Rebibbia, anomalies within the SerD: corruption and illicit granting of benefits to inmates promoted by the prison psychologist, precautionary measures notified against 32 people

Since the first light of dawn yesterday, approximately 300 Carabinieri of the Frascati Group's Investigative Unit and the territorially competent Commands of the force, have simultaneously executed two precautionary custody orders issued by the GIP of the Ordinary Court of Rome, at the request of the local Public Prosecutor's Office, District Anti-Mafia Directorate, together with the Central Investigative Unit of the Penitentiary Police, against 4 individuals (2 under house arrest and 2 under the interdictory measure of suspension from public service for a period of one year), seriously suspected, to varying degrees, of the crimes of false declarations or attestations in documents intended for the judicial authority, ideological falsehood committed by a public official in public acts, corruption for an act contrary to official duties and disturbed freedom of the contractor selection process.

As part of the activities, which involved various districts of the city of Rome and some provinces in the national territory (Naples, Avellino, Viterbo, L'Aquila, Teramo, Imperia and Bergamo), 5 notices of preliminary interrogation set were notified against an equal number of additional suspects (2 of whom were already detained for other reasons) and a total of 44 searches were carried out.

The investigations, launched in June 2017 and conducted in full synergy by the investigative departments operating under the direction of the Rome District Anti-Mafia Directorate, have allowed for the parallel development of two closely linked lines of investigation.

In particular, in an initial phase of investigations, which was then concluded in November 2020, staff of the NIC – Central Investigative Unit of the Penitentiary Police have collected serious circumstantial evidence regarding the criminal dynamics that were hidden behind some anomalies found inside the Rebibbia prison in Rome, regarding the illicit granting of penitentiary benefits to inmates (such as the continuation of the serving of the sentence with alternative and less afflictive measures to detention, such as placement in therapeutic communities). In this regard, data has been collected serious circumstantial evidence regarding the existence, within the Addiction Service (Ser.D.) of the ASL Roma 2 operating at the Rebibbia prison, of a system, promoted in particular by a psychologist (recipient of the precautionary measure of house arrest), aimed at starting prisoners on therapeutic treatments functional to obtaining alternative measures to detention, based on the drafting of false certifications attesting to drug abuse/drug addiction or in any case precarious psychological conditions.

On one occasion a episode of corruption, consisting in the payment to the psychologist of the sum of €1.000,00, by a prisoner, in exchange for the drafting – within the time limits set by the prisoner himself – of a specific psychological report in which a favorable opinion was expressed regarding the enjoyment of penitentiary benefits.

Furthermore, the relationship between the psychologist and some prisoners was hypothesized and detailed - also through some volunteer workers of the Ser.D. - aimed at tracking down "new" prisoners to help, with the aiming to obtain greater financial compensation from the relevant Health Authority, compensation which was paid in the form of remuneration for the hours worked to contain the suicide risk of prisoners.

NIC investigators also collected serious evidence of guilt regarding the existence of a criminal plan devised by the psychologist - also with the complicity of other health professionals - aimed at obtaining public funds (approximately 100.000,00 euros) through a disturbed freedom in the procedure for choosing the contractor relating to the call for tenders for a project of the Lazio Region called "Progetto Sportello", actually then assigned to an association, made up of the aforementioned voluntary workers of the Ser.D. on the input of the psychologist. The funds were ultimately never disbursed. and the awarding of the tender was revoked following the discovery of some anomalies regarding the organization of the association, deemed not "appropriate and sustainable" by the president of the judging commission.

The second phase of investigations, started by the Carabinieri of the Investigative Nucleus of the Frascati Group in March 2018, arose from the monitoring - inside the Rome-Rebibbia prison - of an inmate, a leading figure in Roman drug trafficking, who is thought to have had contacts with the psychologist of the Ser.D..

The investigative findings have allowed us to quickly collect serious information circumstantial evidence to the effect that the drug trafficker, although confined in prison, thanks to the decisive contribution of two lawyers, only one of the two arrested, (in charge of transmitting messages and directives to/from the outside and who are also thought to have introduced cell phones and narcotic substances into the prison) continued to promote an association aimed at drug trafficking operating mostly in the south-eastern quadrant of the capital (Rome's Tor Bella Monaca and Cinecittà-Tuscolano districts, Valle Martella di Zagarolo).

The subsequent investigative investigations, carried out by the Carabinieri through shadowing, observation services and technical activities of telephone, environmental and telematic interception, have allowed serious circumstantial evidence of the existence of two distinct and complex associations aimed at drug trafficking, which also used encrypted devices for communications: one headed by the aforementioned drug trafficker, which also saw the participation, in a leading role, of another important Roman drug trafficker who recently committed suicide, and the other which supplied it, also through foreign supply channels (Holland), with at its head a first-rate exponent of the Roman drug trafficking scene, who later became a collaborator of justice.

During the activity, as a result of the investigations, 7 people were arrested in flagrante delicto for illicit possession of narcotic substances and 21 kg were seized. of cocaine, a total of 1,5 kg of marijuana and hashish, 2 pistols, both stolen and with related ammunition, in addition to the cash sum of approximately €84.000,00.

During the operational phases of the execution of the ordinances, yesterday morning, in Tor Bella Monaca, the Carabinieri arrested, in flagrante delicto, a suspect who had already been the recipient of an ordinance, as he was found in possession of 200 g of cocaine, and again, in the Nuovo Salario area, the Carabinieri arrested, in flagrante delicto, a suspect who was not the recipient of a measure, as he was found in possession of 5 blocks of hashish for over 1 kg, 220 g of marijuana and 7.000,00 euros in cash. Finally, in a garage in Torvajanica, the Carabinieri found inside special double bottoms of cars, two envelopes containing €69.940,00 in cash and 3 Rolex watches for a total value of over €160.000,00; in 3 other targets, the Carabinieri seized the sum of €19.320,00 in cash and two other Rolex watches with a value of approximately €30.000,00).