Potenza and Matera: a mafia-type criminal association aimed at drug dealing was dismantled
24 people were arrested.
Potenza and Matera: a mafia-type criminal association aimed at drug dealing was dismantled
Following a vast and detailed investigation activity coordinated by the District Anti-Mafia Directorate of Potenza and conducted by the State Police of Potenza and Matera, the execution, during the preliminary investigations, took place in the territory of Policoro and the province and in other Municipalities of the province of Bari, of 24 personal precautionary measures, of which 14 of precautionary custody in prison and 10 obligations of residence and presentation to the judicial police, issued by the investigating judge of the District Court of Potenza.
The investigative activity in the area, in particular, was carried out by SISCO and the Organized Crime Section of the Flying Squad of Potenza and Matera, Police Station of Policoro (MT), with the support and collaboration of the agents of the Flying Squads of other capitals of Italy and the Crime Prevention Departments of “Basilicata”, “Central Calabria” of Vibo Valentia, “Northern Calabria” of Cosenza, “Southern Calabria” of Siderno.
The judicial police investigations were started in 2019 in order to reveal the existence and operation of a mafia-type criminal association – long dedicated to extortion and the commission of other crimes against property and against the person – active in the territory of the Municipality of Policoro headed by the “Mitidieri” family, closely connected to the “Scarcia” clan of Policoro (MT), upon reconstitution the “D'Elia” clan of Montescaglioso (MT) and the “Martorano-Stefanutti” clan of Potenza, as well as the Calabrian 'ndrangheta gangs and Apulian mafia associations.
Furthermore, in the same investigative context, the level of circumstantial gravity was ascertained the existence of a similar criminal association aimed at trafficking and dealing in narcotic substances, coinciding in the subjective basis with the first and dedicated to the purchase and sale of substantial quantities of narcotic substances of this type “cocaine”, “heroin” and “hashish”, as well as the cultivation, transformation and trade of “marijuana”, with an impressive “drug market” managed in the Policoro (Mt) area, with a "customer" portfolio of approximately 100 units.
Numerous follow-up activities were also carried out during the investigations which allowed us to arrive at the discovery and seizure of drugs and the identification of various supply channels of narcotic substances, among which emerged - still in the investigative phase and therefore on the basis of circumstantial elements to be verified in the cross-examination of the parties - the deceased "professor" GRIECO Antonio (who died because he was shot in the countryside of Montescaglioso in the month of May 2019, a criminal matter defined in the context of Penal Proc. 1233/20 RGNR DDA Mod. 21) as well as further and specific supply channels activated with traffickers from Altamura, Matera and Puglia. Furthermore, as emerged from the investigations, further channels of supply of narcotic substances were also activated with subjects, who on the basis of the investigations carried out, appear to be operating in the “Japigia” district of Bari, who repeatedly went to the Metaponto area to collect the sums of money claimed for deliveries also made on credit to one of the suspects.
During the investigations, the balance of power and conflicts existing between the groups also operating in the Ionian-Metapontine area were also ascertained and documented, specifically in Scanzano Jonico (MT) and Policoro (MT), in the latter case it appears emblematic to recall a attempted murder, which occurred in October 2019 to the detriment of a subject, who was seriously injured by several gunshots, a criminal case defined in criminal proceedings no. 3695/19 RGNR DDA Mod. 21, following the Sentence of the Court of Cassation n. 45316/2022 of 16.03.2023, which also confirmed the circumstance aggravating factor of the mafia method.
Furthermore, the investigation was also enriched by the contribution of hetero- and self-accusing statements made by some justice collaborators which made it possible to consolidate the validity of the investigative results achieved as well as to acquire, from within the organized crime circles themselves, further elements of knowledge regarding the set of criminal events that occurred also with specific reference to Ndrangheta-type affiliations.
Ultimately, it is a extensive as well as serious and heterogeneous investigative framework, reconstructed on the basis of several "investigative tools" which made it possible to demonstrate in the precautionary phase, the existence of a criminal association aimed at drug trafficking pursuant to art. 74 Presidential Decree 309/90, aggravated by the mafia method pursuant to art. 416 bis 1 of the criminal code, in relation to which specific illicit conduct was ascertained pursuant to art. 73 Presidential Decree 309/90 or even crimes of carrying and possession of firearms whose negative value undoubtedly appears to be increased by the associative connotation of the aforementioned association, the investigating judge having deemed the existence of the crime of mafia association not sufficiently demonstrated.
In conclusion, without prejudice to the principle of presumption of innocence, the numerous restrictive measures adopted following the investigations, on the basis of serious indications of guilt, which obviously will have to be examined during the trial phase, represent a further piece of the overall action to combat Lucanian organized crime, which the District Anti-Mafia Directorate of Potenza, thanks to the commendable contribution of the police forces, is carrying out in an area, in where the presence of organized crime represents a reality that equally affects the provinces of Potenza and Matera. All this, if on the one hand requires that, at every level, we do not linger in dangerous underestimations of the phenomenon, on the other, it has made and continues to make constant, on this very important front, the daily, professional and systematic commitment of the Forces of the Lucanian Police and Judiciary.
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