The man from the Messina Denaro clan held seminars at the university. The teacher: "I apologize to the students"

"I feel offended – says Maria Garro, a very active researcher of the Department – a colleague had introduced me as a prepared and reliable person, as president of an association that deals with the rights of prisoners. I knew he had had legal trouble, but I didn't imagine they were so serious. " Nicosia has a 10-year and 6-month sentence for drug trafficking, but evidently no one at the university asked him for his resume. And with great ease he went to the chair to give seminars. One had organized it on the case of Giuseppe Gulotta, who remained in the cell for 22 years as an innocent, accused of the massacre of the Alcamo Marina barracks.

"But this collaboration has been interrupted for some time now," explains the teacher, who today says she is "very bitter about what happened": "That person offended not only me, but all the students and people I invite into my classroom to give testimony of their commitment: members of the police force and family members of the victims of the mafia. "My task, as part of 'Legal psychology', is to prepare students to work in prisons. I am angry, offended – says the researcher – and I apologize to the students who participated in those seminars, I imagine that after reading the news of the arrest of Nicosia they felt disoriented, I also apologize to the parents of those young people, who have entrusted their children to the university".But after the bitterness, there must also be the moment of reflection. "We are increasingly facing a mafia of the unexpected – continues Maria Garro – it is an issue that concerns everyone, a theme to reflect on". While Nicosia, in front of the judge, tries to belittle: "I was just a provocateur, I mean – I'm not a mafioso". But he remains in prison.