In retaliation for Di Matteo becoming an informant, the Mafia kidnapped his 12-year-old son, Giuseppe Di Matteo, on 23 November 1993, on the orders of
Giovanni Brusca and
Leoluca Bagarella. According to a later confession by one of the kidnappers,
Gaspare Spatuzza, they dressed as police officers and told the boy he was being taken to see his father, who was at that time being kept in police protection on the Italian mainland. Di Matteo made a desperate trip to Sicily to try to negotiate his son's release, but on 11 January 1996, after 779 days, the boy, who by now had also become physically ill due to mistreatment and torture, was strangled and his body was subsequently dissolved in a barrel of acid—a practice known colloquially as the
lupara bianca. Brusca had also asked Giuseppe Di Matteo's family for forgiveness. In 1999, the
Corte d'Assise of Palermo sentenced Giovanni Brusca to 30 years in prison, his brother Enzo to 28 years, Vincenzo Chiodo to 27 years, and Giuseppe Monticciolo and Salvatore Grigoli to 20 years each for their roles in the murder. In 2006, after Ciro Vara became a pentito, life sentences were also given to Mario Capizzi, Giovanni Pollari and Salvatore Fragapane, while Ciro Vara himself received 14 years in prison for their roles in the murder. In 2010, after Gaspare Spatuzza became a pentito,
Benedetto Capizzi, Fifetto Cannella and Cosimo Lo Nigro were sentenced to 30 years in prison for their roles in the murder. At the trial, Spatuzza had also asked Giuseppe Di Matteo's family for forgiveness. In 2012,
Matteo Messina Denaro,
Giuseppe Graviano, Salvatore Benigno, Francesco Giuliano, and Luigi Giacalone were sentenced to life imprisonment, while Spatuzza himself was sentenced to 12 years in prison for their roles in the murder. In 2016, Angelo Longo was sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the murder after testimony from
Antonino Giuffrè. ==Release==