Capaci massacre 23/05/1992

Falcone was killed with his wife Francesca Morvillo (herself a magistrate) and three policemen: Rocco Di Cillo, Antonio Montinaro, 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 (160 km/h.)

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. Another mafioso convicted of the murder of Falcone is Giovanni Brusca, one of Riina's associates who admitted to being the one who actually detonated the explosives