A top police officer said on Wednesday he stands by a document in which he listed Cape Town attorney Harry Snitcher as part of the Mafia’s organisation in the Western Cape.
Captain Piet Viljoen was testifying in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court in proceedings in which Italian prosecutors are questioning a number of witnesses on the affairs of alleged Mafioso Vito Palazzolo.
Palazzolo, who lives in South Africa, is being tried in absentia in Italy.
Viljoen told the court that the document, which he compiled in 1998, was meant to be top secret, but was leaked to Palazzolo within days of its arrival at police headquarters in Pretoria.
He said Snitcher was named in it because he was one of the people who were helping Palazzolo stay in South Africa “by not telling the truth”.
He said he was not suggesting Snitcher — a small, grey-haired man who is attending the proceedings as Palazzolo’s attorney — had been running around with guns.
Asked by Palazzolo’s advocate, Jan Heunis, whether Snitcher was a member of the Mafia, Viljoen said none of the people on the organogram was a member of the Italian Mafia.
Asked whether it could be accepted Snitcher was not a member of the Mafia in the Western Cape, Viljoen said: “Mr Snitcher was part of it, the structure that I sent up to head office.
“I explained to the court why I said he was part of the structure … The contents of this note, I stand by it.”
Under further questioning by Heunis, he said: “It [the document] could depict a lot of things, but my meaning was that Mr Snitcher and Mr Prisma [another attorney] were helping Mr Palazzolo by sending lies out.”
He said he had examples — in a set of 11 files of documents he had brought with him — of letters written by Snitcher containing untruths.
Asked by presiding magistrate Derek Winter whether Snitcher’s involvement in the “structure” was limited to activities arising from legal representation, Viljoen said Mafia practice was to retain lawyers to keep its members out of trouble.
“So your answer to what I put to you is yes, it’s limited to legal representation?” said Winter.
“Yes, your honour,” Viljoen replied.
Earlier in the day, Viljoen said Palazzolo had links to Western Cape drug lord Rashied Staggie.
He said Staggie is currently serving a prison sentence for the theft of guns from a police armoury, but that he had also been convicted many times on drug offences. — Sapa
Palazzolo linked to Staggie