ROME (AP) — Italy's president, who is holding and playing a key card in the nation's fast-evolving political crisis, was a timid law professor abruptly thrust into public life when the Mafia gunned down his brother on a Sicilian street in 1980. In the decades since, Sergio Mattarella has developed a reputation as a principled politician who has transformed what was viewed as a mainly ceremonial office into the dynamic role of defender of Italy's place in Europe. Mattarella, 76, a former parliamentary law professor and Constitutional Court jurist, came under verbal attack this week from his country's populist politicians — and citizens who want them to take power.Read more on NewsOK.com