Sicily's mafia plotted to kill with drones 20 years ago

Spatuzza, who was arrested in 1997, was speaking at a new trial connected to Borsellino's murder. Photo / Getty Images

A mafia turncoat has revealed that Sicily's Cosa Nostra was a pioneer in the use of killer drones, testing bomb-loaded remote-controlled aircraft in the early 1990s.

Two decades before the United States began using Reaper drones to strike terrorist targets in the Middle East, mobsters in Palermo were testing ways to kill rivals from the sky, Gaspare Spatuzza told a court yesterday.

Spatuzza said he was ordered by one of the Graviano brothers - two Palermo bosses in the 1990s - to buy and test radio-controlled aircraft with explosives attached.

"Graviano ordered me to buy a radio-controlled aircraft. He said others had already bought them and we needed to carry out tests for transforming them into flying bombs by loading them with explosives."

"I carried out some tests. We needed to learn how to pilot it and steer it towards targets, loading it with a modest amount of explosives." He did not say if the aircraft was used in an attack.

Spatuzza's claims mark the first time a Sicilian mobster has revealed Cosa Nostra's aim of using remote-controlled aircraft for murder.

In 1992, the mafia packed half a tonne of explosives under the motorway linking Palermo with its airport, detonating it by remote control as Giovanni Falcone, an anti-mafia magistrate, drove past. The blast killed Falcone, his wife and three police officers. Weeks later, the mafia detonated a car bomb in Palermo, killing another magistrate, Paolo Borsellino.

Spatuzza, who was arrested in 1997, was speaking at a new trial connected to Borsellino's murder. He has been convicted of 40 murders, but claims to have found God while in prison, pushing him to give evidence against former fellow criminals.