communist, and was accused of being violent and the leader of the group. He was found dead in jail on the day before he was supposed to testify, with his death declared a suicide by hanging. The suicide looked suspicious, as his body was hanged with a bed sheet to a nail in the wall placed only about one meter from the ground, but no formal inquiry was conducted. Allegations were brought forth by Catholic supporters claiming that he was the mastermind of a plan by the communists to discredit the friars, who were not only called "victims", but even "saints". Inquiry and trial Defense Francesco Carnelutti, a very prominent Italian attorney and jurist of the 20th century, was called to defend the Capuchins. Despite being very close to the Church, and risking a breach with the other Catholic forces in the country by this action, Carnelutti advised the friars to acknowledge their role, but stated that they could not act in any other way since they were under menace from the Sicilian Mafia themselves. As part of the defense, Carnelutti stated that one of the friars, Father Agrippino, risked being killed when he decided not to collaborate, and showed some holes in a wall of his cell, allegedly marks of bullets from a lupara shotgun. When asked about their cooperation with the alleged Mafia crime ring, Carnelutti publicly told the friars "If you will ever find yourself in that kind of troubles another time, do the same error again". Involvement of Cosimo Cristina Cosimo Cristina, a Sicilian journalist, wrote an article for the Prospettive Siciliane, affirming he had proofs that a notable attorney and journalist from Mazzarino was behind the criminal covenant, along with the friars. The name of this attorney was not explicitly stated, but only three people matched the profile. Attorney Alfonso Russo Cigna, a correspondent for Giornale di Sicilia, sued Cristina for defamation and won in an unusually short trial promptly instructed and lasting only 20 days. Cristina was sentenced to one year and four months of suspended sentence, along with a 2 million lire fine. Two months later, while waiting for the appeal where he would have presented his evidence, he was killed in a fake suicide in Termini Imerese, his body apparently trampled by a train. The suicide was shown to be a murder by other journalists six years later. First sentence Ultimately, on