Bari, armed mafia-type criminal association, illegal possession and carrying of weapons, as well as aimed at drug trafficking. Seven people arrested

The Carabinieri of the Provincial Command of Bari have executed seven arrest warrants, issued by the Attorney General's Office at the Court of Appeal of Bari (criminal enforcement office), against an equal number of people affected by definitive sentences of conviction, for serious crimes committed in Bari between 2015 and 2019 by individuals belonging to and close to the clan Parisi - Palermo, hegemonic in those years in the Japigia and Madonnella districts of Bari and in various parts of the province.

The investigations, coordinated by the Bari District Anti-Mafia Directorate and conducted, in various phases, through observation, control and shadowing services, technical activities, supported by various statements by collaborators of justice, have allowed, already in November 2019, the execution of 15 precautionary measures.

The investigation originates from the discovery and seizure of a large arsenal and drug depot carried out in the capital by the Carabinieri on 16 October 2014.

Subsequent investigations allowed the following charges to be raised:

- the existence and operation of the mafia association called the Parisi – Palermiti clan which consolidated its intimidating power through violent actions, aimed at committing numerous crimes, thus deriving huge illicit profits, dominating the criminal control of the area;

- the link between the weapons and drugs found on 16 October 2014 and the aforementioned criminal association;

- direct intervention by the clan leaders in the event of conflicts arising within the organization, or with third-party rivals; in this regard, the explosion of gunshots with the aim of intimidating the UC Japigia club, which took place on 15 March 2015, managed by the parent of a young man who, in turn, was responsible for the shooting wounding of an affiliate of the organisation, was documented; and again, the intimidating intervention of the top management against an affiliate responsible for having beaten, without prior authorization, a direct associate due to a disagreement over the custody of a batch of drugs;

- the management, under a monopoly, of all the drug dealing areas in the Japigia and Madonnella neighborhoods, regularly supplying them with cocaine, hashish and marijuana, using a large network of dealers for retail dealing which made use of cryptic telephone communications, as well as numerous and ever new telephone numbers registered fictitiously to third parties.

During the investigation, 23 people were arrested and a considerable quantity of narcotics was seized.

The sentences imposed with today's provisions range between six and eighteen years of imprisonment.