Bari, minor injured by gunshots: two people from the Strisciuglio clan arrested

In the early morning of July 3rd in Bari and at the Lecce prison, the Carabinieri of the Bari San Paolo Company have carried out a precautionary custody order in prison against two subjects, issued by the investigating judge at the Court of Bari upon request of the local District Anti-Mafia Directorate, in which serious indications of guilt are recognized against as many suspects, considered responsible for the crimes of "aggravated personal injury in competition" and "illegal carrying of weapons", "dangerous explosions" with the aggravating circumstance of the mafia method.

According to the accusatory approach, accepted by the investigating judge and without prejudice to any necessary evaluation in the subsequent stages of the proceedings with the contribution of the defence, the investigations concerned the wounding of a 20-year-old, a minor at the time of the events, occurred on the evening of July 30, 2022 in Piazza Europa in the “San Paolo” district of Bari.

Specifically the victimin company of some peers, had been flanked by a command consisting of 3 subjects (2 recipients of precautionary measures and 1 under investigation), who, riding a moped, face uncovered, with the use of a gun, injured the minor in the leg, regardless of the presence of other people in the square, including children, thus creating a serious danger to public safety. After the shooting, victim was transported from the mother at the “San Paolo” hospital, where a wound of the left hip and thigh with complications due to the explosion of a gunshot was diagnosed, with subsequent prognosis of twenty days.

Subsequent insights, conducted through the analysis of video surveillance systems and the use of telephone interceptions, made it possible to shed light on the ambush, identifying the alleged perpetrators in two subjects aged 23 years and 28 years (of which, the first is currently detained for another reason, the second is subjected to special surveillance by the State Police), both included within the Strisciciuglio clan “San Paolo” branch.

Particularly, investigations they traced the ambush into the broader context of the conflict recorded in the summer of 2022 between the clan “I crawl” and family members “Valley”, historically autonomous from the dominant coterie in the neighborhood. Precisely in response to the wounding of the minor, on 22 August 2022, brothers Giuseppe and Francesco Vavalle, within its public bar "Gran Caffè", with the presence of the victim of the previous shooting, they had set up an ambush for Franco Domenico, a leading figure of the "Strisciuglio" clan “San Paolo” faction.

For this episode, on behalf of the District Anti-Mafia Directorate of Bari, the military of the Investigative Unit from Bari they had an arrest warrant was issued against four members of the “Vavalle” family on suspicion of crime.

It is important to underline that the proceeding is still in the preliminary investigation phase and that, following the execution of today's precautionary measures, the guarantee interrogation and the confrontation with the defense of the suspects will follow, whose possible guilt in relation to the contested crimes must be ascertained during the trial in compliance with the cross-examination with the defense of the suspects.