Although Delia didn’t mention names, he appeared to be referring to university lecturer Simon Mercieca, who has often used his blog to defend Fenech and criticise the prosecution.

In his interview with Jon Mallia, Delia stressed that the country must wake up to how Caruana Galizia was killed because the Mafia had managed to infiltrate the state.

“We need to understand that the Mafia is in Malta and we’re not joking, exaggerating or dramatising things when we say this,” he said. “We’re talking about people in politics, legitimate business and underworld crime who repeatedly intimidate people, use the law and corrupt police officers against them, and if all else fails, kill them.”

“The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing us he doesn’t exist, and that’s how the Mafia works. Politicians keep asking why we kick Malta down, why we say there’s the Mafia here, why David Casa betrays Malta overseas and why Manuel Delia gives interviews to the BBC.”

“They say that there’s no Mafia here, that we’re living in heaven on earth. The Mafia speaks like that, that’s the Mafia telling us it isn’t there.”

He also warned that the island isn’t institutionally geared up to truly clamp down on the Mafia as the likes of Italy and the United States are.

“We still don’t know have a date for when [Caruana Galizia murder suspects] Alfred and George Degiorgio will face a jury, four years since they were arrested, let alone how long we’ll have to wait for the cases against Yorgen Fenech and the Maksar brothers to close.”

“The compilation of evidence against Yorgen Fenech takes place once every three weeks, in two or three-hour sittings, as though we didn’t have anything else to do.”

“Shouldn’t the magistrate [Rachel Montebello], who knows the danger of the evidence she is listening to, decide to treat this case differently from the others she’s in charge of?”

Delia also referred to chats Fenech had with former Malta Gaming Authority CEO Heathcliff Farrugia after Delia had sent Fenech questions ahead of the publication of Murder on the Malta Express, a book about the murder of Caruana Galizia he co-wrote with Carlo Bonini and John Sweeney.

He said the authorities already knew Fenech was being treated as a murder suspect when he sent him questions but couldn’t say so out loud so as not to alert him.

However, they hinted at this knowledge by asking Fenech how Alfred Degiorgio, who was registered as unemployed, had gambled €457,000 at Portomaso Casino and walked away with €441,000, an incredible 96.5% success rate.

“Leaks from Fenech’s phone show that he told Farrugia about these questions, and Farrugia told him to be careful because ‘Delia veru aħdar’ and that he’ll prepare the response himself so as not to give anything to the Daphne crowd.”

“Heathcliff Farrugia must have suspected that Yorgen Fenech had already killed a journalist, and yet he was talking about another journalist like that. When I read that in the Sunday Times, I shivered – here was a state official paid through my taxes warning someone he had reason to suspect killed a journalist to be careful of me.”

Delia added that Fenech’s attempt to “remove him from the scene” didn’t stop with his conversation with Farrugia. However, he didn’t reveal any further details because the process is still ongoing.

“We must collectively realise that Daphne was killed because the Mafia infiltrated the state and we must stop treating this as just one of a number of alternative realities that you can ignore because the reality on another TV staton is more comfortable,” he said.

“I get that it’s comfortable to realise the Mafia has colonised your country and that it’s easier to see me as crazy and assume people like myself and Jason Azzopardi are just talking vacuously. I wish I was credible enough for everyone to understand what they should be understanding.” 

Have you listened to Manuel Delia’s podcast with Jon Mallia? What did you think of it? Let us know in the comment section