Italian Mafia Hunter Giovanni Falcone Assassination Site & Memorial

Falcone was killed with his wife Francesca Morvillo and three policemen: Rocco Di Cillo, Antonio Montinaro, and Vito Schifani, near Capaci on the motorway between Palermo International Airport and the city of Palermo on May 23, 1992. The armored Fiat Croma in which he was travelling was blown up by a bomb (350 kg of explosive) that had been placed in trenches dug by the side of the road. When passing over the bomb, Falcone was driving his car at an estimated speed of nearly 100 mph.

The murder was organized by Salvatore Riina in revenge for Falcone's conviction of dozens of mobsters in the Maxi-Trials. In the major crackdown against the Mafia following Falcone and Borsellino's deaths, Riina was arrested and is now serving a life sentence for sanctioning the murders of both magistrates as well as many other crimes.[4] Another mafioso convicted of the murder of Falcone is Giovanni Brusca, also known as 'lo scannacristiani' (the people slaughterer) and was one of Riina's associates who admitted to being the one who actually detonated the explosives.

Palermo airport is now also known by the name Falcone-Borsellino Airport in honor of Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino. A memorial by local sculptor Tommaso Geraci can be found there