were both killed by the Mafia. Tommaso Buscetta, an important Mafia turncoat (pentito), declared that the Sicilian Mafia had been involved in the murder of Mattei. According to Buscetta, Mattei was killed at the request of Angelo Bruno of the American Mafia because his policies had damaged important American interests in the Middle East. Journalist De Mauro was subsequently killed in 1970 because his investigation of Mattei's death was getting close to the truth. Gaetano Iannì, another pentito, declared that a special agreement had been achieved between the Sicilian Mafia and some foreigners for the elimination of Mattei, which was organized by Giuseppe Di Cristina. These statements triggered new inquiries, including the exhumation of Mattei's corpse. Admiral Fulvio Martini, later chief of SISMI (Italy's military secret service), declared that Mattei's plane had been shot down. In 1986, former Italian Prime Minister Amintore Fanfani described the accident as a shooting, perhaps the first act of terrorism in Italy. Legacy Mattei is a controversial figure in Italian 20th-century history. Mattei made ENI a powerful company, so much so that Italians dub it "the state within the state". Some describe him as a sort of paladin, a nationalist, while others point to his hunger for power, and his cold calculating nature. Mattei coined the term "Seven Sisters" (sette sorelle) to refer to the dominant oil companies of the mid-20th century. In 2000, the Trans-Mediterranean Pipeline, a natural gas pipeline from Algeria via Tunisia to Sicily and thence to mainland Italy, was named after Mattei. ENI named a research institute after Mattei. The Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research institution devoted to the study of sustainable development and global governance. FEEM's mission is to improve the quality of decision-making in public and private spheres. References External links Enrico Mattei: The Man who Looked to the Future by Giorgio Capitani. . Rai Fiction. 2009. 1906 births 1962 deaths Christian Democracy (Italy) politicians Energy in Italy Eni History of the Sicilian Mafia 20th-century Italian businesspeople Italian resistance movement members People from the Province of Pesaro and Urbino 20th-century Italian politicians Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore alumni Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Italy Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1962