Alert in Palermo, the mafia leaders released from prison in power
"Almost all of the mafia members who leave prison for the end of their sentence start a crime again on the same day"
Written By Redazione on 23 Jan 2022
Anti-mafia operation
Most of the Mafia bosses who come out of prison return to crime right away. The investigations of the Palermo prosecutor's office say so. The data that emerged during the inauguration of the judicial year are worrying.

Cosa Nostra regenerates itself
"Almost all of the mafia members who leave prison for the end of their sentence start a crime again on the same day". The alarm comes from the attorney general regent Annamaria Palma.

“Bosses are hailed at neighborhood parties. And they take back the places they had left ”. And in Palermo, as indeed in the whole Province of Palermo, there are numerous mafia members who have just been freed and who have already returned to their seats in the highest chairs of the criminal hierarchy.

The mafia continues to control the territory
Cosa Nostra in Palermo continues to control the life and economy of the neighborhoods where it mediates to resolve family and sentimental conflicts, collect credits and more. During the health emergency, the gangs also seem to have played a predominant role, often taking the place of the state. Furthermore, the bosses would not have had any reservations against economic activities bent by the crisis. 216 extortions have been ascertained in the province of Palermo. Only 6% of the entrepreneurs who have been extorted have reported.

As reported by Il Sole 24 Ore, Anna Maria Palma, acting attorney general, is clear: "Do not abolish the life imprisonment impediment". There was a strong alarm signal on the front of the undue perception of public contributions and funding: «The trend is exponentially increasing - says the magistrate -. We record a dizzying increase, also attributable to subsidized loans and public contributions for the covid-19 health emergency, in the undue receipt of contributions (+ 225%).

It is now election alert
Crimes of aggravated fraud to obtain public funds increased by 160%, fraud against
the State or other public body increased by 203%. Crimes for undue perception of citizenship income increased by 992%. This year there are even more alerts for our district: not only the funds of the PNRR, but also the political-administrative elections which have always been a means and an end for the mafia of greater and more suitable tools to infiltrate the social fabric ".

Federico Cafiero de Raho: "New truths will come about the mafia massacres"
by Alessia Candito

