Referendum, pm Di Matteo: 'Mafiosi and big criminals will vote Yes'. Controversy breaks out

"There will be good people who will vote Yes, of course, but the mafiosi, the big criminals will vote Yes". This was said by the magistrate Nino Di Matteo speaking in Rome at the presentation of the book by Marco Travaglio, editor of Il Fatto Quotidiano, 'PERCHÉ NO - Guida al REFERENDUM su magistratura e politica in poche e semplici parole'. "When the mafiosi, those who reason, think that a political party can go against the judiciary, they have already decided for whom to vote. We have experience of this, even consecrated in judgments that have become final, when in 1987 certain parties, the Psi and the Radicals, were supporters of the reform on the civil responsibility of magistrates: the mafiosi were so enthusiastic that, even changing their inclinations towards the DC, they decided to vote for the Psi and the Radicals," recalled Di Matteo.

Giuseppe Conte, Marco Travaglio e Nino Di Matteo in occasione della presentazione del libro “Perché no. Guida al referendum su magistratura e politica in poche semplici parole” di Marco Travaglio, Roma, Domenica 1 Marzo 2026 (Foto Roberto Monaldo / LaPresse) Giuseppe Conte, Marco Travaglio and Nino Di Matteo during the presentation of the book “Perché no. Guida al referendum su magistratura e politica in poche semplici parole” by Marco Travaglio, Rome, Sunday, March 1, 2026 (Photo by Roberto Monaldo / LaPresse)

Speaking before the conclusions of M5s leader Giuseppe Conte, Di Matteo remarked: "When a mafioso listens, sees politicians dedicating the reform to Silvio Berlusconi, some of them even remember that before 1994 one of the founders of the party (Forza Italia, ed.) was Marcello Dell'Utri, who was definitively sentenced for mafia. Somebody remembers that Berlusconi himself, to whom the reform is dedicated today, according to a final sentence, had made a pact, through Dell'Utri, with the most important mafia families of Palermo, of mutual support, a pact of which Dell'Utri was the guarantor, and which worked for at least 18 years and which involved a yearly disbursement of hundreds of millions in favour of the Cosa Nostra, which with those hundreds of millions at that time was able to organise attacks, kill politicians and magistrates. "They vote yes because the yes vote is based on the assumption of the need to weaken the judiciary, to denigrate it, and the mafia needs the judiciary to be delegitimised in the eyes of the people. It is a rule that can be deduced from any minimal experience of investigations or mafia trials,' he concluded.

"Politics wants more space than the judiciary: it means altering the fundamental constitutional arrangements, it means redistributing powers. If we have more politics and less justice it means spaces of impunity for politicians, no control for politicians. They take offence when you mention Gelli and the renaissance plan but in today's interview (with Il Fatto quotidiano, ed.) his son claimed copyright. There are intellectual rights and they must be protected'. This was said by M5s leader Giuseppe Conte speaking in Rome at the presentation of Marco Travaglio's book, 'PERCHÉ NO - Guida al REFERENDUM su magistratura e politica in poche e semplici parole'.

'Reading the words of the public prosecutor Nino Di Matteo one feels only great, infinite pain. It is the delirium of an invader animated by prejudice who has no respect for intelligence and history. It is not even the case to refute such a ridiculous and superficial analysis. By the same yardstick, one could say that in the 1990s a left-wing mayor of Palermo elected with 75 per cent of the votes had attracted the votes of the mafia. That would be ridiculous, indeed. Here, however, we are beyond that and there is no outrage that can contain such infamy'. This was stated by Giorgio Mulè, vice-president of the Chamber of Deputies and head of Forza Italia's referendum campaign for the Yes vote.

"Increasingly nervous, arrogant and violent some of the No gentlemen. On 22 and 23 March, with millions of YES votes, the Italians will give them a good lesson in education and democracy'. This was written on X by the League, commenting on today's words of magistrate Nino Di Matteo.