Caltanissetta, "The Wall" anti-drug raid: 15 precautionary measures.

I Carabinieri of the Provincial Command of Caltanissetta they executed one Pre-trial detention order issued by the preliminary investigations judge of the Caltanissetta Court, at the request of the local Public Prosecutor's Office - District Anti-Mafia Directorate, against 15 individuals, investigated under various titles of "association aimed at committing an unspecified series of crimes among those provided for by art.73 DPR 309/199, illegal carrying and possession of weapons and ammunition and other, with the aggravating circumstance of having aided COur dare, and in particular the mafia family of Gela, the RINZIVILLO clan”.
The GIP, with the aforementioned order, considered the existence of serious evidence of guilt against 15 suspects regarding membership in a criminal organization which he would have managed between May 2024 and June 2025, a flourishing drug trafficking activity, mainly of the hashish and cocaine type and to a lesser extent also crack, through a supply channel from northern Italy, mainly from Lombardy and Liguria, and in certain circumstances also from Calabria and PalermoAccording to the circumstantial evidence, considered in the order, the supplied narcotic substances were transported and stored in Gelain real logistical bases of the organization from which the distribution would have taken place in the Nissa area, feeding the local drug dealing centers and, in particular, the one in Gela.

One of the subjects, affected by the order, had already been arrested during the investigations in flagrante delicto of the crimes of possession of weapons and narcotic substances and the order was served on him in prison.

Three of the suspects, affected by the ordinance, were already detained in the penitentiaries of Agrigento, Messina and Ancona, and according to the serious circumstantial evidence, deemed to exist by the GIP, they would have participated in the associative life of the group through the use of telephones in their use; this investigation activity was started in May 2024 as a further segment of theoperation conventionally called “Antiqua”, which in May 2024 had led to the arrest by the Investigative Unit of 9 people investigated for mafia-type association, (belonging to the Cosa Nostra mafia family of Campofranco) and other crimes including extortion, illegal possession and carrying of weapons and drug dealing  – precautionary custody order in prison n. 2518/2022 RGNR and n. 1637/2023 RGGIP dated 08 May 2024 (most of the recipients of this latest order have already been convicted in the first instance in a summary trial)-.

In the course of 'investigative activity, called “The Wall”, through the interception of conversations relating to the purchase of large quantities of narcotics between an Albanian citizen, with a criminal record, resident in the Milanese hinterland, and a former lawyer, formerly registered with the Gela Bar Association, suspended from practicing law after being convicted of external association with a mafia organisation, serious evidence has emerged regarding the existence and operating methods of the organization affected by the ordinance. In particular, the operational autonomy of the associates in placing on the market the drugs purchased by the organization and the its connection with members of Cosa Nostra, in particular the mafia families of Gela, the RINZIVILLO clan, and of Campofranco, for the purchase not only of narcotics but also of weapons. 

Technical investigation activities and dynamic services on the territory (shadowing and observation services), have allowed the acquisition of a serious piece of circumstantial evidence outlining the roles of each member and defining the organizational and management methods of the illicit business.

In particular, according to the prosecution's reconstruction:

• the operational base of the association was identified in the city ​​of Gela, where the supplied narcotics were stored before being distributed to the dealers for the supply of the "squares" respectively managed; in this regard, in the charges in the precautionary proceedings 32 charges of sale and in any case of illicit possession of narcotics, including large quantities, are being contested;
• the illicit proceeds would have flowed into a common fund, indicated, during the intercepted conversations, with the term “piggy bank”, also used to contribute to the maintenance of prisoners (by covering their legal fees or making purchases on their behalf) or to pay the drone operator responsible for delivering drugs and cell phones within prison facilities;
• it emergeduse of drones, through which the partnership would have been able to ensure the availability of narcotic substances such as hashish and cocaine, cellular devices and telephone SIM cards for the benefit of the detained suspects; in one instance, in particular, the attempted delivery of 3 telephones, 100g of hashish and 20g of cocaine to a suspect held at the Messina prison, through a drone, shot down near the institute by the local Penitentiary Police;
• It also emerged that in order to evade any checks by the Police Forces, in addition to prefer in-person meetings to define sales agreements – in particular at the bar managed by a suspect – and to resort to dozens of Telephone SIM cards fictitiously registered to non-EU citizens, the suspects would have used in video calls – via messaging app – in which the "pizzini" containing the indications of quantity and type of the narcotic were included, but also other telephone numbers on which to start conversations on alternative channels; images have been acquired, taken from the cell phones of some of the suspects, of the narcotic substance, as if to represent the quantity handled, of cash, as if to certify its availability and even of a disassembled gun, together with messages about the technical changes to be made;
• According to the evidence gathered, the suspects may have used cars not directly attributable to them to transport the drugs, through a car rental agency. They also ensured that the cars rented were not always the same ones, to avoid the risk that investigators might link them to the various associates who used them.

During the investigations, evidence was acquired which led to theThe arrest of two people, the reporting of eight suspects at large, and the seizure of a total of 2 kg of hashish and 8 grams of cocaine, as well as a Beretta model 1,250 .121 caliber pistol with its serial number erased, complete with a magazine containing 71 .22 caliber rounds, and numerous spent shell casings, primers, and material used to package 49- and 22-gauge cartridges.

Il Judge for Asset Investigations at the Court of Caltanissetta, sharing the circumstantial evidence that forms the basis of the request for precautionary measures formulated by the local Public Prosecutor's Office, District Anti-Mafia Directorate, which coordinates the investigations, He then issued an order for the application of prison custody against 13 suspects, while for another 2 he ordered the precautionary measure of house arrest with an electronic bracelet. A person subject to a precautionary measure is actively sought.