The national anti-mafia prosecutor retires and talks about the investigations into Capaci and via D'Amelio
JANUARY 30, 2022
4 MINUTES OF READING
"There will be a new piece of truth about the massacres. Of this I am convinced. We have been working on this for years." Federico Cafiero de Raho is not a man of easy promises. One of the magistrates who dismantled the Casalesi clan in Campania, at the top of the Reggio Calabria prosecutor's office in the years in which the true face of the 'Ndragheta was discovered, has been at the head of DNA since 2018. "Unfortunately, in less than a month I will retire."
Was becoming the head of such an important office a goal from the beginning of your career?
"Absolutely not. I just knew I wanted to be a prosecutor with one goal: to guarantee freedom and justice."
First assignment?
"In Milan, a great school. I was a kid. When I went to the court the trolleys with the files seemed enormous to me".
The masters of the time?
"We were all young, even if there were already experienced magistrates who were reference points such as Armando Spataro or Ferdinando Pomarici. One of the deputy prosecutors was Bruno Siclari, who later became the head of the first DNA. He had a reputation for gruff, but he was actually very careful. "
When did you start dealing with the mafia?
"Four years later, just back in Naples. The District Anti-Mafia Directorate had just been set up. I was there when we got the news of the attack in Capaci".
What do you remember of that moment?
"We all came together, shocked. For everyone, that attack was a declaration of open war. Cosa Nostra wanted to kill some men of the state in a massacre way. Those methods are a message to be taken into consideration".
What do we know and what we don't know about that season?
"We know that Cosa Nostra was the perpetrator and instigator of those attacks. And thanks to the work of the Reggio Calabria prosecutor's office we know that the 'Ndrangheta played a role and numerous subjects have emerged who have operated both in Sicily and in Calabria. investigations are continuing to ascertain the role of institutional or para-institutional formations ".
Are we talking about intelligence sectors?
"Also.
Thirty years have passed and still no full light has been shed on that season.
"We proceed with caution. We must avoid new misdirections to Scarantino, to arrive at an organic reconstruction every conquest is an element that must be examined by the various offices - Palermo, Catania, Caltanissetta, Reggio Calabria, Florence - involved in the investigations. In addition, a lot of time has passed. ".
What does this mean?
"That the declarations of the repentant must be examined with even more attention and certain investigations cost more effort. But they can and must be done and the results are coming."
In the history of Italy, what have those massacres meant?
"They have changed the history of the country also because they have created a common sense of condemnation and the awareness of the need to react to the oppression of the mafia".
And for her? Have you started to be more afraid of wearing the toga?
"No, for a simple reason. Those who live in justice, in the world of fighting the mafias, know they are taking risks. They take into account that something can happen, but they end up living everything in a very natural way. we live with it ".
There are those who argue that after the extraordinary response of the state, Cosa Nostra has been heavily downsized.
"And it is wrong and dangerous. It almost shakes us off the responsibility of fighting the mafias. Cosa Nostra has only changed strategy, choosing immersion, invisibility, as the 'Ndrangheta had done even before. Today the utilitarian reasoning of the mafias is not making noise, moving underground, moving in the legal and illegal sector of the economy ".
Was the pandemic an opportunity or did the crisis also hit companies and mafia activities?
"Mostly an opportunity, because it has allowed the clans to reinvest their wealth in the sectors most in difficulty. The tourism-hotel sector, or the restaurant business, are at very high risk of infiltration".
The tools for identifying mafia capital exist. Why does the infiltration of clans into the real economy continue to be a real danger?
"For some time now, the mafias have had professionals and white-collar workers at their disposal capable of designing economic and financial strategies. The clans enter companies with their own money but often without even changing the corporate structure. The old owner becomes in fact just a figurehead. of a company that no longer controls, even if the documents still show it as such ".
Does the PNRR also risk ending up being prey to the mafias?
"These funds will be fundamental for the restart of the country and for this reason more than careful monitoring is necessary. A paper-based check, based on documents, is not enough, you have to physically go and see what happens in the streets, on construction sites. We must be vigilant and for this reason. collaboration on the part of all is needed ".
What would that mean?
"Entrepreneurs must support a project of legality, Confindustria, Confcommercio, Coldiretti, all trade associations are called to watch, and the citizens too. Everyone's future is at stake".
Are high-density mafia and economically fragile territories such as Sicily likely to be more exposed?
"Sicily is the region that most of all has suffered the violence of the clans, has experienced firsthand the compression of freedoms due to the arrogance of Cosa Nostra. This has created a deep-rooted anti-mafia conscience, from this point of view it is ahead of respect to many territories ".
From an institutional point of view, are we gearing up?
"A protocol has recently been signed with the Lazio Region which provides for the transmission to Dia and the DNA of all the documents relating to tenders. This means having greater and more pervasive tools available for controls".
What's the benefit?
"If it were extended to all regions, extensive monitoring could be carried out, making up for the historic lack of a national procurement database that would allow for the identification of all the parties involved at all levels".
Has any other Region or institution come forward?
"Not at the moment".
Do you believe that the pandemic has overshadowed the danger of the mafias?
"I don't think so. In any case, it is a luxury that we cannot afford."
In the last two years he has had to coordinate the national anti-mafia leadership in the middle of the pandemic.
"Covid19 has made coordination between the magistrates of different prosecutors more complex. There is still no secure communication channel, for our meetings we used the tools that everyone had at their disposal. This also created a security problem. C 'it was difficult to name certain names, reveal certain passages, for fear that someone might listen to those discussions ".
Was the interceptor afraid of being intercepted? Almost a paradox
"The mafias have always tried to know in advance the moves of those who oppose them. Once there were their sentries in front of police headquarters and commands. It would not surprise me to discover that the clans can count on" technological "sentries".
After many years of activity, he will retire on February 18th.
"Actually not yet. Of course it's hard to imagine standing still. Maybe I'll write a book. But I'll think about it on February 19th."

https://palermo.repubblica.it/crona...arriveranno_nuove_verita_-335715856/?rss

Palermo, Corona, the treasurer of the new mafia, arrested. On Facebook it showed Di Maio in his bar
10.02.2022, 22:19,

Officially, he was only the cashier of the Aurora Cafeteria, a renowned bar facing the port of Palermo. In reality, Giuseppe Corona kept other accounts, those of Cosa Nostra. Because he was one of the strong men of the mafia reorganization after the death of Totò Riina: he established strategies and sent messages, even on social networks. As a true godfather 2.0, which aims at communication to reaffirm its renewed ability to relate.
Thus, on the Facebook page of the Caffetteria Aurora, Corona was displaying the photo of the grillino Luigi Di Maio who arrived in his bar during the electoral campaign for the last Regionals, it was October 2017. In the shot, we recognize the current vice premier and the Sicilian leader of the Five Star Movement, Giancarlo Cancelleri, posing next to Corona's brother-in-law, Fabio Bonaccorso, is the owner of the restaurant who was kidnapped this morning during a blitz against 28 people (4 under house arrest) .

