Biography of Rita Atria

4 September 1974 26 July 1992 Rita Atria is a witness of Justice, indirect victim of the mafia. He was born in Partanna (Tp) on September 4, 1974, died in Rome on July 26, 1992. Daughter of Jeanne Caldwell and don Vito Atria (officially sheep rancher, actually small local boss), Rita grows in this municipality as pastors is transformed over time into a place of money of the drug traffic. Over the years the rise to power of the Corleonesi, Partanna, Alcamo and others of Belice, serve as the backdrop to the struggles for power between various rival clans. Vito Atria is a old-school mobster, is part of that mob that whispers to the policy but who doesn't want to get their hands dirty with drugs and that, at the time, it means going against the Corleonesi who are invading the trapanese "refineries" of heroin.

From torturers to victims

In 1985, two days after the marriage of his son Nicholas with Piera Aiello, don Vito is killed in an ambush, a victim himself of the bloody rise of the Corleonesi at the top of Cosa Nostra. Rita has only 11 years, it's a girl. The death of a parent, the brother Nicholas takes on the role of breadwinner and the love and devotion for that father mafioso, yet father, pours out of this single male figure to her neighbour and Piera, his sister-in-law. Nicholas is a small fish with the drug buy respect and power. As their relationship heats up and accomplice, and transform the "little Darling" (girl) Rita in a confidant. It is in these moments of fraternal intimacy that Nicholas reveals many secrets: the names of the people involved in the murder of his father, the motive, who's in charge in Partanna, who decide life and death. The same boyfriend of Rita, Calogero Cascio, a young man of his country engaged in the collection of lace, gives her the opportunity to become aware of facts that should not know. In June of 1991 also Nicholas Atria dies in an ambush. The sister-in-law of Rita, present at the murder of her husband, decides to denounce the murders to the police, is the month of July. After moving to secret location of Piera and her children, Rita Atria remains in Partanna alone, rejected by her boyfriend (because sister-in-law a regret) and his mother, with whom he never had a good relationship, which laments the lost family honor because of Piera. A few months later (November), the 17-year-old Rita Atria, to give voice to his desire for revenge, revenge on that "world" coward in which he chose to be born but who chooses to reject, follows the example by asking the State Justice for the murder of his father and brother. Much needed revenge, little by little, becomes "want to see other women denounce and reject the mafia".

Confessions of a "little Darling"

Is the then Procurator of Marsala, Paolo Borsellino (also collaborate Alessandra Camassa, Morena Plazzi and Massimo Russo), to collect statements of Rita Atria which, over time, has scored in his diary the confidences wank by his brother. The depositions of Rita and Piera allow justice to shed light on the gears governing mafia clans of Trapani and of Valle del Belice, outlining scenarios of bloody feud--more than 30 murders-between the family Ingoglia and Accardo. Their statements also allow to open an investigation on discussed operated by Mr Vincenzino Culicchia, Mayor of Partanna for over thirty years. Moved to Rome under protection and false name, Rita live isolated, forced to frequent changes of residence. Not again the mother denies to the affront to the family, despite the attempt by Banks to ensure that Joan accepts her daughter's choices. With Rita Borsellino, however, establishes a confidential report. In "Uncle Paul" as he begins to call him, is a gentle man with whom you feel safe.

July 1992

The killing of Judge Borsellino (massacre in via d'amelio) which took place on 19 July 1992 Rita throws into turmoil. On July 26, one week after the death of "Uncle Paul", Rita Atria commits suicide by jumping from the seventh floor of the building in which he lives. "Now that he's dead, no one can understand that Purse gap that has left in my life. […] Before fighting the mafia you must make a self-examination of conscience and then, after defeating the mafia inside you, you can fight the mafia that's in the lap of a friend, the mafia are us and our wrong way to behave. Borsellino, you died for what he believed but am without you are dead". Rita's funeral is celebrated in Partanna, neither the mother nor the country involved in the commemoration of this young witness of Justice. Every few months the same Joan destroys with a hammer the tombstone of his daughter on the family plot, to erase the uncomfortable presence of a "language" longa and friend cops "who failed to line up an Honorable conduct. For a long time the memory of Rita misses peace, and for a long time his tomb has a picture to remember the "little Darling", buried in the same cemetery along with some of those men who denounced and that have a name, a picture, a memory.
Article contributed by the team of collaborators.