{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,4]],"date-time":"2026-05-04T12:07:33Z","timestamp":1777896453114,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":9,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,2,21]],"date-time":"2019-02-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1550707200000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Med Leg J"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2019,3]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>The Sicilian Mafia is a criminal organisation founded in Sicily which is an island south of the Italian mainland in the Mediterranean Sea. Until recently, this organization was responsible for many murders and bombings. However, recently, based on the investigations known as the \u201cMare Nostrum\u201d operation, the Supreme Court convicted 67 people and sent them to prison. Some defendants were found guilty of as many as 39 murders. This article reviews the forensic analysis that was used when investigating responsibility for these Mafia murders. Our review is based on the court documents and the ballistic investigations which were carried out to evaluate the reliability of \u201crepented\u201d or \u201cpentiti\u201d statements. The murder victims were almost all men but one was a woman all of whom had gunshot lesions; in many cases, the fatal injuries were to the head and face. Ballistic analysis showed that in more than half of these murders, more than one weapon was used. In conclusion, the forensic analysis of the murders shows the Sicilian inter-families\u2019 dynamics and their characteristic operating methods.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/0025817218823675","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,2,21]],"date-time":"2019-02-21T10:21:03Z","timestamp":1550744463000},"page":"27-32","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Killing methods in Sicilian Mafia families"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"87","author":[{"given":"Cristina","family":"Mondello","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Legal Medicine, Department of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and Morphofunctional Imaging, University of Messina, Messina, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Luigi","family":"Cardia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Human Pathology of Adult and Childhood, University of Messina, Messina, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Elvira","family":"Ventura Spagnolo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department for Health Promotion and Mother-Child Care, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,2,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-0025817218823675","unstructured":"Council of Europe. Report on the organised crime situation in Council of Europe member states\u20131997. European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC) and Committee of experts on criminal law and criminological aspects of organised crime (PC-CO). Strasbourg, 1999, pp.70\u201377."},{"key":"bibr2-0025817218823675","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1556-4029.2009.01068.x"},{"key":"bibr3-0025817218823675","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/002580240004000308"},{"key":"bibr4-0025817218823675","volume-title":"Cose di Cosa Nostra","author":"Falcone G","year":"2004"},{"key":"bibr5-0025817218823675","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1097\/00000433-199803000-00017"},{"key":"bibr6-0025817218823675","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1556-4029.2006.00177.x"},{"key":"bibr7-0025817218823675","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s12024-007-9024-6"},{"key":"bibr8-0025817218823675","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/sj.bdj.4800972"},{"key":"bibr9-0025817218823675","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.legalmed.2014.12.008"}],"container-title":["Medico-Legal Journal"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/0025817218823675","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1177\/0025817218823675","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/0025817218823675","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,1]],"date-time":"2026-05-01T08:25:35Z","timestamp":1777623935000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/0025817218823675"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2019,2,21]]},"references-count":9,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2019,3]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1177\/0025817218823675"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/0025817218823675","relation":{},"ISSN":["0025-8172","2042-1834"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0025-8172","type":"print"},{"value":"2042-1834","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2019,2,21]]}}}