Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto: Anti-Mafia Operation, 15 Arrests in the “Barcellonese Mafia Family”
The precautionary custody order issued against 15 people belonging to a well-structured criminal gang of mafia origin, dedicated to the crimes of extortion, embezzlement, fraudulent transfer of assets, violation of public custody of things and theft of things subject to seizure, committed with the aggravating circumstance of the mafia method and purpose, through the illicit management of a company, based in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto, in the sector of solid urban waste disposal, special waste disposal and vehicle demolition, was executed today.
Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto: Anti-Mafia Operation, 15 Arrests in the “Barcellonese Mafia Family”
In today's data, numerous judicial police units of the Central Operations Service of the State Police, of the Flying Squad of the Messina Police Headquarters and of the State Police Station of Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto, have given execution of the precautionary custody order issued against 15 people, by the GIP of the Court of Messina, at the request of this District Anti-Mafia Directorate, for the crimes of external competition in mafia-type association, as well as for various crimes of extortion, embezzlement, fraudulent transfer of assets, violation of public custody of things and theft of things subject to seizure, with the aggravating circumstance of the mafia method and purpose.
The precautionary measure is based on a serious set of circumstantial evidence, collected over the course of several months as a result of the complex investigations, coordinated by the Messina Public Prosecutor's Office - District Anti-Mafia Directorate, which directed the investigations entrusted to the Central Operations Service of the State Police, the Flying Squad of the Messina Police Headquarters and the Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto State Police Station. The elements acquired have revealed the existence and operation of a well-structured criminal organization, of mafia origin, dedicated to the crimes of extortion, embezzlement, fraudulent transfer of values, violation of public custody of things and theft of things subject to seizure, committed with the aggravating circumstance of the mafia method and purpose, through the illicit management of a company, based in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto, in the sector of solid urban waste disposal, special waste disposal and vehicle demolition.
The company, in turn, had already been the recipient of several judicial seizure and confiscation orders, which became definitive following criminal proceedings and anti-mafia prevention measures. In particular, following the investigations already coordinated by the Messina District Anti-Mafia Directorate, On 16 June 2011, the seizure of the same company had been ordered by the GIP of Messina, which was followed by an initial confiscation order by the GUP, in the first degree of judgment, on 31 October 2012., confirmed by the Court of Appeal of Messina on 28 October 2014 and confirmed again, after an appeal to the Supreme Court and a judgment of constitutional legitimacy, by the same Court of Cassation, on 11 June 2018. A further and separate confiscation order had also been issued on 11 June 2014 by the Court of Messina - Preventive Measures Section, within the scope of the prevention procedure, on the basis of a compliant proposal by the Messina District Anti-Mafia Directorate, with an ablative provision, confirmed by the Court of Appeal on 3 November 2016 and, subsequently, by the Court of Cassation on 6 July 2017.
Since the first seizure order, the company had been entrusted to the administration of an accountant, appointed judicial administrator in June 2011. The aforementioned judicial orders had recognized the connection of the company to the so-called "Barcellonese mafia family", having been managed by a well-known criminal with a criminal record for mafia crimes, son of the owner of the company, considered to be a top figure, currently detained, having to serve a definitive sentence for the crime referred to in art. 416-bis of the criminal code.
However, despite the various seizure and confiscation measures, the investigation activities have brought to light a disturbing phenomenological framework, reflecting the dominant position of the same Barcellona mafia boss, in the management of the business activity taken away from him, as a result of the intervention of judicial decisions, which have become definitive; and this despite a judicial administration formally established for more than 13 years for the management of the company.
The circumstantial evidence collected, at present, allows us to believe that the same person, as a leading member of the local Barcellona mafia gang - to which the company is closely linked due to criminal activities instrumental to the aims of the organization itself - managed, as "de facto owner", the company subjected to judicial administration. According to what emerged during the investigations, this would have been made possible also thanks to the behavior of the judicial administrator, almost completely subservient to the mafia power of the clan, towards whom he would have shown reverence and complacency, omitting to fulfill the duties related to the exercise of his functions.
More specifically, the investigation activity has allowed us to reconstruct the modus operandi of the suspects in order to create illicit profits, through the sale of used spare parts without the required tax title and the disposal of unregistered waste; all this thanks to the alleged complicity of the judicial administrator and some employees, some of whom have been employed by the company for over twenty years.
The evidence collected has, in fact, revealed how the company would have been used, first of all, as a instrument of illicit enrichment, through the daily, continuous appropriation of unaccounted money from the coffers; thus achieving the result of the perception, in the eyes of the community, of a mafia organisation capable of managing a company, despite two confiscation orders and related judicial administration. This situation would have allowed the suspects to carry out extortionate conduct both towards employees deemed not "reliable" and for this reason removed from the company, and towards other entrepreneurs operating in similar commercial sectors, taking advantage, for this purpose, of the "symbolic" daily presence of the criminal at the top of the clan and of all his family members, in the company premises.
On the basis of the serious circumstantial evidence thus collected, the Judge for Preliminary Investigations, at the request of the Public Prosecutor's Office at the Court of Messina - District Anti-Mafia Directorate, applied the restrictive measure of personal freedom of precautionary custody in prison against 14 suspects and the measure of house arrest against another individual, almost all resident or domiciled in the city of Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto (ME).
Reproduction reserved © Copyright La Milano