoughts," concluded the president of Libera and Gruppo Abele,

"go to Pope Francis, who, a few months before his death, met in

the Vatican with a delegation of women who had gone through

similar life experiences.

"He encouraged them, telling them they were not alone.

"Today, those words ring even truer, and I am certain that Pope

Francis is smiling with us."

Premier Giorgia Meloni said the new law innovates anti-mafia

legislation and henceforth the Italian state would offer a free

alternative to those born into a mafia family.

"The unanimous approval in Parliament of the law that allows

women and children to be removed from mafia families represents

a fundamental step towards innovating the anti-mafia legislation

crafted by (slain anti-Mafia magistrates) Giovanni Falcone and

Paolo Borsellino and making it increasingly solid and

effective," she said.

"The law," the Prime Minister emphasized, "introduces a new

prevention tool, which adds to the existing legislative and

operational provisions regarding repression and collaboration.

"The State will offer a free alternative to those born into a

mafia family but who do not wish to grow up to become members of

the mafia.

"Children, young people, and women will have the opportunity to

choose their own path, and the State will guarantee them the

protection they need to build a free, honest, and safe life

elsewhere.

"I want to thank," Meloni added, "President Colosimo, the

Anti-Mafia Commission, and all those who promoted this

initiative and who have carried it forward with perseverance and

determination.

"With this law, on the eve of the thirty-fourth anniversary of

the Via D'Amelio massacre (that killed Bosellino two months

after Falcone), we once again renew our commitment to honoring

with deeds the memory of those who sacrificed everything to free

Italy from the cancer of the mafia."

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