The investigations of the special unit of currency police, coordinated by the prosecutor headed by Francesco Lo Voi, have revealed a dense network of business around Corona, the mafioso who was looking to the new to try to leave behind his 16 years spent in prison after a conviction for murder. The treasurer of Cosa Nostra invested on behalf of various Mafia families in bars, tobacconists, shops and then in many buildings. A river of money flowed through Palermo, through new unsuspected figureheads and professionals who worked in the shadows. One of these, the lawyer Nico Riccobene, ended up under house arrest. The entrepreneur Giuseppe Tarantino, manager of the Alba bar in Mondello, is among the 19 who received a ban on residence in Palermo, signed by the investigating judge Antonella Consiglio.
Secret affairs, which was investigated by the anti-mafia pool composed of the deputy prosecutor Salvatore De Luca and his deputies Roberto Tartaglia, Amelia Luise, Annamaria Picozzi and Siro De Flammineis. A lot of confidentiality, but Corona, the mafia-manager, did not give up on the image. And so on Facebook also ended up the photos of the beautiful catering made by the Aurora Cafe in Villa Niscemi, the representative office of the Municipality of Palermo. As if to say, we arrive everywhere with our new face.

It was November last year, seven months before a Repubblica investigation had revealed who Giuseppe Corona really was, the king of betting at the racecourse, as emerged from some investigations by the district anti-mafia management. A story that had had great uproar in the city, for the provision adopted by the prefect of Palermo Antonella De Miro, an interdict that blocked the management company of the racecourse, now closed due to the risk of mafia infiltration. But the Aurora Cafeteria managed by the “cashier” Corona continued to do great business. And if anyone had any doubts, it was enough to look at the windows of the Aurora Cafeteria, where a beautiful crown stands out.
This mafia trying to take back the city is really insidious, other than a liquidity and relationship crisis. After the articles in the Republic, Corona's brother-in-law, who remains free, had sent a letter to our newspaper to reiterate that he was the real owner of the place, and had explained: "Giuseppe Corona is an employee of mine". The mafia 2.0 also makes press releases.

One of Italy's most wanted fugitives to return from Spain
Stidda boss Gioacchino Gammino to fly back Friday

(ANSA) - ROME, FEB 10 - A Stidda (Star) Sicilian mafia boss who is one of Italy's 20 most dangerous fugitives is set to return to Italy from Spain Friday after a court there authorised the execution of a European arrest warrant against him Thursday.
Gioacchino Gammino, 61, has been on the run since a jail break in Italy 20 years ago.
The arrest warrant was issued by an Agrigento court in May 2014.
The Italian justice minister thanked Spanish authorities for their cooperation in dealing quickly with the case of Gammino, who was detained at Galapagar on the outskirts of Madrid on December 17.
For years he had been posing as a respectable businessman and restaurateur there.
The Stidda is a Mafia-type criminal organization centered in the central-southern part of Sicily. Members are known as stiddari or stiddaroli. It is most active in the rural parts of southern Sicily and is partially a rival to Cosa Nostra. Some members have a star tattooed on their bodies.
The celebrated late anti-mafia prosecutor Giovanni Falcone investigated Gammino over 20 years ago, before he was slain by Cosa Nostra in 1992. (ANSA).

Man shot dead in ambush near Agrigento, killer turns self in
Victim was in his car at Palma di Montechiaro

(ANSA) - ROME, FEB 10 - A 65-year-old Italian man was shot dead in a street ambush near Agrigento on Thursday and the 43-year-old killer turned himself in, police said.
The incident took place at Palma di Montechiaro, about 20 kilometres from the southwestern Sicilian city.
The victim, Lillo Saito, was in his car in the central Piazza Provenzani when he was hit by several bullets.
The self-confessed murderer, Angelo Incardona, has a record for attempted murder and possession and carrying illegal weapons.
The reasons for the murder are not yet known.
Carabinieri are investigating the murder.
An autopsy has been ordered. (ANSA).

