Fiumicino (Rome), operation “Pecunia non olet” by the State Police

Following investigations coordinated by the Public Prosecutor's Office of Rome, the Border Police of Fiumicino arrest 13 people seriously suspected of the crimes of criminal association aimed at committing extortion and fraud aggravated by impaired defense.

The complex and penetrating investigation conducted by the personnel of the Air Border Police of Fiumicino, It made it possible to dismantle a widespread criminal organization that, under the pretext of carrying out sewer cleaning, flooded apartments with sewage in order to defraud and extort money from citizens throughout Rome and its province.

The investigations began in 2022, when investigators discovered the existence of a well-known company, which advertised its commercial sewage cleaning activity online using a team dedicated to the first interventions, of an urgent nature, to restore the sewers.

When they arrived at the scene of the operation, workers, acting with a systematic and consolidated scheme, after having requested the advance payment of the sum of 500 Euros, they voluntarily aggravated, deliberately blocking them with ingenious stratagems and in some cases through a useless search for the blocked pipe after demolishing the floor or wall, the blockage of the drains, thus causing an exorbitant outflow of sewage which flooded the entire surrounding environment and in some cases entire apartments, thus causing considerable damage to the victim in question.

The customer on duty, catapulted into a surreal scenario due to the excretions scattered everywhere and the nauseating smell that invaded the environment, he was forced to accept an emergency intervention, the price of which was evaluated according to a fanciful calculation per linear meter, which made the cost of a banal, as well as ordinary, maintenance of the sewage system skyrocket to thousands of euros.

If the victim in question sensed the attempted scam and refused to pay, he or she would become the victim of threats of reprisals and violence from the intervention workers who were recruited by the promoter of the organization precisely because of their criminal background: the dirtier their criminal record, the more likely they would be to be recruited into the gang.

The criminal activity brought in considerable profits to the organization, which were shared among the associates and the company achieved an estimated turnover of over one million euros per year.

Silently, for years, throughout Rome and its province, the sewer cleaning gang has carried out, without substantial continuity and indeed with ever-increasing greed, numerous acts to the detriment of unsuspecting victims, including a multitude of restaurateurs, medical professionals, lawyers, members of the ecclesiastical environment and the weakest groups, such as the elderly, all customers defenseless due to age, bereavement or various vicissitudes, as well as due to the intuitive technical unpreparedness arising from the sudden need to proceed with the cleaning of clogged sewers (rather than complex electrical repairs)

Once the first illicit profits were obtained, the suspects planned the extension and expansion of the pipelines to other important Italian cities, thus implementing a progressive expansion of the radius of action.

The suspects' propensity for crime and "easy money" emerged from checks in the computer databases used by the Police, which revealed a general propensity to violate the legislation on narcotics, as well as a tendency towards crimes against the person, supported by the fact that the specific checks in the INPS databases highlighted the lack of any declaration relating to further, lawful, means of support.

Therefore, the systematic nature of the criminal behavior, the effrontery of the suspects, who did not back down even in front of elderly or particularly vulnerable people, their arrogance, the ruthlessness shown in leaving the victims' persons and their own properties in pitiful conditions, dangerous also for the health of the occupants and the healthiness of the premises, determined the judge to issue the precautionary measures.

In fact, following the 30 complaints collected by the Judicial Police and the timely investigations of the Border Police of Fiumicino, the Judge for Preliminary Investigations of Rome, at the request of the magistrates of the Public Prosecutor's Office of Rome, issued the order of precautionary custody of thirteen people, eleven of whom are in prison and two under house arrest, recognising serious evidence of guilt for the crime of association and for 21 criminal episodes ascertained during the investigation phase; furthermore, the preventive seizure decree was executed, issued by the Judge, of sums of money believed to be the direct proceeds of the crime by the Pef Nucleus of the Guardia di Finanza of Rome which participated, by assisting the personnel of the Fiumicino Border Police in the execution of thirteen search warrants, with the consequent seizure of almost 100.000 euros in cash, diamonds, Rolex watches, jewels and a high-powered car, as these assets were disproportionate to the declared income.