'Identità gave Toto Riina's relative a residency card while he was a wanted man'

Toto Riina’s son-in-law was given a Maltese residency card and VAT number while he was a wanted man in Italy and subject to a European Arrest Warrant, Momentum has claimed.

“How was an individual subject to an international arrest warrant not only able to remain at liberty in Malta, but also to obtain official documentation and operate a business?” Momentum asked in a statement.

The party’s claims concern Antonio Ciavarello, whose wife Maria Concetta Riina is the daughter of notorious mafia crime boss Toto Riina.

Ciavarello and his wife initially lived in Buġibba and then relocated to Mosta. In January 2022, Italian authorities issued an international arrest warrant against him for alleged Mafia-related activities.

Maltese police only arrested him more than two years later, in February 2024.  

In those two years, Ciavarello was given a new Maltese residency card and VAT number (MT26687627) linked to a Malta-registered company, AC Trade, Momentum claims.

Identita’ granted Ciavarello an ID card in March 2022, around eight weeks after the Europe-wide alert for his arrest was issued, the party said.

The party noted that the state-run identity agency was led by Mark Mallia, who now serves as Prime Minister Robert Abela’s chief of staff, at the time. Mallia had assumed the post of CEO of Identity Malta (now Identita’) in January of that year.

Commenting on the case, Momentum leader Arnold Cassola described the situation as “extremely serious,” stating that Maltese authorities failed in their duty to act decisively and instead facilitated circumstances that allowed Ciavarello to evade justice.

“This case raises fundamental questions of political responsibility and governance. It demands clear answers from Prime Minister Robert Abela, his administration, and the officials involved, particularly as to why no timely enforcement action was taken and how state entities came to issue official documentation to a wanted individual.

“The Maltese public deserves full transparency and accountability on whether institutional failures, or worse, enabled a person linked to organised crime to live and work freely in Malta for an extended period", Cassola said.

'The beast' and a minister

Ciavarallo’s father-in-law, Salvatore “Totò” Riina, was a notorious Sicilian mafia boss nicknamed “the beast” due to his cruelty.

He died in a prison hospital bed in 2017 while serving 26 life sentences and was believed to have ordered the killing of more than 150 men. His most famous victim was Giovanni Falcone, an anti-mafia judge murdered in a car bomb in 1992.

Riina frequently visited Gozo and was said to use a seafront property that is now under the control of Agriculture Minister Anton Refalo.

When confronted by an Italian journalist about the property last week, Refalo claimed he did not know who Riina was, when he had acquired the property or if Riina ever lived in it.