Interesting!

A feud between the "paracchi", a paramafia criminal organization operating in the Agrigento area. This would be the motive for a blatant ambush in the square that took place this afternoon in Palma di Montechiaro against Lillo Saito, 65, who was killed in his car with several gunshots to the head and face. The murderer, Angelo Incardona, aged 44, after attempting to kill Saito's elderly parents, accompanied by his wife, surrendered himself to the provincial command of the carabinieri of Agrigento. To the attendant who had to open the front door he would have said: "It's an old mafia story."

Then, pressured by the questions of the chief prosecutor of Agrigento Luigi Patronaggio, he allegedly referred to a story linked to internal dynamics of the "paraccari", members of the underworld of which the repentant Maurizio Di Gati had also spoken. A sort of third Sicilian mafia, after Cosa Nostra and Stidda, born in the 1990s, still active between Palma di Montechiaro and Favara. According to an initial reconstruction, the killer approached the victim, a partner of the "Gelati Gattopardo" company, in the central Piazza Provenzani, in front of the Ducal Palace.

The boss of Brancaccio mandamento Giuseppe Guttadauro and his son have been arrested on charges of mafia-type association and international drug trafficking

Giuseppe is boss of Roccella family , Rocella is part of Brancaccio mandamento .I read they were working with Calabrians , not surprised. Guttadauro 's are one of most powerful families in sicilian mafia.

The trait d'union is Salvatore Drago Ferrante, a well-known drug trafficker who over the years has imported tons of drugs from South America to Sicily, and the family of the "doctor".

From the interceptions it emerges how the Guttadauro wanted to influence the delicate mafia dynamics concerning the structure of the Bagheria family for which they wanted Drago Ferrante at the head, a maneuver also witnessed by the declarations of some collaborators of justice: Pasquale Di Salvo, Andrea Militello and Sergio Macaluso. A proposal, however, rejected by the drug trafficker who instead wanted to continue to focus on international drug trafficking.

Hollander, since you track mob news in Italy/Sicily, I was curious to know if you've uncovered any new info on the Trapani crews. Specifically the cosca in the City of Castellammare del Golfo, and/or Alcamo?

I'll look into it. CDG is still led by the Domingos.

last September members of the mafia family of Castellammare del Golfo (Trapani) were sentenced to a total of 70 years in prison. The accusations were, for various reasons, the mafia association, aiding and abetting, extortion and participation in a mafia association.

The former mayor of the town, Nicolò Rizzo, was acquitted, accused of aiding and abetting because he was intercepted while meeting the boss Francesco Domingo, Francesco Di Bono and Calogero Valenti.

Twelve years were inflicted on Camillo Domingo, 4 on Diego Angileri, 10 and 8 months on Daniele La Sala, 14 and eight months on Salvatore Mercadante, 8 years and six months on Antonino Sabella, 10 and 8 months on Francesco Stabile, 4 years old and 6 months to Francesco Virga and 4 years and six months to Gaspare Maurizio.

The investigation was launched after the release of the boss Francesco Domingo (tried separately), and has reconstructed the organization chart of the "family" still headed by Domingo, who, according to investigators, would never have left command despite being detained.

The arrest of Guttadauro, "the doctor" despised the new bosses

The new generation of Cosa Nostra was not frowned upon by Giuseppe Guttadauro . The "doctor", former surgeon of the Civic hospital of Palermo, was arrested yesterday (granted house arrest for reasons of age, having exceeded 70 years) together with his son Mario Carlo. For him the accusation is that he continued to weave relations with the Palermo mafia from Rome, where he lived after his last release from prison. To do this he would use his youngest son, the youngest of his three.

From the wiretapping accompanying the investigation that led to the new arrest , harsh criticisms of the new generations of mafia members emerge , triggered by the news of Francesco Colletti's collaboration with justice, a man of honor who later repented.

He will continue doing exact same thing from his house arrest , i read that Guttadauro's have huge control over fish market in south Italy, "The Doctor" is also close to politicians and freemasonry lodges in Sicily and in Rome probably.

