Social networking giant Facebook has issued an apology to the family of Italy’s Mafia king Salvatore “Totò” Riina, who died on November 17, for removing condolences message that flowed in after his death last week.
A Facebook spokesperson was qouted by The Associated Press that the posts on the feed of Riina’s son-in-law were ‘removed in error’.
The ‘error’ had happened, according to FB, after its users complained that it violated Facebook’s standards.
“After a review, Facebook restored the posts and apologised,” the FB spokeswoman said.
The apology came at at time when Riina’s remains arrived in Sicily, and he was buried in a private ceremony in Corleone, the real-life Cosa Nostra hotbed made famous by the book and “Godfather” films.
Salvatore “Totò” Riina’s son was 17 years old when his father ordered him to kill a kidnapped businessman, the gaurdian said, marking his formal entry into the Cosa Nostra.
“It was just one example of the murderous reign of terror that Riina, who died in a prison hospital bed early on Friday morning, inflicted on Italy for nearly four decades as the “boss of bosses” of the Sicilian mafia,” Gaurdian said.
Nicknamed “the Beast” because of his cruelty, Riina was an unrepentant criminal who not only assassinated his criminal rivals on an unprecedented scale in the 1980s and 90s, but also targeted the prosecutors, journalists, and judges who sought to stand in his way.
