While in prison, Mutolo started to think about becoming a state witness (pentito) in December 1991. Mutolo decided to talk in early May 1992, he insisted to see Paolo Borsellino after learning that Giovanni Falcone was unavailable (Falcone ceased to be a magistrate after he had entered the Ministry of Justice in 1991). Mutolo trusted them because he knew from firsthand experience how they had worked in the Maxi Trial. Mutolo had been the chief organizer of the massive heroin ring that Falcone had broken.