Lea Garofalo (24 August 1971 – 24 November 2009) was an Italian justice collaborator and a victim of the 'Ndrangheta. Originally believed to have been dissolved in acid, she was murdered and her body burned.
Garofalo's murder is the subject of a British-Italian crime drama television series, The Good Mothers. The Good Mothers was released on 5 April 2023 on Disney+ and Hulu.
Biography
Lea Garofalo was the sister of Floriano Garofalo, a 'Ndrangehta boss whose affairs were centered in the town of Petilia Policastro, and the companion of Carlo Cosco, with whom she had a child named Denise.
On 7 May 1996, the Carabinieri of Milan captured Floriano Garofalo during a blitz held in Via Montello 6. On 7 June 2005, nine years after the arrest and absolution at the first degree process, Floriano was shot during an ambush in Pagliarelle, a faction of Petilla Policastro.
In 2002, Lea decided to collaborate with the Italian police, revealing remarkable information related to the internal feud that counter-posed the Garofalo and the Cosco families. Subsequently, she was interrogated by the Italian public prosecutor Salvatore Dolceto, who acknowledged the drug trafficking brought out by the Cosco brethren under the approval of the Italian boss Salvatore Ceraudo. Additionally, she claimed her brother-in-law Giuseppe Cosco, nicknamed Totonno U lupu, had killed Floriano in the courtyard of Lea's home. She also attributed a role to Cosco in the Garofalo's murder, giving a possible crime's first cause.
In 2002, Lea Garofalo and her daughter Denise were admitted to the Italian protection program () and were moved to Campobasso. Four years later, the protection was revoked due to the purported lack of importance of her contribution to the Italian magistrates. She was also described as not being a trustworthy testifier. She filed a petition to the Italian administrative justice, but the Tribunale Amministrativo Regionale confirmed the nullification act. Lea then appealed to the Council of State and got the right to be readmitted to the protection program as a justice collaborator, but not as a judiciary testifier. In April 2009, she suddenly ended any concerns with the protection program and chose to change her contacts in Petilia Policastro, while remaining in Campobasso in order to allow Denise to finish the scholastic year.
Failed kidnapping attempt
Carlo Cosco, who lived between Milan and Petilla Policastro, helped Lea to find a new home in Campobasso. On 5 May 2009, Massimo Sabatino introduced himself under deception into Lea's home to kidnap and kill her. Thanks to the timely intervention of Denise, who that day had not been at school, Lea was able to escape the ambush and go to the Carabinieri's station to report what had happened.
The investigation about the episode would be accelerated only after her death. On 4 February 2010, Carlo Casco was put under an injunction, along with Carlo Sabatino who had been charged for drug dealing and then imprisoned in Milan since December 2009. On 28 April 2009, Lea addressed a letter to the then President of Italy Giorgio Napolitano, in which she complained that although she had been legally qualified as a justice collaborator, she had received legal support which was lacking from any point of view, to have lost work and all her social relations, and that legal expenses had compelled her to sell her home.
Ambush and murder
On 20 November 2009, Cosco drew Lea to Milan with the excuse of talking with her about the future of Denise. Lea had been out of the Italian justice protection program for several months. On the evening of 24 November, Carlo brought Lea to an apartment, when Denise was not nearby. Vito Cosco, nicknamed "Sergio", was waiting in the hall. Lea was killed and her body was put into the hands of Carmine Venturino, Rosario Curcio, and Massimo Sabatino.
Her body was moved to San Fruttuoso in Monza, where it was completely burned over three days. With regards to the disposal of her body, Carmine Venturino, after his first degree sentence, began to reveal a series of details which allowed the Italian police to find Lea's bones and more than 2,000 other fragments.
Investigations and processes
The investigations were conducted by the Direzione Distrettuale Antimafia of Milan and by Investigative Nucleus Homicide Team of the Arma dei Carabinieri of Milan. In October 2010, the Italian magistrate signed the detention mandates for Carlo Cosco, Massimo Sabatino, Giuseppe Cosco «Smith», Vito Cosco «Sergio», Carmine Venturino and Rosario Curcio. On 24 February 2010, they also arrested two others, native of Cormano, who had sold the land of San Fruttuoso before the discovery of Lea's remains.