Rome: Drug trafficking and money laundering, 5 million euros confiscated from a Roman businessman

As part of the strategy to combat the accumulation of illicit assets by criminal gangs, the Anti-Crime Division of the Rome Police Headquarters has executed a confiscation order for assets worth approximately 5 million euros, issued pursuant to anti-mafia legislation by the Court - Prevention Measures Section - of Rome, against a Roman entrepreneur, currently detained serving a definitive sentence.

Today's activity constitutes the conclusion of an ablative action started in November 2023 with the execution of the seizure order, issued by the same Court, of economic activities, financial resources and other assets, accumulated by the entrepreneur, even through front family members, in a value disproportionate to the income declared to the tax authorities. That seizure, today, has become confiscation and the wealth that had entered the subject's assets illegally has been taken away from him to be managed on behalf of the State by the Judicial Administration.

The entrepreneur, who has been active in the construction sector in the Lido area, had at the same time entered into structured drug trafficking activities. In fact, in 2015 the man was involved in two separate Judicial Police operations:

• The first, coordinated by the Public Prosecutor's Office - DDA of Reggio Calabria and conducted in collaboration with the Spanish Guardia Civil and the American DEA, was one of the most important investigations in the fight against drug trafficking and it hit members of the 'ndrine Alvaro, Brandimarte, Pesce, and Bellocco.
• The second, coordinated by the Public Prosecutor's Office of Rome, involved acriminal organization dedicated to international drug trafficking based in Rome and with branches abroad, responsible for multiple drug importations, some of which were destined for the 'ndrangheta and, in particular, for the “Alvaro” gang of Sinopoli (RC).

During the operations, it was discovered that the entrepreneur who was the recipient of today's confiscation had facilitated the fugitive status of a leading member of the Alvaro gang, hosting him in his home, and maintained direct contacts with a Roman broker aimed at importing large quantities of narcotics from South America.

The considerable illicit proceeds from drug trafficking were reinvested by the same in companies and in the acquisition of further assets, including real estate, valuable boats and racehorses, concealing them behind further corporate screens. This was done with the aim of concealing their genesis, giving rise, as is typical of criminal action in economic contexts, to self-laundering and fictitious ownership.

With the confiscation order executed today, the Court accepted the investigative activity and the related economic and patrimonial reconstruction carried out by the Patrimonial Prevention Measures Section of the Anti-Crime Division of the Rome Police Headquarters. The facilitation of the fugitive status of a member of the 'ndrina Alvaro, the co-participation in the importation of a large shipment of cocaine on behalf of the same, the organization of the meeting with the traffickers, which should have been held at a business of the targeted individual functional to the interests of the mafia structure, have in fact motivated the evaluation of the entrepreneur's social dangerousness. At the same time, the disproportion between legal sources of income, economic activities carried out and the total assets owned directly or indirectly by the proposed person was ascertained. The confiscation, carried out in Rome, in the locality of Infernetto, and in Santa Teresa di Gallura (SS), affects a series of assets and corporate structures for a total value of approximately 5 million euros.

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