Death of Italian doctor takes twist with accusations he was murdered by Sicilian mafia

Attilio Manca attended to a mob boss before he died

The mysterious death of a brilliant young Italian doctor has taken a dark new twist with claims that he was murdered by the Sicilian mafia.

Attilio Manca was found dead, at the age of 34, at his home in the city of Viterbo in central Italy in 2004, supposedly of a heroin overdose.

A female friend of his, Monica Mileti, was convicted of administering the dose and sentenced to five years in prison. But on Tuesday, a court in Rome acquitted her on appeal of any involvement in the urologist’s death.

Suspicions have turned instead to Cosa Nostra, Sicily’s mafia network. The court’s decision “repudiated” the accusations of a heroin overdose, said Fabio Repici, a lawyer representing the late doctor’s parents, who have always suspected their son was murdered.

Several pentiti or mafia informers have claimed that Dr Manca, a urologist who was originally from Sicily, had been compelled to travel to Marseilles a few months before his death to treat the boss of Cosa Nostra, who was in hiding and suffering from prostate cancer.

Mafia boss Bernardo Provenzano escorted by police in Palermo after being arrested in 2006

Credit: AP

The mafia chieftain, Bernardo Provenzano, was notorious for his ruthlessness and nicknamed in Sicilian dialect Binnu ‘u Tratturi or Berny the Tractor for his propensity to mow down rivals.

He evaded capture for a record 43 years before his arrest in 2006. He died in 2016 in a prison hospital, aged 83.

Five informers have reportedly told judicial authorities that the doctor was murdered so that he would not reveal the location of Provenzano, il capo dei capi or boss of bosses.

There are also inconsistencies in the drug overdose theory – for instance, the fact that Dr Manca was left-handed, and yet needle marks were found in his left arm.

It would not have been impossible to have jabbed the needles in with his right hand, but family and friends said he typically did everything with his left hand.

Attilio Manca with his parents, Angela and Gino

Nor were there any fingerprints found on the syringes which supposedly delivered the fatal overdose.

“The whole overdose theory is false and has now collapsed. Attilio Manca was never drugged or committed suicide; he was a victim of the mafia,” said Giulia Sarti, an Italian MP and a member of the parliamentary justice commission, which has scrutinised the case. “He was a promising and well-respected professional who did not use drugs.”

“We want truth and justice,” the doctor’s mother, Angela, told Corriere della Sera newspaper. “We can’t allow the memory of my son to be besmirched in such a horrible way.”

Provenzano was born in the Sicilian town of Corleone, which is synonymous with Cosa Nostra and gave its name to the fictional family in the Godfather films.

During his decades on the lam, he eschewed communicating by phone but instead sent out “pizzini” or tiny hand-written notes to his lieutenants and collaborators.  He went on the run in 1963 after being accused of murder.