Agrigento: Countryside Mafia, Police Arrest 5 Suspects

The State Police, on behalf of the Palermo District Anti-Mafia Directorate, carried out a raid on the morning of June 4th precautionary measure against 5 subjects – two of whom have already been definitively convicted of mafia association – held responsible for a series of crimes repeated conduct of extortion and illicit competition with threats or violence, aggravated by the mafia method and of having facilitated the mafia association called Cosa Nostra.

The investigations, conducted by the SCO, the SISCO of Palermo and the Mobile Squads of Agrigento and Palermo have allowed us to hypothesize the pervasive control and illicit management of agricultural and pastoral activities in the Girgentana territory of Santa Margherita del Belice, Montevago and Sambuca di Sicilia up to the border with Contessa Entellina (PA). The suspects, taking advantage of the undisputed intimidating power deriving from being recognized as top exponents of the mafia district of Santa Margherita di Belice, allegedly carried out a incisive control over the agro-pastoral economy of the area as well as on the related use of agricultural lands in the Belicino hinterland.

In particular, several episodes were recorded in which the suspects, using the mafia method, forced the owners and managers of agricultural land to cede the availability of large areas of land to be used for illegal grazing of livestock, imposing the payment of negligible fees which, in some cases, were not even paid.

The control of agricultural land would have translated, in some cases, also into a ban on carrying out collateral agricultural activities that would alter the free grazing of flocks, thus effectively imposing a stringent predominance over other people's real estate, also functional to the maximization of profits deriving from the dairy production.

In this context, the absence of explicit threats has also sometimes been recorded, with the suspects being able to impose their will by resorting to silent intimidating attitudes, which were echoed by the capacity for subjugation deriving from their recognized criminal role as well as the multiple episodes of damage (fire, cutting of crops and theft of livestock) - committed by unknown persons - suffered over the years by the owners themselves who had decided, instead, to use the land for cultivation which would have limited the grazing of the flocks.

In this context of rural crime, the investigations also made use of the declarative contribution of some victims who opposed the "control system" of the sector, also highlighting certain episodes in which, following the threshing carried out by the owners, the foodstuffs were unduly acquired and packaged by the suspects, without paying any compensation.

The depth of the subjects involved in the investigations has also highlighted moments of internal tension linked to the attempt to alter the balance of the "cartel" itself; contrasts always smoothed out in a logic of convenience and mutual protection of the territorial control mechanisms.

Today's provision, issued by the GIP of Palermo, is based on serious indications of guilt and on a circumstantial framework that emerged during the investigations, meaning that full criminal responsibility for the facts indicated will be ascertained during the trial.