Tragic death of woman who testified against father in notorious mafia murder of mother
Denise Cosco testified against the powerful 'Ndrangheta clan and her own father over the murder of her mother in Italy.
**Woman who testified against father in mafia murder of mother dies tragically**
A woman who gave evidence against her own father after her mother was killed in a notorious mafia murder in Italy is believed to have died by suicide.
Denise Cosco was discovered critically injured on Sunday and later died in a hospital in Rome.
Her mother, Lea Garofalo, who was murdered in 2009, became a powerful emblem of resistance to the mafia after becoming a state witness against the 'Ndrangheta clan in southern Italy.
People who knew Cosco remember her courage in speaking at her father’s trial, but also the immense hardship she faced in the years afterward.
She was 35, the same age her mother was when she was killed.
Enza Rando, a senator and anti-mafia lawyer who represented Cosco in the murder trial, called her death “a profound wound for the entire country,” and evidence that the mafia not only kills, but creates “true monsters in the lives and souls” of those who survive.
Francesca Rispoli, co-president of the anti-mafia group Libera, pointed to the difficulties faced by many who break away from organised crime.
“The mafia, it’s not just something physical. You can leave. You can change your name,” he told the BBC. “But there is still a tie, a family tie, that stays… deep inside and is impossible to overcome.”
Rispoli said Cosco, like her mother, had spent many years under state protection with a new name and identity.
Even so, she remained highly vulnerable and had reconnected in recent years with her father, Carlo Cosco, in prison because, despite everything, she felt a “hole in her life”.
Friends say she battled mental health issues and addiction.
“Maybe this is a sign that those trying to lead another life need more support. Not just for one year – maybe their whole life,” Rispoli said, as organised crime groups in Italy — especially the 'Ndrangheta — are built around close family networks.
In Cosco’s case, both her mother’s family and her father were linked to the mafia.
She had always rejected her father’s claim that her mother had left to begin a new life in Australia.
In reality, he had lured Garofalo to a meeting, then had her strangled, her body dismembered and then burned.
Years later, a statement from one of the killers finally enabled police to recover some bone fragments and a necklace, which Cosco identified.
At a public funeral in 2013, she spoke of her mother’s bravery in “putting herself on the line… for justice for all”.
Her father and three accomplices were already serving life sentences.
At the trial, Cosco described herself as a “proud witness for justice” and said she had made the painful decision to testify — speaking from behind a screen — because she wanted “inner freedom to start over” with her life.
Prosecutors have now opened an investigation to determine whether there was any incitement to suicide, and her phone has been seized for analysis.
Friends and supporters were due to gather in Milan on Friday evening to remember her near the place where her mother was abducted.
“Denise’s entire life revolved between the two extremes of courage and suffering,” Luigi Ciotti, president of Libera, wrote, calling it a difficult balance.
“Today, something in that fragile equilibrium was broken forever.”