Brescia, “Final Act” operation: 'Ndrangheta infiltrations, 14 arrests and kidnappings

Brescia, in the early hours of the morning, in the provinces of Brescia, Milano, Reggio Calabria, Cremona and Ascoli Piceno, the State Police and the Financial Police, coordinated by the District Anti-Mafia Directorate of Brescia, carried out, as part of the operation called "Final Act", a a personal precautionary measure against fourteen subjects, of whom 12 in prison and 2 under house arrest, contiguous and included in contexts of mafia-style organized crime ('ndrangheta) and seriously suspected, in various capacities, of usury and extortion committed with method mafia.

In particular, the investigations conducted by the 1st Division of the Central Operational Service of the DAC, by the Mobile Squad of the Brescia Police Headquarters, by the Financiers of the Provincial Command of the Guardia di Finanza of Brescia, also projected abroad, allowed to inflict a severe blow to an important clan, which represents a lineage of 'Ndrangheta among the oldest and most powerful in the Piana di Gioia Tauro, in the province of Reggio Calabria, infiltrated in the economic fabric of Brescia.

In addition, the Provincial Command of the Carabinieri of Brescia carried out a further precautionary measure in prison against 2 subjects, one of whom also connected to criminal circles of a 'Ndrangheta nature, and seriously suspected of the commission of other extortion committed with the typical mafia ways.

In the same operational context, 20 searches were carried out and a sum of € 77.540,00 was subject to preventive seizure, as a profit from the crime of usury.

The activity of the investigators - directed by Rep. Public Prosecutor Roberta Panico of the Brescia Anti-Mafia District Directorate, together with Rep. Proc. Erica Battaglia and Sost. Proc. Carlotta Bernardini - has made it possible to document, despite the period of lockdown, intimidating and extortionate conducts, usurious agreements and payments, accompanied by pressure and economic claims to the detriment of entrepreneurs, agreements for the division of illicit earnings, requests for criminal protection and serious exposure situations at risk for individual safety.

In some cases, a real sale of money at usurious conditions to an entrepreneur in the North in economic difficulties has been tried, trying to ensure the certainty of the return of the investment with the convincing systems of the mafia method and therefore allowing the achievement of parasitic sources of income.

In the context outlined above, there is also the figure of some entrepreneurs, in economic difficulties, certainly amplified due to the Covid-19 emergency and the consequent lockdown, who have had considerable difficulty in respecting the commitments and deadlines, thereby causing the "nervousness" of some suspects, who with an intimidating intent, even sent the photographic reproduction of the entrepreneurs' homes via WhatsApp.

In the course of the investigations, moreover, it emerged that other subjects, linked to the 'Ndrangheta association, operated in the province of Brescia committing tax fraud and money laundering and usury offenses.

In particular, the investigative activity, which is still in progress, has further made it possible to confirm the roots and operations of the 'ndragheta in the economic fabric of the Brescia district, which, making use of the creation and use of dozens of Italian and foreign "paper mills" companies - made available by subjects gravitating around the aforementioned association - ensured a whirlwind of false invoices for tens of millions of euros for the benefit of local businesses, thus managing to implement a sophisticated and dangerous form of "pollution" of the legal economy through the provision of illegal tax services.