Catania: Operation Meteora, 18 arrests for murder and mafia-type association

The Catania State Police, under the direct coordination of the Central Anti-Crime Directorate of the State Police, with the dispatch of several crews from the Crime Prevention Unit, to which were added units from the local Police Headquarters and its branches as well as specialized units such as the Scientific Police and the Mobile Unit, from the early hours of today, on delegation from this District Attorney's Office - District Anti-Mafia Directorate, has carried out to the order for the application of precautionary measures issued by the Judge for Preliminary Investigations at the Court of Catania against 18 subjects recipients of custody in jail, considered to be seriously suspected, in the current state of the documents and in relation to the procedural phase which has not yet allowed the establishment of the adversarial process with the intervention of the defence, of the crimes of murder, mafia-type association (Santangelo clan of Adrano and Mazzei clan, known as “Carcagnusi” of Catania) and carrying and illicit possession of firearms aggravated by the aim of facilitating the mafia association to which they belong.

The investigations of the Catania Flying Squad and the Adrano State Police Station, supported by technical aids (telephone, environmental and telematic interceptions, as well as video recordings) originated from the statements made in December 2019 by a collaborator of justice in relation to the disappearance (which occurred in Adrano on 16.6.2016) and subsequent killing of CIADAMIDARO Nicola.

During questioning, the aforementioned collaborator of justice reported that the murder, a typical example of the so-called "lupara bianca", had been committed, on the orders of the leaders of the Santangelo mafia clan, 4 associates to avenge the triple murder of ROSANO Alfio (cl.1959), CRIMI Daniele (cl.1985) and FENNEL Alfio (cl.1965) happened on 27.7.2006 in Bronte territory (CT).

The investigative activities aimed at verifying the statements of the collaborator of justice, which were corroborated by the statements of further collaborators of justice, allowed us to consider the existence of serious evidence of guilt against 5 of those arrested today as material perpetrators of the murder of CIADAMIDARO Nicola, committed as mentioned to avenge the triple homicide of July 2006, the culprits of which, later arrested by the Flying Squad and the State Police Station of Adrano as part of of Operation Meteorite in October 2006, belonged to the Adranite criminal group Liotta – Mazzone of which he would have been a part also the victim CIADAMIDARO Nicola.

From what has been reconstructed by the investigations, on the evening of 16.6.2016 CIADAMIDARO Nicola – who after his release from prison in October 2014 had left Adrano for a period of time and then returned – while he was going to the gym on his scooter he was stopped and kidnapped by the men of the Santangelo clan who loaded him onto a van and took him to an isolated countryside, where, After torturing him, they killed him by beheading him.

During the investigations it then emerged that, despite numerous police operations having inflicted heavy blows on the Santangelo clan, with the arrest of dozens of top-ranking affiliates, the aforementioned mafia organization maintains its operations unchanged in the Adran area.

In particular, according to the accusatory approach accepted by the investigating judge, the investigations revealed that at the top of the Santangelo clan the figure of one of today's arrestees, who, given the detention of all the other prominent members of the association, would have taken over the leadership of the mafia family, coordinating and organizing the illicit activities of the affiliates on the territory, the proceeds of which flowed into the organization's "common fund", also intended for the maintenance of the imprisoned affiliates and their families.

Always according to the accusatory approach accepted by the custodial order, following the release from prison of two of today's arrestees, the same, although subjected to house arrest, would have continued to avail themselves of the coordination role of the person who had assumed the leadership of the mafia family and would have resumed the command of the Santangelo clan, giving orders and directives to the rest of the affiliates and planning the criminal strategies of the mafia association.

The continuation of the investigations also concerned the criminal group led by another of today's arrestees, the contact person of the Catania mafia clan Mazzei understood as “carcagnusi”, who, having inserted himself into the Adranite criminal dynamics, would be entered into conflict with the two historic mafia families Santangelo and Scalisi.

In this context, it was possible to consider that there were serious indications of guilt also in relation to the crime under art. 416 bis of the Criminal Code with regard to some members of the aforementioned Mazzei clan.

During the activity they were Several weapons belonging to the two mafia groups were seized, among which a vz.61 Skorpion 7.65 caliber submachine gun, a Beretta 70 7.65 caliber semi-automatic pistol with erased serial number, a 12-gauge automatic shotgun as well as magazines and ammunition of various calibers.

These accusatory hypotheses, currently supported by the GIP, will have to be confirmed when the adversarial proceedings between the parties are established.

Overall - for today's Judicial Police operation, conventionally called "Meteora" - 500 police officers were employed over a hundred State Police officers.