Magistrate Giovanni Falcone should have been too scared to take on the Sicilian mafia.

After all, many of his colleagues had died trying to bring the Cosa Nostra to justice.

So how did he do it? And why was victory, when it came, so bittersweet?

This is the second in a two-part series about mafia assassinations in Italy.

• Host: Aslan Pahari
• Producer: Hannah Jose
• Audio Engineer: Tegan Nicholls
• Video Producers: Eve Cogan, Dylan Behan, Tejas Bhat
• Special thanks: Michael Osmond for archives research
• Supervising Producer: Kyla Slaven
• Executive Producers: Joel Werner, Eric George, Jessica Radburn

To binge even more great episodes of ASSASSINS with Aslan Pahari go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you'll find more stories of the world's most shocking assassinations — from the lone wolf hitman to the professional assassin, you'll hear how famous figures like Abraham Lincoln, Benazir Bhutto, Ramses III, Tupac and Gandhi met their end.