ROME, March 17 (UPI) -- Italy has granted a state funeral to socialist trade unionist Placido Rizzotto, who was killed by the Mafia in 1948, his nephew said.
"It's an important acknowledgement that sprang forth spontaneously from the public," Placido Rizzotto, who shares the same name as his uncle, said about the Friday decision.
"The state funeral for my uncle will be for all of those unionists."
Rizzotto's remains were discovered in 2009 in a cave outside the Sicilian town of Corleone but were identified just last week, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.
Mafia leader Luciano Liggio was tried in the elder Rizzotto's killing but was acquitted because of insufficient evidence.
Funeral announcements were pending the final analysis of Rizzotto's remains.