Former Sicily governor Totò Cuffaro was also investigated.

@NYM, Alcamo family is still led by the Melodia's,
Acting boss Ignazio Melodia was arrested in 2017. Brother of the regent of the Alcamo district Nino, who is serving a life sentence.
Leading members are Salvatore Giacalone, Giuseppe Di Giovanni, Antonio Stella and Filippo Cracchiolo.
The Melodia family is a mafia family. Mafiosi are his father Cola, his uncle Diego and his brother Antonino. The investigations by the State Police and the DIA confirm that the Melodia family, affiliated with the “Corleonesi”, has been firmly in charge of the Alcamo district for years.
Ignazio who is a doctor was initiated in Dattilo in February 1996, he was affiliated with Matteo Messina Denaro himself.

Adrano: 21 arrests for mafia, drugs and attempted murder.
February 15, 2022

Twenty-one people arrested in Adrano, in the anti-mafia operation of the Catania police. At the center of the blitz, taken at dawn, is the mafia "family" headed by Cristian Lo Cicero arrested a few months ago by the agents of the Flying Squad.

The accusations
They are accused of criminal association of a mafia type, aggravated by being armed, attempted aggravated murder, criminal association aimed at illicit drug trafficking, weapons and stolen goods, attempted aggravated robbery, attempted aggravated extortion, evasion and personal aiding in drug trafficking.

Investigations
The investigations were confirmed by the statements of some collaborators of justice. It emerged that Cristian Lo Cicero, under the aegis of the mafia family of the Mazzei of Catania, and after the arrests of numerous people who were part of the historic mafia clans Santangelo and Scalisi, managed to enter the world of drug dealing, promoting, organizing and directing a criminal group assisted by his brother Agatino, Luigi Bivona, Francesco Celeste, Francesco Lombardo, Francesco and Giuseppe Restivo who in turn could rely on dozens of affiliates. According to investigators, the drug was marketed not only in Adrano but also in the municipalities of Catania, Caltanissetta, Enna and Ragusa. The supply of marijuana was done through Albanian channels, whose presence has been documented several times by investigators. The purchase of heroin, on the other hand, took place through contacts in Messina. In Adrano the shopping squares were in the Zizulli district and among the public houses in via IV novembre. In the latter place it was mainly managed by Salvatore Restivo (26 years old) and Carmelo Imbarrato. Large quantities of drugs and weapons were seized during the investigation.

One of May 2018 records a conversation explaining Guttadauro's plan to organize a complex trafficking of drugs with foreign countries. A plan about which "the doctor" talks to an Albanian citizen Bersni Besart Memetaj (to whom, the investigators say, the former Palermo boss had also turned to obtain a false degree in dentistry for his son).

The Albanian trafficker claimed to be able to carry loads of ten kilos of drugs at a time , which he could sell in a single day, for 300,000 euros .

Guttadauro would have organized a drug trade, together with the Bagheria and Roccella clans , with foreign countries, financed by some Palermitans, opening a channel for the acquisition of cocaine with South America and with the Albanian for the supply of hashish. The organization could have counted on a flight attendant, in relations with Guttadauro, who was supposed to transport the drugs when the shipment of drugs from South America arrived in Holland.

‘They torched our clubhouse’… but Sicilian rugby team won’t let mafia win
Librino’s amateur players have to guard their new pitch and facilities every night – but it’s worth it to keep children out of the clutches of Cosa Nostra

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...t-sicilian-rugby-team-wont-let-mafia-win

Wow another major bust.

Mafia, business and politics in the province of Messina. Shot against the Barcelona clan, 81 arrests
by Salvo Palazzolo

Cosa Nostra managed security in the premises along the coast, Mafia infiltration in the fruit and vegetable marketing sector. The Mafia political electoral exchange has also been contested
FEBRUARY 22, 2022
1 MINUTE READ
They had served a Mafia sentence and returned to their usual business. Two bosses aimed to restore the clan of Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto to the criminal splendor of the past. And they did, unfortunately. The investigations by the Carabinieri of the Messina provincial command, coordinated by the prosecutor directed by Maurizio de Lucia, revealed a pressing presence of Cosa Nostra in the area. Last night, 81 arrests were made. Five reporting obligations have also been notified to the judicial police.

