30th Anniversary of the Deaths of Judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino

Portraits of the two Italian judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, inspired by a photograph by Tony Gentile. Along the upper edge, the commemorative inscription "FALCONE – BORSELLINO" with the years "1992" and "2022" below, and the Italian Republic monogram "RI". To the right, the Rome Mint mark "R"; to the left, the initials "VdS" of coin designer Valerio de Seta.

In the Palermo of the 1980s, the Cosa Nostra had risen to become one of the most powerful criminal organisations in Europe. Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, both of whom grew up in Palermo, became the leading figures of the so-called "Antimafia Pool" — a small group of Sicilian investigators who systematically analysed the financial and command structures of the mafia. Falcone developed interrogation techniques and models for international cooperation that would later serve as a reference point for law enforcement agencies worldwide. The Maxi Trial of 1986 to 1992, in which more than 300 mafia members were convicted, was the direct result of this work. The Cosa Nostra responded with targeted assassinations: on 23 May 1992, Falcone was killed near Capaci in a bomb attack on the motorway; a few weeks later, on 19 July 1992, Borsellino was killed on Via D'Amelio in Palermo. Both attacks also claimed the lives of several of their bodyguards.

Their deaths sent a deep shock through Italian society and accelerated political reforms in the fight against organised crime. Institutions such as the Direzione Investigativa Antimafia (DIA) and the Direzione Nazionale Antimafia can be traced directly back to the lessons drawn from Falcone's work. In Palermo and across Sicily, Falcone and Borsellino remain a living presence — in street names, in schools, and in ongoing civil society engagement against the mafia. To mark the 30th anniversary of the assassinations, Italy issued a 2-euro commemorative coin in 2022 honouring the two judges and the price they paid for their commitment.