Dead Graziano Mesina, bandit and myth. The escapes, the thanks and the new sentence
He was released from prison on Friday. He was at the San Paolo in Milan where he had been transferred from the Opera prison where he had been held for two years
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Key points
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He died before returning to his Orgosolo home. Graziano Mesina was 83 years old on 4 April. Less than 24 hours earlier there had been the order authorising his release from prison where he had ended up in 2021 after a 17-month absconding period. After his arrest (the last) in Desulo (in the province of Nuoro) at the end of a blitz by the Carabinieri and special units, he was transferred to prison. In the detention facility, over time, his health conditions deteriorated. In recent days, after a request from the lawyers, the go-ahead was given by the Milan Court of Supervision to release him from prison. Mesina was suffering from a serious illness. For health reasons, he had been transferred to the 'prison medicine ward of the San Paolo hospital in Milan'.
The former red primrose of Supramonte
.The existence of the former red primula of Supramonte has been particularly eventful with arrests, trials and convictions but also escapes.
For everyone he was Grazianeddu, a bandit who almost became a myth. Reconstructing his life parable, in the 1980s, were the storyteller's tales recorded on audio cassettes sold at stalls. Later on, some filmmakers and musicians also included Graziano Mesina in their work. In the 1990s, it was the group Sa Raza that dedicated an entire song to Mesina: 'Vero sardo G' by the group Sa Raza.
Between escapes and arrests
.In his past twenty-two escapes, ten of which were successful. These include the one in which he managed to take off his handcuffs and escape from a train, or the escape from a hospital water pipe. On 11 September 1966, from the San Sebastiano prison, the young Spanish deserter from the Foreign Legion managed to escape by scaling the 7-metre high prison wall and jumping into the central Via Roma in Sassari, then taking a taxi to Ozieri. Several kidnappings were attributed to the couple. The Spaniard later died in a gunfight with the police.
The role of mediator and grace
.In his life also the role of 'mediator' who brought little Farouk Kassam back to freedom. In 2004, the pardon and the beginning of a new life, with participation in public initiatives to tell the new course. And a new existence as a tour guide.