The Barcelona clan had returned to impose its bouncers on the premises of the Tyrrhenian coast. Many other entrepreneurs were forced to pay the protection money. The bosses also focused on new drug trafficking. And then they reinvested the illicit proceeds in legitimate economic activities, in the fruit and vegetable sector. Also thanks to the help of unsuspected people.

The wiretapping of the Carabinieri of the Messina Operations Department is really the very current story of the mafia that is transforming: the most disturbing aspect is in the attitude that is recorded towards the godparents who have returned to freedom. Unfortunately, many continue to look for the bosses, to solve the most diverse issues. Even to look for votes during election campaigns. The Messina case then becomes emblematic. Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto has always been a laboratory for alliances and criminal relations: at the center, there is an ancient mafia, which holds the secret of many relations with the clans of Palermo and Catania.
It is the mafia that told a courageous journalist, Beppe Alfano, correspondent of the newspaper "La Sicilia", was murdered on January 8, 1993. And still today the family members ask to know the whole truth about the true reasons for the crime, a new investigation is in progress.

Barcelona and its mysteries. A mafia that scares entrepreneurs, no one has denounced the bosses. Others found the embrace of the released godparents convenient, so they hoped to relaunch their business.

81 arrests is huge, wonder how they are going to recover after this.

Comments like this get old, they always recover. And I guarantee you that the vast majority won't even get any serious time.

A lot of them get acquitted too , in Italy you are guilty until proven otherwise , its not rare that they get released after arrest. But still, clans in Messina got hit really hard in last year or so.

Yeah you're right. I thought your comment was just another one of those "end of the mob" spills. In many areas of the United States it has truly gone extinct, but I think it was more due to just fading away and not recruiting fresh blood, moreso than law enforcement crackdowns.

Massive operation targets Messina Mafia
Police arrest 86 people in Sicily and Calabria

(ANSA) - ROME, FEB 22 - Carabinieri police staged a massive operation in Sicily and in the neighbouring region of Calabria on the mainland on Tuesday to execute arrest warrants and other restrictive orders on 86 people accused of involvement in a Mafia clan in the province of Messina.
The suspects are accused of crimes including mafia association, drug trafficking and dealing and the exploitation of prostitution, with the use of mafia methods an aggravating factor.
Among other things, investigators say that Mariano Foti , a mobster based in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto, had been seeking to muscle in on contracts linked to the 'eco bonus 110%' rebate for building work that improves energy efficiency via contacts with entrepreneurs and local politicians. (ANSA).

A mafia triumvirate has governed Cosa Nostra in Barcellona in recent years, after the sinking of the historical leaders now all long gone to the "41 bis". And the reorganization went through a frantic search for money that was no longer enough to keep the affiliates in and out of prison, with protection money and new interests even in the world of prostitution, something that hadn't happened for decades. A reorganization broken for the umpteenth time.

Carmelo Vito Foti, Ottavio Imbesi and Mariano Foti were the members of the mafia directorate, who used a messenger almost day by day to connect, namely Rosario De Pasquale . No cell phones or e-mails to communicate, only the old and traditional "embassy" from door to door. Two of them, Imbesi and De Pasquale, died during the investigation but were replaced to keep a well-established "machine" going. That she had returned to extortion in the world of entertainment, night clubs, the Nasari fruit and vegetable market, among traders and entrepreneurs. Which made agreements with politics to "bring" this or that candidate to the elections. Who ran the underground gambling dens. Who was trafficking in drugs and weapons with the Messina "cousins".

The seizure of some assets attributable to the boss of Passo di Rigano, Francesco Inzerillo.
Inzerillo was arrested as part of the "New Connection" operation in July 2019 and was then sentenced in the first instance to 11 years and 4 months last September. The company that was seized had already ended up in the spotlight of the news in December 2018, when meetings between Inzerillo and the old boss of Pagliarelli, Settimo Mineo, who - as had emerged in the investigation "Cupola 2.0 " he should have presided over the new provincial commission of Cosa Nostra, after the death of Totò Riina, who had been the undisputed leader for a quarter of a century.

Old news

Ambush in Brancaccio, 46 ??years old killed in the street: To alert the police the residents of via Pasquale Matera terrified by the gunshots. The lifeless body of Natale Caravello found on the asphalt next to a scooter.