Anti-mafia operations between Ragusa and Catania: 16 arrests

In the early hours of June 12, 2024, militar of the Carabinieri Provincial Command of Ragusa and Provincial Command of the Financial Police of Catania hanno dato execution of a Precautionary Custody Order in Prison, issued by the GIP Office at the Court of Catania, at the request of this District Anti-Mafia Prosecutor's Office, concerning a total of 16 suspects, considered in various capacities responsible for the crimes of "mafia-type criminal association, external competition in a mafia association, illicit competition with threat or violence, attempted murder, extortion and attempted extortion, illegal possession of weapons and carrying in a public place, detention, transport and sale of narcotic substances, ideological falsehood committed by private individuals, crimes all aggravated by mafia purposes".

The precautionary measure carried out by the Carabinieri of the Investigative Unit of Ragusa and come on Financiers of the Organized Crime Investigation Group of the Economic and Financial Police Unit of Catania in the Iblean and Etna provinces it enhances and systematizes the results of the complex investigations carried out by the aforementioned departments starting from 2016 and until 2023.

Investigations, at the current stage of the proceedings in which the cross-examination with the parties has not yet been established, would have allowed us to reconstruct:

* the criminal dynamics of the criminal association can be traced back to Cosa Nostra operating in the territory of Vittoria (Ragusa) and in other municipalities of the province of Ragusa, headed from GE, meaning “Helium”;
* the roles assumed by the other suspects over time, recipients of precautionary measures, monitoring their criminal activities both in the period in which GE and was in a state of freedom both during the period of detention.

The most recent activities of the Judicial Police they would have brought out che the convicted criminal VG, understood “Tano u' barber”, would have been invested by GE, during the period of detention of the latter, of the role of pro tempore representative of the criminal organization headed by him. The investigative activity had further impetus after the GE, Placed under house arrest in January 2021, he would have exploited your home as a logistical base in which to hold confidential meetings with your acolytes, with top exponents of groups attributable to Cosa Nostra and operating in other territorial contexts as well as with important entrepreneurs in the packaging sector, effectively resuming their role as a reference point for the mafia association and reaffirming their influence on the territory.

Technical monitoring and activities carried out by GE, of his children, of VG and other individuals believed to belong to the criminal group they would have allowed acquire valuable circumstantial elements regarding the existence of a mafia-type criminal association who, making use of the power of intimidation deriving from the associative bond and the condition of subjugation and silence that derives from it, would have perpetrated an indeterminate series of crimes against life, individual safety, personal freedom, property, and acquired, in direct or indirect way, the management or in any case the control of economic activities, with particular reference to the sector of production and marketing of packaging for fruit and vegetables. The association would have combined aggression and military strength with entrepreneurial strategies, thus extending its mafia power and territorial control. Evidence of its operation would have emerged connections with other mafia groups, including i clan “Santapaola-Ercolano” of Catania, "Nardo” of Lentini, “Rinzivillo” of Gela.

At the same time, the role of children would also have come to light, Nuccio and Alberto, for the management, together with their father Emanuele, of entrepreneurial business in the packaging sector, making use of the tools of mafia subjugation and making use of its recognized criminal charisma in the packaging supply environment to influence and condition free competition. In this way, they would have established themselves as intermediaries, effectively bypassing the seizure measure of goods and availability of total value of 35 million euros, issued by the Court of Catania, at the request of this Office, against GE which also involved several companies, including the family business.

In other words, the criminal clan, operating in often illicit and unscrupulous ways and interacting with other criminals, which the Consalvos and the Puccios, having also recycled themselves in this territorial context as entrepreneurs, they would continue to impose their leadership within the lucrative sector of the local market, with particular reference to the sale of materials and packaging for the packaging of fruit and vegetables, very flourishing in the territorial context, with a predominantly agricultural vocation, of the municipality of Vittoria.

Would be the collusion of companies active in the sector of marketing of petroleum products also emerged which, thanks to GE's network of relationships, would have managed to obtain fuel of illicit origin, thus increasing its turnover by being able to count on the competitiveness deriving from low-cost fuels. At the same time, the same companies, making themselves available to GE, they would have made a concrete causal contribution for the purposes of conservation and strengthening, and in any case of the even partial realization of the criminal program of the mafia association.

Furthermore, the arrest of VG, occurred in April 2021, found in possession of a firearm clandestine illegally detained and of a significant quantity of narcotics, would have made it possible to highlight how the group's interests also encompassed the narcotics, weapons and extortion sectors.

On the verge, evidence emerges in which the mafia group would have carried out intimidating actions towards other victims of Vittoria to induce them to pay for quantities of narcotics supplied by other cliques, who would have turned to the group Greco recognizing its operational capabilities in the area. Likewise, critical moments were monitored within which the members of the group would have organized themselves for the carrying out acts of force with the use of weapons to the detriment of Vitorian criminals, which thanks to the timely intervention of the investigators were resolved without bloodshed.

Following the investigations carried out, the Etna GIP, at the request of this Office, he believed therefore there is a serious circumstantial framework regarding the 16 subjects under investigation, arranging for his precautionary custody in prison. In execution of this provision 12 subjects were arrested and transferred to various penal institutions by the Carabinieri of Ragusa while the others 4 arrests were made by the Financiers of the Etna PEF Unit.

The investigative activity in question is part of the broader picture of the actions carried out by the Public Prosecutor's Office of Catania, the Carabinieri of Ragusa and the Guardia di Finanza of Catania. to the fight against mafia-type criminal associations and the "entrepreneurial mafia", in order to avoid the increasingly dangerous attempts to pollute the entrepreneurial fabric and influence free competition.